Written by Cattails are a frequent occurrence within several North American settings, most especially happening near bodies of water, and at first seeming rather harmless. Initially you might see one of these plants and dismiss it. You may even think that same thing the next day, and the day after that, and perhaps many days after that, till that definitive day that you peer out the window, and the entire pond is taken over to a point where you require an air-boat to navigate it as if you were situated in the everglades.
Now that you’ve been overrun by the evil army of the cattail, what kind of counterattack can you mount? Would you organize your troops and go in with guns (or pesticides) blazing? Or will you opt guerrilla warfare? The methods are totally for you to decide, since no matter which method you decide on, the cattails aren’t sentient, therefore they won’t notice your approach, indicating that you’ll constantly possess the element of surprise. This additionally entails that you could likely take off that camouflage and take the paint off of your face. The binoculars and the gas mask likely won’t be needed either.
The options at your disposal are not few for cattail removal, and of course, since the pond belongs to you (unless for an unknown purpose you’ve decided to attack the next door neighbor’s pond), you are free to choose any of these techniques:
Physical Removal – You’re of course, free to attempt pulling those cattails yourself. But if you do this, try to get to them when they are young, otherwise they will gain strong root and become extremely difficult to pull. This would additionally become a all order, because around the time you get around to eliminating them, chances are they’ve now taken over your pond, and there will be a ton of them.
Cutting – You can cut the cattails, but keeping mind that it’s smart to cut them about one inch below the water line so as to deprive them of oxygen and kill them.
Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, just like any other living creature, require water in order to live. Through lowering the pond’s water line, and making sure that the plants don’t receive all the things that they need, you’ll find that they expire rather quickly, unless of course they’ve already spread seeds, meaning you will need to do this again the following year. If you have no issue with lowering and raising the water of the pond every year, then that would be a viable option for you.
Pesticides – A final decision, because pesticides may damage any organic life in the pond, which sort of defeats the purpose of having the pond. However, you may continue purchase any pesticides which you require from both stores, or from the Internet. Just remember the dangers.
Keep another thing in mind, you may think cattails are a major issue and you need to eradicate all of them, but know that cattails help stop erosion, and that’s a very good thing. Therefore remember to leave at the very least a few cattails standing, since all plants and animals (wasps excluded) has a reason for living, even if that reason is not known.
