What to seed on new pond bank?

[JHH]

We just built a new pond and was wondering what to seed the banks down with. Cows will be fenced off of coarse.

Does coastel grow good this far north?

Pasture next to it is in timothy and orchard grass. JHH

 

[dun]

Plant fescue and clover. It won;t do real well but it will eventually fill in and help prevent erosion

 

[smuff76]

I'm not real sure why Fescue and clover wouldn't do well? It seems to do pretty well everywhere else in Missouri. You should probably wait until february for the clover and just frost seed it. If there are a lot of trees around the pond I would suggest orchardgrass. You should also use a cover crop of some sort (wheat, rye, oats, it doesn't matter). They will come up quick, they are cheap, and you won't have to use much. They should hold your soil until the grass takes over.

There are a number of Bermudagrasses that say they can go into Iowa. I don't know how much I would trust that information as far north as you are. It is also the wrong time of year to plant bermudagrass and I don't think you will find any at your seed dealer.

 

[poorboy]

I'd probably go with just fescue or fescue orchard mix. My new pond has some steep spots to bushhog around or I left off the clover so I could just keep it up with spraying 24d. I guess it depends on the situation.

 

[dun]

I don;t even brush hog the pond banks except for one area to get to so we can fish the pond. The outside of the dams are grown up in all sorts of strabge weeds, but the quail do well there

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Seed the sloped banks with a fast-growing seed then cover the slopes with an "erosion control blanket" available from Nursery supply houses. Then, overseed in fall with a cool season grass. You hold the "blanket" down with 6" x 1" U-shaped landscape pins. This blanket is bio-degradeable after 12-18 months. Not that expensive...a lot cheaper than erosion.