There's little doubt that coontail would be of some benefit as a lawn fertilizer or addition to a compost heap. As would any organic material.

Trouble is, coontail is an aquatic plant. As such, it's mostly water. I found this out a few years back while serving as the secretary for a fishing club on ranch with two ponds and a 30-acre lake near San Antonio.

Try, as I did, to pull a mess of it from your pond and stack it on the shoreline. When you return in a few days, you will be stunned to find, not a giant stack of coontail, but a shriveled little clump of brown weeds. The longer you let it dry in the sun, the less product you will have in your pile.

You will be disappointed at the amount of benefit you derive from the effort.

Mark McDonald
Editor, Pond Boss