Over the past several months WBTW and Carolina Clear have been following the care of a stormwater pond in Carolina Forest.
Back in May we installed shoreline plants and a floating wetland, and after six months, they have made an impact.
Ben Powell with Clemson Extension says “We can see a lot of success in how much vegetative growth has happened. It is definite that the wetland, the floating wetland is drawing nutrients and sequestering carbon and biomass out of the pond, and it is getting it from the pond, so just the sheer fact that it has grown so much tells us that it is removing something from the pond.”
The shoreline plants improved the aesthetics of the pond this year, but their main purpose is to prevent erosion, which they will continue to do for years to come.
With winter right around the corner, now is the time to trim back all these plants. they are perennials and will grow back next year. cutting back these plants has two benefits.
- It is going to make more vigorous growth in the springtime when it gets warm again.
- All that material that has been trapped in that plant, we don’t want it to go back in the pond, we were trying to remove it from the pond. So we want to harvest that material, take it somewhere else, compost it or dispose of it.
The buffer zone at the shoreline should also be cut back if you want to stop woody vegetation, which will quickly become trees and large shrubs.
Proper year round maintenance of stormwater ponds will keep them a healthy, attractive part of the landscape.
