Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Best plants to filter water?

I'm with John on this one...I have cattails at the entry points of the watersheds for my big pond. Both main entries feed from farmer's fields, so there's a lot of potential for silt as well as extra phosphorous/nitrogen/etc. I have large patches of cattails as a 'buffer zone' the first 50-75 feet or so at those inlet points. In just the past 5 years or so I can already visually verify that the silt is being captured by the cattail patches - which means it doesn't go in to the main body of the pond.

With that said, cattails are a giant PITA to keep from spreading. I've spent a good bit of time and expense keeping them from popping up all over.

But they're fulfilling a more important need than the trouble they cause in my opinion.