Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Catail removal

Catails are taking over my one acre pond in Oklahoma. What is the best way to do a total removal? Spray, pull out, burn, ?

Spray with glyphosate and a surfactant! "Rodeo" or "Aqua Star" are brands that are approved for use around water.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/a-fact/0011.html

Shorty's right but are your cattails still green this time of year? Obviously once they are brown for the year the spray won't do you any good.

Also be aware that the herbicides work the best when there is a good amount of plant surface to spray. If you cut the plant off and then spray it's not going to be that effective.

Here's what I do: I spray the fully leafed plants and once they turn yellow I cut them off with a weed rake to remove any organic loading. Any new ones that come up are also sprayed.

Of course they spread by rhizomes and they will come back over a period of time, but if you keep zapping them you'll get ahead of them.

How big is your infestation (around the whole pond or part? 6' out from the shore or more or less? How many years of growth?

IME with this plant; If the infestation is less than say 5 years old, chemicals would probably work just fine. You would have to stay on them a couple of seasons with herbicide to completly eradicate. Also mechanical removal by hand, once dead, would be manageable. As mentioned above, the plant needs to be actively growing for the gly to work.

If they are well established and you have the means, mechanical removal with equipment would solve your problem quickley. You would still most likely need to chemical treat new growth a few seasons after.

Rodeo is what I use, and as Cecil said, it's a process. It took several applications over a few months to remove mine.