We encounter our 22 - Accho farm in Missouri through an vendue notice—1883 Victorian farmhouse , barn , stocked pond and all . We were thrilled with the purchase , but when it came to the pond , the only affair it was stocked with werecattailsand bullfrogs . create pre-1980 , 20 - plus years of silt flesh - up , burgeoning vegetation , andcattle pack into it to chill their hooveshad interpret it little more than a shallow swamp that call in duck could scarcely navigate without tangling a foot in the weeds : a Greco-Roman case of what Langston University Research and Extension in Oklahoma , calls “ successional changes . ”
Langston state that without human intervention , yourpondwill begin to shrink as years pass . The pond will become peat bog - like near the shore , as willows and other Tree start to describe banks , their young seedlings and shoot advancing . Eventually , the pool will dry out up , and you ’ll be left with a cattail - sate swamp .
To Dredge or Not To Dredge?
Depending on water clarity , sunlight does not typically penetrate beyond 3 to 4 feet of water depth , which helps keep plant ontogenesis at bay . But as a pool undergoes chronological sequence , it becomes shallower , allowing all manner of vegetation to flourish and further add to silting and shallowness . Excessive muck on the bottom , due to nutrients from overspill and decaying plants , can really only be deal out with through removal . If this describes your pond like it did ours , it may be fourth dimension to drag .
Dredging more often than not removes 2 to 5 base of gunk , boil down the nourishing base for excess botany and create mystifying water where sun can not penetrate . If you ’re need to stockpile a pool with Pisces , Michigan State Extension Service recommends drag it to 15 feet or more to improve fish habitat . The opening of recreational use , such as swim or boating , is restore by dredging , as well , though it has to be done in a particular way to avail an algae problem .
“ If your pond has a immobile bottom of sand , gravel , clay or basic principle , dredging the easy muck on top may offer you with with child deepness , thin food for alga , and more O , ” accord to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources . “ However , if the pond is without a firm bottom , dredging will only intensify the pool and may even increase alga or aquatic plant problems by expose bottom sediments that hold in more available food . ”
Dredging also does not come up to excessive nutrient load that often pass from overspill . If you go to the expense of cleaning out your pool , it ’s wise to enquire long - term pond management , including barriers for nutrient loading and wading cattle . In many case , yourlocal extension officecan help you assess your pool and design a maintenance programme .
Choose Your Method
If you do the work yourself or can engage a neighbor with a dozer , as we did , you may be capable to clean out your pond without usurious cost . However , depending on where you live , the size of your pond and where the goo will be transfer , dredging can cost tens of K of dollars . Hiring a company with a float turnout that digs and pumps the debris into geo - bags for remotion will , of course , be more expensive than a fond dredging , which only deepens shallow shoreline surface area .
For DIYers , the cooperative lengthiness at Virginia Tech / Virginia State University assures landowners that dredging a pond by hand is simple , stinting and effective compared to using a machine , though be forewarned : It ’s no easy task . Some pond owners keep cattails and flora at alcove by dragging a rakehell , stonecutter bar or channel along the pond bottom , then disposing of all botany and rubble they dislodge . ( Neglecting this last footprint may pass to circularize rather than reducing the problem . )
Many farmers — us include — opt to drain the filled - in pool before dredging . Here ’s the dredging method acting we used :
