Aquatics plants that can be harmful to the pond, harm the dam and grows like 
wild fire.
Woody plants on the dam can be very dangerous to the dam it’s self. Roots from these plants can weaken the dam and the roots can be a source for water to escape around those roots creating small seeps or leaks at first then as time passes more and more water can trickle out creating larger holes in the dam.
Not only harming the dam but every year the leaves fall adding more and more unwanted nutrients and muck to the pond, who wants that? Our goal is to keep the nutrients out that create weeds and algae. One last note on the pond willow is their hunger for water, willow consume more water than a typical tree which is absorb by the roots in the water. If the roots are not near water they will travel to find water. You can see on the right the roots are much longer than the little tree.
Phragmites is a plant that as soon as you see it kill it. Preferred way is to dig it up and keep an eye on it if it comes back keep digging, or by chemical if necessary. The root system is very similar to the cattail but it’s ability to grow is remarkable. Here’s what I mean. If one stock should fall to the ground, every place it touches the ground becomes a new rooted zone. It grows straight up but can also grow out into the water or along the ground and begin dropping roots to the bottom of the pond or land.
Sure it looks cool once it’s all grown up but the pond can spread out take over your pond in a few years. Depending on the species the plant could reach 6’ – 19’ tall. We dug this plant up, moved on to the next to pull a couple young willow and I thought the Phragmites fell out of the tractor bucket, nope it went 20′ back to the plant we just dug up… be very careful with these plants. Get them young and hand pulling is not too bad.
WhatPond is striving to be chemical free in pond management. Yes it takes a little more work to achieve but no worries about harming the environment or yourself in the process, Chemicals can be Addictive.
