How to Get Rid of Cattails – What Are The Basics?
Cattails are a everyday occurrence within several North American settings, particularly occurring in or around ponds, and initially seeming rather innocent.
At first you might see such a plant and think nothing of it. You might even believe the same thing the following day, and the day after that, and perhaps several days after that, till that definitive day you look out the window, and your whole pond has been taken over to the point where you require an air-boat to get through it as if you were living in the everglades.
Now that you’ve been invaded by the evil army of the cattail, what sort of counterattack will you mount? Will you rally your army and go in with guns (or pesticides) firing at will? Or will you opt guerrilla warfare? That is totally up to you, since no matter what technique you decide on, the plants are not sentient, so they will not notice your approach, indicating that you will constantly possess the element of surprise. That additionally means that you could likely take off the camouflage and remove the paint from your face. Those binoculars and gas mask probably won’t be needed either.
The options available to you are not few for cattail removal, and naturally, since the pond is yours (unless for an unknown purpose you have decided to attack the next door neighbor’s pond), you’re welcome to choose any of the following methods:
Physical Removal – You are naturally, welcome to try pulling those cattails up by yourself. But if you do that, attempt to get to them when they are young, lest they gain sturdy roots and become very difficult to pull. That will also become a all order, since around the time that you start pulling them, odds are they’ve already taken over your pond, and there will be a ton of them.
Cutting – You can chop down the cattails, though keeping mind that it’s wise to chop them about an inch under the water line so as to 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 that the plants don’t get all the things that they require, you will find they expire rather quickly, unless of course they have already broadcast seeds, meaning you will have to do this all over again the next year. If you’ve no problem with manipulating the water level in your pond every year, then this would be a viable option for you.
Pesticides – A last resort, because pesticides can hurt any organic life within your pond, which sort of defeats the reason for owning the pond. However, you may continue buy any herbicides which you need from both stores, or from the Internet. Only remember the hazards.
Keep another thing in mind, you may think these cattails are a major problem and you have to destroy all of them, but know that cattails help stop erosion, and that is a very good thing. So try to leave at the very least a few cattails standing, since all plants and animals (wasps excluded) has a reason for living, even though that purpose is as yet unknown.
