Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

Hi Gary,

What I know about bermuda can be put in a thimble with room to spare. hahaha Of the different brands, it does make a difference what you plan on doing with it. Some is very aggreassive and fast growing. It's for hay cattle. Others are more slow growing and finer bladed for lawns. I just want it green and drought tollerant since I'm not gonna water it.

The best place for specific information is from Texas A&M. They have an extension in my county and I think most counties.

Texas Cooperative Extension, the Texas A&M University System

They are always doing research on grasses, pastures and other plants to see what will grow best.

The sack of seed you're looking at is almost all seed. I made the mistake of buying on price per sack, and not on percentage of seed. You can get bermuda seed from all the stores, but most sacks are less then half seed. When comparing prices, you need to be compare percentages in the sack, which is what I'm sure you are already doing. I just didn't realize it when I first bought my land and started spreading seed.

The other thing to consider is how long will the seed sit before germinating. Hulled seed will sprout much faster, but will rot if conditions are not right. Bermuda needs warm weather and water to get going. I've been told soil temps need to be 80 degrees, but don't actually believe it. Right now it's getting into the 70's and my bermuda is sprouting from seeds I put out last fall. That was un-hulled seed because I knew it was late in the season and didn't expect it to all germinate before winter came in.

The fertalizer guy said to plant first, then fertelize after it's growing. With bermuda, you don't really need to do much to the soil to get it to grow. It seems to love clay and acidic soils.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's been a few weeks since I've been down to the lake. It's not far away, but the trees block the view and I've been pretty busy with work and other projects. So I was pleased to see that my trees along the edge of the dam are alive and blooming. The grass is starting to sprout and things are looking green!!!!

I haven't looked on the calender, but since the high water mark of 8 inches from being full, I'm now down to 18 inches below overflow. It's been in the 70's for the last few weeks and I'm sure evaporation is taking it's toll. Otherwise, I was keeping pretty consistant at one inch loss per week.

Anybody have an extra million gallons of water to fill me up?

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Anybody have an extra million gallons of water to fill me up?

Eddie

Eddie, I think we got 2-3/4" on Monday night and our lake is up 18". My pond I dug out overflowed to the second pond and raised it about 24". Another 3" rain would put everything up to the full line, but I'd just as well wait a week before anymore heavy rain.

We fed the fish in our little pond last night and the baby catfish and bluegill were hitting all over the place. Even the little minnows were taking their share. I hope you get some more rain soon to keep your lake up. Things are starting to really be green and I'm getting a bad case of spring fever.

 

[rox]

It is looking good Eddie, jsut those little patches of green give an idea of what it will look like soon.

 

[MF1455v]

Looks great Eddie. Sure hope we will be able to make out and see the lake in person this fall.

James

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

Congrats on all the water you received!! I know you were hit allot harder by the drought then we were over here, so it's real nice to hear how quickly your ponds are filling up. One rain like you received and I'll be full. It's not too uncommon to get a 3 inch rain here, and the season for it to happen is just about here. My goal was to be as ready for spring as I could. Right now I feel that I'm in a pretty good position to handle the heavy rains if/when they arrive.

Rox,

Thank you. I've never been too interested in the fishing aspect of the lake. I know that it's a huge attraction to have a good fishing hole and while digging it, I created what I hope will be just that, but that wasn't my personal motivation. I want a jewel in the woods. It's all about how it looks and fits in that gets me exited. The grass on the dam and around the water with all the trees will make it look amazing. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping for. hahaha

James,

Thanks. We'd sure enjoy having you guys out here. There's fishing in the small pond for the kids, or anybody else who comes out, plus the trails are fun to hike. You never know what your'll see!!! I don't know if the lake will be any good for fishing by then, but somebody will have to be the first to catch a fish in it!!!

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

A few weeks ago I ordered 8 Chromatella Water Lillies. I've always loved them, but just about everything I've read is that they can take over a pond and become very invasive. One of the tricks to control them is to plant them on land that drops off quickly to 6 ft or more. Another way is to only buy plants that are not as aggressive and invasive as others. There are only a few that meet this requirement. Chromatella is one of those. It's a yellow flowering plant that should look really nice when in bloom, but also give me the look I'm after.

I have several underwater islands that are about 4 feet from the surface of the water, but drop straight down on the sides four feet or more. These were primarily made for my lilly plants. Secondary use is for the fish.

I paid $11.50 each for a total of $106 with shipping from Water Plants, Water Lily, Aquatic Plants, water gardening, lotus, Louisiana Iris, hyacinth, lilies, tropical, floating, oxygenating plants out of Colorado. They were suposed to ship them last Monday, but called and apologized that they were running late and that I will have them this week. They showed up today!!!

I have a 10 foot plastic boat that is rated for 500 pounds. It's perfect for us to paddle around the water in. It's also the best way I have to get the water lillies to my submerged islands. Getting the rizones into the clay was much tougher then I expected, and what I thought would be a fun little project with the kids, turned out to several hours of pain.

Steph took a few pictures of us working hard!!

Eddie

 

[coopers]

That looks like a nice size pond to house wintering ducks. What kind of vegetation do you get down there growing around bodies of water? What do you plan on doing with the shore? Are you going to keep it open like it is right now or try and get it full with grasses and other stuff?

Blake
WA

 

[patrick_g]

A few weeks ago I ordered 8 Chromatella Water Lillies. I've always loved them, but just about everything I've read is that they can take over a pond and become very invasive.
Eddie

One of our ponds had almost complete coverage with Lotus plants last year but after the drought and the serious relocation of that pond's shoreline I haven't seen a single plant since the pond has filled up.

I was told that if you have a container or a submerged curb that extends sufficiently below the bottom that you can force aquatic plants to "stay put" or at least not to propagate by spreading at the roots to areas outside the containment area.

Pat

 

[rox]

Eddie,
noticed you were wearing shorts. is it that warm? i thought it jsut snowed by you.