Cattails
Pond & Lake Q & A
Q: The cattails in my pond are out of control. How do I control them without disturbing the wildlife? - Richard of Minnesota
A: One of the most common of all aquatic plants, cattails can proliferate if left unchecked. Growing from 3 to 10 feet tall in dense colonies around the margins of ponds and lakes, the plants’ strap-like foliage emerges from large, creeping rhizomes in the muddy bottom in the spring. Soon, the cattail’s foliage and spikes, or the plant’s brown cylindrical flower, grow, eventually spreading its seeds and propagating new plants throughout the lake.
Though they can be a pest, a small controlled area of cattails will provide an ideal habitat for amphibians, insects, birds and fish, as well as helping to prevent erosion. But too many of these plants can create an unappealing look and begin to transform a healthy lake or pond into marshland, and eventually dry land.
Controlling cattails is a simple three-step process: You’ll need to spray a herbicide, cut the cattails down and remove them.
1. Spray: The most common way to control cattails is to apply an EPA-registered herbicide and surfactant product, like the Avocet & Cide-Kick Combo. Read the product labels for proper dosage rates, but to treat a 2,500-square-foot area of cattails, mix 8 ounces of Avocet and 4 ounces of Cide-Kick with 2 gallon of water, pour into pond sprayer (like the Airmax Pond Sprayer) and apply onto the water surface where the cattails are growing. Allow the mixture to absorb into the plant and the root system, the most difficult part of the plant to kill, for one to two weeks.
2. Cut: Once the herbicide has had a chance to soak into the cattail’s root system, the plant will turn brown and become limp. At this point, use an aquatic weed cutter to cut at the base of the plants, allowing for easier removal. If you can control your pond’s or lake’s water line, you can also cut the cattails 2 to 3 inches below the water surface to cut off the plant’s supply of oxygen and drown the plant.
3. Remove: Use a pond and beach rake to remove the cut cattails. You can compost them, burn them or dispose of them at your local green waste disposal site.
To completely eradicate cattails in a pond, this process may need to be repeated several times. Once you have the plants under control, they can make a nice addition to your landscape and encourage wildlife to call your pond or lake home.
POND TALK: How do you control cattails in your pond?
Filed under: Cattails, Emergent Weeds, Pond & Lake | Tagged: Cattails, control cattails, kill cattails
I would love to try this spray to rid my pond of cattails, but will it harm the fish?
Thank You
Pam
Pam,
Great question and no it will not harm your fish, unless maybe you through the bottle at them =) .
Avocet and Cide-Kick have no water use restrictions and when used according to the label everything will be fine.
Thanks for the question!
I am looking for a quality windmill (20-25 ft tall) that could be used to pump air into my pond. Do you have something like that or know where I could get one?
Thankyou
Bruce,
Yes we do, the tallest we have is a 23′ windmill. The tower is 20′ and the windmill head adds 3 more to it once put together.
Here is a link to the windmills.
How big is your pond? Windmills usually are only good for ponds less than an acre in size. Also, if you are looking for aeration, there has to be constant wind or you won’t properly aerate it.
One last question, how far away from power is your pond? Most don’t know this but some electric aerators like Airmax Aeration can be run up to 1000′ from the power source.
How can it be run 1000′ feet from source? I am 600′ from the source and have been looking for an alternative like this. Your site doesn’t mention anything about this opportunity.
Thanks!
Raymond,
You are absolutely right and it needs to be called out more.
What you can place the cabinet next to the power source and run Direct Burial Airline from the cabinet all the way to the shoreline and from there connect the Easy-Set Weighted Airline that comes with the system.
Here is the link to a blog post about installing a system away from the pond. Installing a Pond Aeration System Away from the Pond
In all honestly, and i’m sure your aware of this, but electric aerators are still, at this point, more efficient at aeration and circulation than windmills. So I would highly recommend an electric aeration system over a windmill.
Let me know if I can be of anymore help.
Will the avocet and the cide kick be safe for pets ? our dog loves to swim in our pond and search for fish and frogs, and our cats and dogs often drink from the pond.
thanks
Tammy
Tammy,
Avocet and Cide-Kick have no water use restrictions, which means it is fine to swim, irrigate or use for any recreational activity immediately after treatment.
Thanks for the question!
I’d like to rid our pond of cattails, but I see you can’t ship chemicals to New York. What’s a New Yorker to do to control cattails?
Linda,
Unfortunately, you are right we cannot ship chemicals into New York. You can use a <a href="http://www.thepondguy.com/product/692/310"Weed Cutter to cut down the cattails and remove them, but I would highly recommend contacting your city or county and have them point you into the right direction of a licensed applicator to treat your cattails before removing them.