Help with pond.

[alpinehyperlite]

Hey all,
Looking for a little advice from some of yall who have experience with land maintenance. I have a pond on the property that I just purchased (appx 75ft long, 30ft wide and 6-9 ft deep). It has been quite neglected over the past year or so and has gotten EXTREMELY overgrown. I am trying to figure out a way to safely (killing no fish) clean it out as it the overgrowth is attracting snakes. I have killed 3-4 daily out there, all poisonous.

I have already begun to clear out the tall plants behind it, and have tried to use a pitchfork to clear the plants in the water, but there are just too many. I filled 4 50gal trash bags and have only cleared 1-2 ft off the side.

 

[hamz9561]

Unfortunately as far as I know you've got the right idea to clean it without killing the fish. If that wasn't the case, I'd use the propane powered flamers that they use to get rid of the prickly pear cactus around here.

 

[wacmartin]

Yeah up here they do a controlled burn along the rivers edge that get overgrown like that. I don't think you'd have that option though, especially without killing fish as here they only grow till about where the waters 6 inches deep.

3-4 poisonous snakes a day! Damn I couldn't live there I hate snakes, almost got bit by a "pet 12ft long boa" before that i had no fear of them.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Big ones I can handle. It's these lil 4-5ft f'rs that can kill you from birth that I worry about. Moccasins will literally chase your ass down trying to get you while others just run away, or bite out of defense.

I'm at a loss though. It probably has literally thousands of pounds of vegetation in it that needs to go.

 

[SMaxxin]

Contact the LSU agricultural department, they should help you with this. As for the snakes you can buy moth balls and scatter them between your house and pond, that might help.

 

[hamz9561]

Cats also help keep the snake population down. My mom has about 8 of them on her property in the East Texas Piney woods and since having them hasn't had any snakes.

 

[SMaxxin]

Yes cats will kill snakes and it's an awesome sight! There were a couple of stray cats at my old house, they would kill everything!

 

[Childresshunt]

The easiest way to clean it up would be to rent a track ho from your local home care store and dip it out with that I'm sure you will kill some fish but most should be able to get out of the way

---------- Post added at 2:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 2:52 PM ----------

i no you dont wanna kill the fish but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do for the better of the pond bc right now its unusable and not to mention theres so much vegetation its likely there isnt many fish anyways and if there is i doubt they have any size to them. you could always restock the pond it wouldnt cost much at all to stock one that size

 

[Rolex]

I would stock it with Piranha to clear the snakes.

 

[hamz9561]

And then stock it with Rolex to get rid of the Piranhas.

 

[Rolex]

Then add Barracudas to clear out the hamz.

 

[hamz9561]

Barracudas and sharks don't eat hamz out of professional courtesy....

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Meh, there is enough pork products at this house already.

 

[slowngreen]

Might go talk to someone at your local Canal Company, they might do you a solid and come chemical it for you. Only thing in our pond that hasnt died (not including fish, they are safe) is those cat tail plants.

I think its a mix of Cascade and Teton, might be another added but their supposed to be fish safe.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

What's a canal company? Lol. We have too many natural waterways to be digging more.

 

[slowngreen]

Looked it up, no canal company there lol. Just assumed everyone had one.

 

[SMaxxin]

There is an LSU ag center in every parish, they are there for this reason.

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_offices/parishes/

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Thanks Pete. Gonna call them this week.

 

[hamz9561]

Barracudas and sharks don't eat hamz out of professional courtesy....

Meh, there is enough pork products at this house already.

We're talking about water and ponds. I used to get mistaken for a killer whale (Orca) when I wore black trunks...

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Update 7/8/13:

Yesterday at around 1000hrs got some concentrated round up and a sprayer. Bottle said it was good for 10 gal measured out, but I only got 6.5 out of it going by their instructions. Oh well must have been stronger, and that's just fine. Sprayed it on thick all the way around the pond on the perimeter, and on the tops of the plants exposed in the water. 95% of what was on the banks died in the past 21 hours minus some of the stronger plants, but only like 20% of what was in the water died. Just sprayed everything with the remainder of the round up that was exposed, and will see what happens tomorrow.

Before spraying:

After: