I wanted to pass along notes I took in conversations with Superior
Windmill (Saskatchewan, Canada) and Terry Fitzgerald (friend, State Univ
at Cortland entomology professor who has ½ acre pond on his property
near Virgil). This Spring Im building a ¾ acre, 15-20 ft deep pond-
mainly for swimming and improving our view and maybe some trout
stocking. We are also going to drain and seal an older, smaller pond
that has grown full of weeds and cattails.
Terry pointed out that fertilization and eutrophication are big problems
for ponds- often from subsurface water and runoff carrying nutrients.
He has avoided unwanted plant growth by cutting off surface and
subsurface flow to the pond-now 20 years old-and feeding it only with
snow and rain. He has also anchored plants around the perimeter to pick
up the excess nutrients that do get to the pond: arrowhead, pickerel
weed, water lily, sedges, rushes and cattails. Terry maintains that if
you start with a clean clay bottom and keep it that way- and minimize
flowing water input- the pond will have low productivity (just enough to
support desirable aquatic plants)
To help clear up our old pond years ago, I took the recommendation of I
believe a DEC person to stock pond with crayfish that aggressively ate
vegetation. Seemed to work pretty good and the blue heron really liked
the idea! Terry responded that crayfish are omnivores but most of their
diet consists of animals and their role as a detrivore is limited.
So, on to the Internet went I on the topic of pond eutrophication and
soon ran into pondowner.com and this site recommended aeration as best
means of keep ponds clear and healthy. Next I go to Koenders and
Superior Windmill sites and liked the Superior design better so called
them up. Really great people (remember theyre in Saskatchewan not New
Jersey- Im sure Ill get some Jerseyite feedback on this remark!).
Well, in short order they convinced me I should invest in a windmill
aerator and it turns out their mills are on sale! Ive ordered a dual
diaphragm machine that will aerate both ponds (mill must be within
1000ft of the pond) and use their Pond Conditioner- non-toxic bacteria,
enzyme and sun screen food additive in liquid form that is added to the
aerated section of the pond when the surface water reaches 58 deg F
(they estimated late May) The conditioner starves non-beneficial
bacteria and the sun screen retards overall bacterial growth. Aeration
burns off the excess nutrients and bacteria. Aeration throughout the
winter helps maintain pond health and promotes fish reproduction.
And then there is the geek factor- I just think windmills are so cool
and this one with multiple blades (looks like old time farm water pump
windmill) , clean unipole (constant diameter tube with hinge at base for
5 year diaphragm maintenance and 8-12 year main bearing replacement) and
the powder coated optional finish (galvanized steel standard) really
kept me awake tonight thinking about it.
Hope this is of help to someone on the listserv or someone you know
building or recovering a pond.
John
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