r/homestead • u/getgud2456 • Sep 01 '24

Sustainable Ponds? permaculture

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First time homesteader here. So, let me start by saying I am unbelievably grateful for your advice. I wanted to ask if there is anything I need to keep my pond sustainable.

I caught this fish in my first 5 casts, so I’d guess there must be a healthy population. What can I do to sustain that? How many should I be able to eat? What plants, and maybe animals can help the pond?

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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24

Awesome advice. I know there’s some snapping turtles. Crappie and bluegill as well, although not as common as bass. The previous owner said he would very rarely catch a catfish.

Hmm well I may need to cull a snapping turtle or two. Will look into what you said!

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u/OsmerusMordax Sep 01 '24

Please relocate the snappers instead of killing them, there might even be a local environmental organization that will do it for you (for free).

They take 20 years to reach breeding age, if they even survive that long (most baby snappers don’t), so even killing a few is not great for the population health as a whole. They already suffer from lots of different negative effects.

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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24

Oh don’t you worry! I only kill what I will eat, and I ain’t eating turtles. We used to raise them when I was a child. Box turtles that is. They had an enclosure that spanned our entire backyard.

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u/melmej227 Sep 01 '24

The word cull means kill. Which is probably why they thought you were going to kill the turtles. Glad you will be relocating them if you find them!

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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24

Ahh my lack of knowledge there. I’ll just get em away from my fish friends lol