How to Remove Cattails – What Are The Basics?
Cattails are a familiar occurrence within several North American settings, particularly happening in or around ponds, and at first appearing rather innocuous. At first you might notice such a plant and dismiss it. You might just think the same thing the following day, and the next day, and maybe several days after that, until that definitive day you peer outside, and the whole pond has been overgrown to the point where you need an air-boat to get through it like you’re situated in the everglades.
So, now that you have been invaded by the cunning army of the cattail, what kind of offensive can you do? Would you organize your army and go in with guns (or pesticides) firing at will? Or will you choose guerrilla tactics? That is completely for you to decide, because no matter what method you decide on, the cattails are not sentient, so they won’t see you coming, indicating that you will constantly have the element of surprise. This additionally entails that you could probably take off that camouflage and take the paint off of your face. The binoculars and gas mask probably won’t be needed either.
The choices available to you are many in the area of cattail destruction, and of course, since the pond is yours (unless for some reason you’ve set out to do battle with the next door neighbor’s pond), you are free to pick any of these methods:
Physical Removal – You are naturally, free to attempt pulling those cattails up by yourself. But if you do that, attempt to pull them when they are very young, lest they gain sturdy root and become extremely difficult to pull. That would also turn into a huge chore, since by the time that you get around to eliminating them, odds are they’ve now overrun your pond, and there’ll be a lot of them.
Cutting – You may chop down those cattails, though remember that it’s wise to cut them somewhere around an inch below the water line so as to deprive them of oxygen and they will die.
Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, like any other living creature, need water in order to survive. By reducing the water line, and making sure those plants do not receive everything that they require, you will discover that they expire rather quickly, that is unless they’ve actually broadcast their seed, meaning you will need to do this again the next year. If you’ve no problem with lowering and raising the water level in your pond every year, then that would be a viable option for you.
Pesticides – A final decision, because pesticides may hurt the organic life within your pond, which would cancel out the reason for owning a pond. However, you can continue purchase any herbicides that you need from both stores, or the Internet. Just don’t forget the hazards.
Remember this, you may think these cattails are a serious problem and you have to destroy all of them, however take note that cattails help stop erosion, and that is a very good thing. Therefore leave at the very least a few cattails standing, because all plants and animals (wasps not included) serve a reason for living, even though the reason is as yet unknown.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 3:01 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.