Re: Pond life vs. aquarium life

[David Marshburn <marshbur at cs_unc.edu>]

On Wed, 15 Jan 2003, Aquatic Plants Digest wrote:

> From: "Hopkins, Samuel" <Samuel.Hopkins at marconi_com>

> 	I live right outside of PA and I am currently building a 6 acre
> pond. In the spring I will be tasked with stocking my pond with plants.
<snip>
> Does anyone have any ideas on aquatic plants for pond use that
> aren't "too" invasive? 

you might consider letting the pond stock itself, if you can stand to wait
for it.  birds, in particular, should bring in seeds and plants samples
that will grow (also fish and invertabrate eggs).

if you're building a 6-acre pond, i assume you're in a rural area.  you
might contact a neighbor who has a pond and ask to collect some specimens.
along those same lines, you might be able to collect starter specimens
from public water areas.

all of these approaches will take a while to stock the pond with plants as
the plants grow in at their own rate.  i suspect you'll need to generate a
good oranic layer on bottom somehow (i don't know what you're starting
with, though).  you will probably get imbalances along the way, but i'd
have to guess that natural processes will smooth these out in the end.

good luck!
-david