Thought maybe I would see some Yellow Iris shoots near the water's edge, QA!? ; ) I will be doing a little experiment myself in a couple weeks with bank erosion and repair of muskrat damage in one or two pond bank locations. To address rock sliding, I'm going to place large retaining wall blocks in about 2' depth water at the base of the bank in about a 30' long section. Just a single row, no stacking. Then dump limestone slag above the retaining wall block. I'm not trying to rip-rap the entire pond bank, just the section(s) where muskrats previously dug into the banks. I consider the Yellow Iris part of my erosion control strategy, but not the major contributor. Retaining wall block is too expensive IMHO for larger applications, but since I'm focusing on one section only that covers 30 to 40' of the bank, I can live with that limited expense. Again, trying this as a first experiment with the pond at full pool. I've already placed some slag along this pond bank section about 18 months ago, so I'm attempting an even stronger barrier with block and stone. I suspect the retaining wall block are a bit harder (not much) than standard cinder block with regards to being submerged. I guess I'll find out in a few years. I'm actually hoping the limestone slag improves the water pH and alkalinity since I struggle with suspended clay silt in our pond too. Not expecting miracles though...
CD, I think QA's guidance would be less expensive and just as or even more effective than my experiment in erosion control. BTW, if you pursue rock or limestone, be careful to specify ROCK and maybe not SLAG. I thought I was getting rock and instead got slag that's rock, broken concrete, brick and block fragments. My concern would be not knowing where the slag originated from. It could have contaminants on surface and/or absorbed. Any of which might leach out into your pond water. Good luck on your project.
