Subject: Farm pond question From: "Glen Granberry" <Grantime@prodigy.net> Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com Date: Sun, 30 Dec 01 01:54:49 Message-ID: <MOD$011229.28243@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
I have a 2 acre earthen pond located in southern Alabama (zone 8). Currently
I have it stocked with bluegill/bass/catfish. We do fish occasionally. As
the pond is basically in my front yard I want to add plantings to make it as
attractive as possible. While trying to research this I found wildly
divergent suggestions depending on whether it is a "fish pond" or
""watergarden". The fish pond literature says to discourage almost all
plants growing in the water by fertilizing to get algae bloom. While the
water garden stuff is the opposite. The watergarden literature generally
cautions against planting much of the available plantings in earthen pond
due to many of the plants being invasive. I think that I understand the
reasons for the differences but here is my question(finally)-- Is there a
middle ground? Are all of the submerged plants dangerous or difficult in
earthen ponds? Does any one have any recommendations for primarily marginal
plantings that wont completely take over? I do want to allow the plants to
naturalize but just not take over. Ideally I would like to plant a
mixture that would be good for my fish, be nice to look at and would also
help the various kind of wildlife that I have visiting.