Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Bullrush Containment / Management

One of my plans is to grow some water lilies from containers, in my yet-to-be-filled but shallow pond. (Less than 2 feet) I presently have bullrushes growing in two containers that I propose to plant out, once the pond is filled.

My question relates to a comment from another pond local who said that bullrushes can take over a small, shallow pond, if not constrained. What sort of thing works well for that?

1) Use the bottom half (third?) of a plastic drum, with the top under the water level, so roots can't spread? Or will they creep over and out the top, anyway?

2) Use a ring of a plastic drum? (No top or bottom) Will that allow roots to creep out the bottom? Perhaps even lifting the plastic drum ring as the clumps grows / spreads?

3) Get a 'second' concrete ring from the local drain pipe maker and use like the plastic drum ring?

Am I wasting my time because seed will drop and be dispersed around the pond edges, anyway?

This is an ornamental pond with no planned fish stocks.

I believe bullrush also propagates from seeds so it may be hard to keep any seeds from falling outside the containers. Only ways I can think of to contain it are use of a herbicide or surround it with deep water.

I also have bullrush around my pond.

FWIW......during the summer when the pond level drops I back the brush hog over at least half of them to limit the take over.

What's wrong with Bullrush? Where I have it it prevents GBH predation. Wouldn't mind it around most of my pond. Sure beats cattails!

Pardon my ignorance, but what's GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm? No, can't be )

Really, I don't know what's wrong with bullrushes. As observed in my start-up post, another pond local said that bullrushes can take over a small, shallow pond, if not constrained.

So maybe the question should be: how much of a problem could that be?

The pond margins are planted with flax, nerines, and the like, so I don't want them engulfed. I want stands of bullrushes around the margins, but I don't want them to takeover all the pond margins and so crowd out the other plantings.

From other forumites' comments, it seems that seeds would nullify any grow-in-containers strategy.

Not sure if I've posted it before, but this is what the island in the pond-with-no-water looks like.

Getting water into it, is this year's project.

GBH=Great Blue Heron

Here's a link to the acronyms used on the forum you might find helpful

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92442

One alternative might be to establish an alternative rush instead of the bullrush. From what little I have read, bullrush can get pretty tall. There are lots of varieties of rushes, all the way down to the very short spike rush.

I don't know enough about it to make a recommendation, but my thought would be to establish a shorter variety of rush to preempt the spread of the bullrush.

Just a thought. No personal experience other than having planted a couple different varieties of rushes along my pond. But have not had them there long enough to tell if the results will be as expected or hoped.

I believe that the common name, bulrush, can refer to several different plant species and genera. Are folks talking specifically about cattails?

I guess I'm lucky as my bulrush is not terribly invasive and is easily cut with a weedcutter if I choose to do so. Unlike submersed weeds it is crisp and slices off well with a razor sharp weedcutter.

I'm actually hoping it will eventally mostly surround my pond though.

Cattails are a different story: I spray it as soon as I see it! I had it nearly take over one of the ponds once!

There's obviously quite some taxonomical dilemmas involved. I suspect that I have the cattail type of rush, but can't know yet, as what I have growing in buckets was from something self-seeded in the to-be pond bed. I presume blown in on the wind. It hasn't been there long enough to show any seed heads, as yet.

Thanks for the acronym explanation. I don't plan to have any fish, so bird life wont be a problem. We also have the native king fisher that would be delighted to harvest any gold fish.


Where are forumites' pix uploaded to, here? I can't see any albums or the like.

That looks like cattail to me. It can be very invasive in my area. There are a lot of better choices. If you like the look of cattail, consider giant bur-reed if it is native in your area.

Common or Giant Bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum) is easily found on the Internet, but whether or not it's available here is an unknown. However, it has a relative here - Sparganium erectum - that's listed as an invasive species in a pest management strategy document for northern parts of New Zealand.

Another thought....If you in fact have cattail, you already have spread by rhizome contained by having the plants in containers. Cattail seed heads are large and easy to see. Just remove the seed heads before they mature.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabetical-index/bulrush/

See also soft rush and spike rush on same web site.

FYI

Good tip - thanks. We do have one cultivar, here, so it should not be too hard to obtain some.

Great bird picture Perry.

Just a copy from elsewhere - I can't accept any credit or plaudits.

We have quite a few different species of spikerush here, and I like them around the pond. Just watch your eyes. I had a nasty poke from one while pulling cattails. It slipped in behind my glasses and after having a headache for a couple weeks (as well as a blood red eye), I got some antibiotics that helped.

I have a very good natural stand of a very short variety of spike rush (only about 4" tall when it seeds out) in my old refurbished pond. It was either there before I redid the pond or the birds brought it in. But it is a very thick, dense stand right where the bulk of the water inflows into this pond from crop land.

I dug plugs of it about the first of December and put it various places at water line around my main pond. I hope it takes hold. On the TAMU site it said there are some varieties of spike rush that will grow completely submerged. Would be nice if this variety would grow in a few inches of water up the bank a little ways. It appears to me it should not be a problem of it growing too rank and taking over, but provides a dense grass like cover around the bank where it is growing.

I just hope it takes hold in my main pond.

Another input...I planted some creeping rush (common rush) last summer and it seemed to be doing well. It was only maybe a foot tall and was growing both on shore and in a couple inches of water.

What is there about it that attracts you, so much?

I would not say I am attracted to it a lot. But I like it because it is green and growing rather than rock or dirt or clay. It appears to help control erosion where it has taken hold in my old pond. I don't see where it could become a major problem like cattails that can get huge and take over shallow portions of a pond. If it gets established it might keep something else worse from establishing in its place.

I guess I just don't see a lot of down side to it as something green growing at water line. That and I have it on my place free of charge. I don't have to worry about paying for it, getting it shipped in, or it dying on me. If it dies I either will get some more and try it again or not. No big deal. If I buy a thousand dollars worth of plants and they all die or don't end up being what I want, it is discouraging. I could have been scuba diving at a nice place for a week instead for the money wasted.

It is not that I think it is anything great. It just seems like it might be something not too bad. It seems keeping out bad stuff from the pond at times is as much of a chore as trying to do good stuff. This might keep some of the more bad stuff at bay that might try to colonize the shore line. Birds bring in various seeds all the time.

To add....I figure anything that soaks up some nutrients, reduces FA and improves water clarity. Rushes in the shallows also provide habitat/forage for lots of critters.

An old thread on rushes.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=345012

The spike rush I have looks like the short one pictured in the TAMU link above. But in that picture it appears they are growing a sample of it in potting soil and it is rather sparse. In my pond it is thick as hair on a dogs back and looks something like a plush indoor/outdoor carpet. Only grows about 4-6" tall. Just looks like a nice carpet growing along the wet portion of the shore line.

snrub, that rush grows here like that also, and it survives being 24" or more under water for a few months at a time providing it gets sunlight. In those instances, it makes great GSH spawning habitat!