Digging a pond?

[42769vette]

You'd be surprised how quickly trees can be removed with a good sized excavator ! They can make short work of a lot of trees in no time flat .

I know they can pop them out like picking up brass. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that popping out the tree was the easy part of the battle. The hard part was removing roots, and sealing the area with clay after removing roots.

You can fit what I know about building a pond in a thimble, so seriously correct me.

 

[avboiler11]

They way they moved dirt around at my place, I'm not at all concerned about roots below the water line. There's also a fair bit of compaction from the machines, which will help...obviously having clay in your soil helps with that (I've got plenty of clay on my place).

 

[ws6duramax]

No big deal at all . Your dam is the most important part of the whole thing . They dig a keyway and move dirt and start building the dam . As long as you have enough dirt available for the dam , trees are no problem . My pond is roughly an acre , it was a COMPLETLY wooded site . I had trees over 40'' on the stump . I cut most on them down and sold the timber . They popped out all the stumps and smaller trees , built a big fire and buried the rest .

The dam will always "some" debris in it . Whether it be rocks or roots etc.. , but there is so much good dirt in it , it shouldn't be an issue .

I know they can pop them out like picking up brass. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that popping out the tree was the easy part of the battle. The hard part was removing roots, and sealing the area with clay after removing roots.

You can fit what I know about building a pond in a thimble, so seriously correct me.

 

[IndyDave1776]

All I can add is that if you get to China, you dug too deep!

 

[42769vette]

No big deal at all . Your dam is the most important part of the whole thing . They dig a keyway and move dirt and start building the dam . As long as you have enough dirt available for the dam , trees are no problem . My pond is roughly an acre , it was a COMPLETLY wooded site . I had trees over 40'' on the stump . I cut most on them down and sold the timber . They popped out all the stumps and smaller trees , built a big fire and buried the rest .

The dam will always "some" debris in it . Whether it be rocks or roots etc.. , but there is so much good dirt in it , it shouldn't be an issue .

Thanks for the clarification. Clay is not in short supply on the farm, so mabye it wouldnt be as big a issue as I thought.

 

[ws6duramax]

It's a big no no to plant trees or leave trees to close to the dam . They can reek havoc on things . I'm guessing you're thinking about some of the farmers ponds for cattle . Most of the time they just push dirt up wherever it looks good for water retention for livestock . 95% of the time it isn't done correctly and trees aren't taken out , topsoil isn't strip away and no keyway is put in . If trees are left in the wrong spot , you will have problems .

Thanks for the clarification. Clay is not in short supply on the farm, so mabye it wouldnt be as big a issue as I thought.

 

[avboiler11]

Checks written and work complete!

Final result: kidney-shaped pond with a maximum depth of about 12-13’ and a water line perimeter of 620’. Not sure surface acreage, but I'm thinking every bit of 1/2 acre and possibly up to 3/4 acre. We decided a couple days ago to make it a bit bigger than original plan and I'm glad we did - I've been out of town the last few days and seeing it tonight it is bigger than I thought it would be.

Friggin’ AWESOME, and I cannot recommend Doug Bergman enough if anybody else wants to have a money pit dug!

 

[ws6duramax]

Checks written and work complete!

Final result: kidney-shaped pond with a maximum depth of about 12-13’ and a water line perimeter of 620’. Not sure surface acreage, but I'm thinking every bit of 1/2 acre and possibly up to 3/4 acre. We decided a couple days ago to make it a bit bigger than original plan and I'm glad we did - I've been out of town the last few days and seeing it tonight it is bigger than I thought it would be.

Friggin’ AWESOME, and I cannot recommend Doug Bergman enough if anybody else wants to have a money pit dug!

That's great to hear . I've known him for 30+ years and never had a reservation about recommending him . He has a good ability to visualize and also explain how he would like it to turn out . Honest guy , that does exactly what he promised and sometimes even more .
So glad you're happy and enjoy it !

 

[patience0830]

I love the smell of deisel and freshly dug sassafras roots!.

 

[MindfulMan]

I love the smell of deisel and freshly dug sassafras roots!.

Righteous words ! Righteous pond !