How to Get Rid of Cattails – What Are The Basics?

Cattails are a familiar occurrence in many North American settings, most especially occurring near ponds, and at first appearing rather innocuous. At first you might notice such a plant and dismiss it. You may just think that same thing the following day, and the next day, and perhaps many days after that, till that one day you peer out the window, and the entire pond is taken over to a point in which you require an air-boat to navigate it like you’re situated in the everglades.

So, now that you’ve been invaded by the evil army of the cattail, what kind of offensive can you do? Will you rally your army and go in with guns (or pesticides) blazing? Or will you choose guerrilla warfare? That is completely up to you, because no matter which technique you choose, those cattails aren’t sentient, so they won’t see you coming, indicating that you’ll constantly possess the element of surprise. This also entails that you can likely get rid of the camouflage and take the paint off of your face.  The binoculars and the gas mask probably won’t be required either.

The choices available to you are not few in the area of cattail removal, and of course, since the pond belongs to you (unless for an unknown purpose you’ve decided to attack your neighbor’s pond), you’re welcome to choose any of these techniques:

Physical Removal – You’re naturally, welcome to try pulling the cattails up by yourself. If you do this, attempt to pull them when they are very young, otherwise they will take sturdy roots and end up extremely hard to pull. This will also turn into a huge chore, because by the time that you get around to pulling them, chances are they’ve already overrun your pond, and there’ll be a ton of them.

Cutting – You can cut the cattails, though keeping mind that it’s smart to cut them about an inch below the water line so as to deprive them of oxygen and kill them.

Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, like anything else, need water to live. By reducing the water line, and ensuring those plants don’t get all the things they require, you will discover they die out rather quickly, unless of course they have already spread seeds, meaning you’ll need to do this again the following year. If you’ve no problem with manipulating the water of your pond every single year, then this will be a viable choice.

Pesticides – This should be a last resort, since pesticides may damage the organic life in your pond, which sort of defeats the reason for having a pond. Regardless, you can still buy any herbicides which you require from stores, or online. Just don’t forget the dangers.

Remember this, you may believe cattails are a serious issue and you need to destroy each and every of them, however take note that cattails help stop erosion, and that is a very good thing. Therefore leave at least a few of them standing, since every creature (wasps excluded) serve a reason for living, even though that reason is obscure.

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