Cattails are a familiar occurrence within several North American environments, particularly happening near ponds, and initially seeming fairly innocent. At first you might see such a plant and think nothing of it. You may just believe the same thing the next day, and the day after that, and maybe many days after that, until that one day that you peer out the window, and your whole pond is overgrown to a point in which you require an air-boat to navigate it like you’re situated in the everglades.
Now that you’ve been invaded by the evil army of the cattail, what kind of counterattack will you mount? Would you organize your army and run 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 which method you choose, the plants aren’t sentient, therefore they will not see you coming, meaning that you’ll constantly have the element of surprise. This also entails that you can likely get rid of that camouflage and remove the paint from your face. Those binoculars and the gas mask probably won’t be needed either.
The options available to you are many in the area of cattail destruction, and naturally, since that pond is yours (unless for some reason you have decided to attack your neighbor’s pond), you are free to pick any of these methods:
Physical Removal – You are of course, welcome to attempt pulling the cattails yourself. If you do this, try to get to them when they are very young, otherwise they will gain sturdy root and end up extremely hard to pull. This would additionally become a huge chore, because by the time you start eliminating them, odds are they have now overrun the pond, and there will be a lot of them.
Cutting – You may chop down the cattails, but keeping mind that it’s smart to cut them somewhere around an inch below the water line so you’ll deprive them of oxygen and kill them.
Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, like any other living creature, require water in order to survive. By reducing the water line, and ensuring that the plants don’t receive everything they require, you’ll discover that they die out pretty fast, unless of course they’ve already spread seeds, meaning you will have to do this all over again the following year. If you have no issue with lowering and raising the water level of your pond every single year, then this would be a realistic choice.
Pesticides – This should be a last resort, because pesticides can damage any organic life within the pond, which would cancel out the reason for having the pond. Regardless, you may continue purchase any herbicides which you require from both stores, or from online. Simply don’t forget the risks.
Keep another thing in mind, you may believe cattails are a serious issue and you have to destroy all of them, however take note that cattails serve to prevent erosion, and that is a very good thing. Therefore remember to leave at least a couple cattails standing, since all plants and animals (wasps excluded) has a purpose, even though that reason is as yet unknown.