permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

<< A few more details : The pond exists as a result of massive landfilling 
with contaminated soil - It is a man made pond in a man dmaged soil so 
there is nothing "natural " about it apart from the miracle of its 
having naturalized itself IN SPITE of our best efforts.... >>

Claude--  Your pond sounds like it has achieved a natural balance with no 
input from you. If the reeds are happy there, they are probably living off 
stuff 
you wouldn't want in the pond anyway. It may be that they will die back of 
their own accord once they neutralize whatever they're living off, and new 
species will succeed them of their own accord.

If there's a desirable water plant native to the area that shuns your pond, 
my guess is you'll never get it to flourish there until the pond changes its 
character. So I'd probably let the reeds do their thing.

Caveat: I'm completely untutored in these things, but have managed to keep a 
koi pond in natural balance for many years, just by noting what keeps the 
fish 
happy.

Michael