My aunt has a pond and was wondering if planting horsetail plants would be good for it. Is it an invasive species? The pond is 2 acres with an island in it and about 14 years old. she wants to plant something native to help stop erosion. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Lee Gondran

Bump.

In my limited experience, horsetails do not compete really well against more modern (i.e. newer than dinosaur) plants. In the county park down the road from me, the horsetails have small areas of shoreline where they manage to live, but never seem to spread much if any.

For shoreline stabilization I think it is best to use spike rush genus Eleocharis. There are several species and no doubt some of them grow in LA. Horsetail usually does not grow much deeper that 6", thus they will work for shoreline stabilizaion. They can be a nuisance in low lying areas of crop fields. They are toxic to horses eating them producing a condition called equisetosis. I prefer spike rushes. YOu also might consider Lousiana iris, nice colorful shoreline plants.

Thanks for the input guys, I will relay this to my Aunt.