How to Remove Cattails – What Are The Basics?

Cattails are a normal phenomenon within several North American settings, most especially happening near ponds, and initially appearing rather innocent. Initially you might see one of these plants and dismiss it. You may even believe that same thing the next day, and the next day, and maybe many days following that, till that one day you peer out the window, and the whole pond has been overgrown to the point where you need an air-boat to navigate it like you’re situated in the everglades.

So, now that you have been invaded by the cunning army of the cattail, what sort of counterattack will you mount? Will you rally the troops and go in with guns (or pesticides) firing at will? Or will you opt guerrilla tactics? The methods are completely for you to decide, since regardless of what technique you choose, those cattails are not sentient, therefore they will not see you coming, indicating that you will always have the element of surprise. That also entails that you could probably take off the camouflage and remove the paint from your face. Those binoculars and gas mask probably will not be needed either.

The options available to you are not few for cattail destruction, and naturally, since that pond belongs to you (unless for some reason you have decided to do battle with the neighbor’s pond), you are welcome to pick any of the following methods:

Physical Removal – You’re of course, welcome to attempt pulling those cattails yourself. But if you do this, try to get to them when they are young, lest they gain strong roots and end up extremely difficult to pull. This would additionally turn into a huge chore, because by the time you get around to pulling them, odds are they’ve now overrun the pond, and there will be a lot of them.

Cutting – You may chop down those cattails, though remember that it’s smart to cut them somewhere around one inch below the water line so you’ll starve them of oxygen and they will die.

Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, just like any other living creature, need water to survive. By lowering the pond’s water line, and making sure those plants don’t get all the things that they need, you will find they die out rather quickly, unless of course they’ve already spread seeds, meaning you’ll need to do this again the following year. If you’ve no issue with lowering and raising the water line in the pond every single year, then that will be a realistic choice.

Pesticides – A final decision, because pesticides may hurt any organic life within the pond, which would cancel out the reason for having the pond. However, you can continue buy any herbicides that you need from stores, or online. Only don’t forget the risks.

Remember this, you might believe cattails are a major problem and you have to eradicate each and every of them, however take note that cattails help stop erosion, and that is definitely a good thing. So try to leave at the very least a few cattails standing, because every creature (wasps excluded) has a reason for living, even if that purpose is not known.

Filed Under: cattail removal