Pond vs Lotus

[Pat]

I have a significant amount of Lotus plants in one of my ponds. They are attractive, have nice flowers, and interesting seedpods often used in commercial floral arrangements. Anyone have experience with just how invasive they may become? Is there much danger they will become so thick that they will "take over" and spoil fishing, canoe paddling, etc?

Would grass carp control them? We were considering the possibility of propagating them to ponds within view of our new house (under construction) but not if it would create an out of control situation.

Pat

[JazzDad]

Hello Pat. Once established, nearly every water plant I know of will take over the pond if it gets a foothold. The lilies and lotus will only grow from a certain depth, so when you get to that magic point, you should have open water. So, now you have to find out the type of lotus you have, and determine the maximum depth from which they'll grow. Many folks like these plants circling the banks of their pond, as they provide shade for the fish. Which brings up the next question: are you stocking these ponds? Some Bluegill and/ or Bass? Now we're getting into an area that The Pond Boss magazine forum may help you.

[LazyJ_Arabians]

Too fibrous for grass carp. Aquatic herbicide works wells on overgrown ponds but you don't want to kill too much at a time as the decomposition will deplete oxygen. You can control it pretty easily in controlled plantings by shaping and thinning once a year with a cultivator-type rake making sure you get the rhizome clump. Difficult to transplant successfully and now is the preferred time while you can still see it and it's not too cold to get in the water with it. Excellent fish habitat and I think it's pretty also. Every pond should have a few lily pads floating on it and a willow tree or two on the shoreline.

[Pat]

JAZDAD, Nine of my ten ponds have fish. #9 has only perch that I know of and #10 hasn't been stocked yet but I'm thinking fathead minnows and catfish. I am also thinking of grass carp for some of the ponds. I also have various frogs, mostly leopard and bull and a few kinds of turtles; red ear, snapping, alligator snaping, and I think Mississippi mud. I don't know if grass carp will eat lillies, lotus, or cat tails but if yes, then that would be an ongoing natural control.

Eight out of ten of the ponds were pre-existing and I don't know the ages nor depth profiles. I did plumb thte depths of one pond when considering a "pond loop" for a "ground sourced" heat pump (would that be pond sourced?) and it was a bit over 15 ft at the deepest. It was a few feet from maximum capacity when I made the measurements.

The only pond with lotus is the lowest it has been in years. The dam leaks and we have had a drought. The lotus are all around the edges with a lot on what is now drying mud. Years of neglect with trees growing into the dam is part of the problem. From what I can observe and surmise at the "lotus" pond, the lotus does not grow in very deep water. Much of the lotus is not actually in the water now and I can estimate or measure the depth of the farthest out/deepest lotus and add the known depth lost from when the pond was at its previous normal depth. This would give me an empirical data point for the greatest depth from which this species grew in our climate.

Thanks for the comments which served to prime my idea pump.

I had thought that if the lotus got too carried away with its spreading I could harvest the leaves fairly easily and retard its growth. (Untested theory) It is fun to walk the bank stiring up great numbers of tiny little frogs that hop in all directions bouncing off of the large lotus leaves. While walking the pond bank I felt something crawling up my leg inside the pants not out. It was approaching my knee when I shook my pants leg and dislodged a small frog to my great relief. I didn't get his reaction.

I guess I need to sound the other ponds and profile the depth contours. This would give me an idea as to the worst case sceanario or maximum area where lotus would probably be able to grow.

Thanks again for your input.

Pat

[JazzDad]

Wow, another thing you mentioned, Pat: <font color="blue"> </font color> The dam leaks and we have had a drought. The lotus are all around the edges with a lot on what is now drying mud. Years of neglect with trees growing into the dam is part of the problem. <font color="black"> </font color>

Tree roots in a dam can become channels for water to migrate through the dam. Sometimes more so when the tree dies, and the roots rot. A point to consider if a breaking dam poses danger to something downstream!

[Pat]

JazzDad, Yeah, I'm like hip man to the groove with respect to the dead roots being like water pipes to drain a pond. Sorry, I almost slipped into hip talk (must be your handle!)

I'm in a damned if I do, damned if I don't, situation. Previous owner(s) let trees grow up in and near the dam. If I cut them it will make for a distinct possibility of havine dead roots rot out and drain the pond. If I wait, a tree may die and do the same thing. One way is a sure loosing situation and the other is a maybe so I took the maybe.
A better solution is probably to delete the trees and add more dirt to the dam to seal it. The real deal is that I have more ponds than I need and this one is a lower priority than some others.

As there is nothing immediately down stream of value that would be endangered, I'm trying to not worry too much about it. When we aren't in a drought it fills pretty nicely even though it is the "headwaters" for a stream that starts at the base of the dam.

Pat