Working in Pond

[paccorti]

I want to clean up some of the mud in my pond and generally dig it deeper. Pond is approximately 100' by 60'. What I can't decide is a good time of year to do this. We live in Northern VA. As usual we have turtles and frogs in the pond. My wife is concerned that if I did up the bottom now I'll kill all the hibernating frogs, turtles, etc. I understand that, but when is a good time to do this without harming (or minimizing the harm to) the ecosystem? Spring, summer... when?

Peter

 

[njrqs]

Dunno

I have to get mine (dam - We call them dams here) cleaned out, and the best time according to the excavator owner - When it is empty or close to!!!

He can do it when full, but reckons the finish on the bottom is not as good and then you just end up with LOTS of mud around the place.

I don't want mine to totally empty for similar reasons to you, but I'm afraid whatever lives in the bottom will soon be in for a rude awakening !

Cheers

<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

You might want to consult your state biologist. They are very helpful if you can get ahold of them. And they are free!

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[Youare]

There are two man-made ponds next to my place similar size to yours, both have been cleaned out. One pond has a drain pipe at the bottom so the water can be let out, the other they dug a channel to keep the water level down. Both were cleaned out late summer when the water table is naturally lower.

The residents of the pond were displaced for a time but some of them moved back in by the fall and in the spring the population was on the increase again. I was the lucky one because I got 5 or 6 truck loads of the stuff they removed from the pond bottom. I was filling in and area to increase my pasture size and this material once spread dried out nicely and yet had enough decomposed material to grow grass.

Randy