Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Early season plants - Keep the curly leaf?

I have about a 1/3 acre pond that I'd like to add more early season plants. Looking for something that grows early in the spring to help keep the algae and chara from soaking up nutrients. There's currently a little bit of curly leaf pondweed growing in there (I blame the geese for bringing it). I've been pulling it out as I see it but wondering if it wouldn't be a bad idea to let it grow. It seems to grow from ice out to about July around here from what I've seen. Anybody had success managing curly leaf without it getting out of control?

The pond currently has pickerel weed and iris all around the edges. Now that those are starting to grow well (early June here in NY) the algae is starting to disappear and the pond looks nice again. If the curly leaf keeps the algae away until the pickerel weed takes over it might be a good situation but I'd like to hear some more opinions.

I'm also open to other plant ideas. I'm trying to get eel grass growing as well but so far it's been pretty slow going. Spatterdock or water lilies are another idea but not sure how early in the year they start growing to fill this gap of excess nutrients that the algae is currently using. I see the yellow flowers are out in some of the other local ponds around here.

I personally would exclude curly leaf pondweed if I could in my 4 ponds, but it got going strong in one of my ponds, but I credit the papershell crayfish for it being under control now. I also credit a heathy mix of marginal plants from keeping the algae under control in my first two ponds. My second two ponds have not yet had the fertility to feed an alae bloom, but unlike the first two, they are almost exclusively spring fed. Curly leaf pondweed is an exotic invasive species.

Curly leaf pondweed performs as you described, often going to seed and dying back in July in northern regions. , however it can spread very fast to the point of invasiveness. It promotes clear water to the point of the CLP can grow into 16ft-18ft of water. It is a nuisance, invasive species IMO. Try and implement control methods prior to it forming seed heads.

My 1/3 acre pond was overcome with algae until a couple of years ago when chara showed up, followed by curly leaf pond weed. I went from massive labor keeping the algae under control to mostly sitting on the dock drinking whisky in the evenings! The curly leaf pond weed was relatively well behaved until recently when it seems to have gained some kine of critical mass, now it's starting to take over.

I don't want to go back to endless algae raking so I need to find something to replace the chara and curly leaf. Like the OP I would really appreciate advice on what to plant and where to source it. Everyone in my neck of the woods that has a pond seems to prefer chemicals, no one is using plants or even attempting to create an ecosystem.

I am located in the NW corner of Montana, however, my surface temp is already 70F. I'm stocked with rainbow trout.