Cattails are a everyday occurrence in several North American settings, particularly occurring near ponds, and initially seeming rather innocent. At first you might see such a plant and dismiss it. You may even believe that same thing the following day, and the day after that, and perhaps several days following that, until that one day you peer out the window, and the entire pond has been taken over to a point in which you need an air-boat to navigate it as if you were situated in the everglades.

So, now that you have been overrun by the cunning army of the cattail, what kind of offensive can you mount? Will you rally your troops and go in with guns (or pesticides) blazing? Or will you opt guerrilla warfare? That is completely up to you, since regardless of what method you decide on, the plants are not sentient, so they will not see your approach, indicating that you will always have the element of surprise. That additionally entails that you can likely take off that camouflage and take the paint off of your face.  Those binoculars and gas mask likely will not be required either.

The options at your disposal are not few for cattail removal, and naturally, since that pond belongs to you (unless for some reason you’ve decided to do battle with your next door neighbor’s pond), you’re welcome to pick any of the following techniques:

Physical Removal – You’re of course, free to try pulling the cattails up by yourself. But if you do that, attempt to get to them when they are very young, lest they gain strong roots and end up extremely difficult to pull. That will also turn into a huge chore, because by the time you get around to pulling them, chances are they’ve now taken over your pond, and there will be a ton of them.

Cutting – You can chop down the cattails, though keeping mind that it’s smart to chop them somewhere around an inch below the water line so you’ll starve them of oxygen and kill them.

Lowering the Water Line – Cattails, just like anything else, require water in order to survive. By reducing the water line, and making sure that the plants don’t get everything they require, you’ll discover they expire rather quickly, unless of course they have actually spread their seed, in which case you will need to do it again the following year. If you’ve no issue with manipulating the water in your pond every single year, then this will be a realistic choice.

Pesticides – A final decision, since pesticides can hurt the organic life within your pond, which sort of defeats the reason for having the pond. Regardless, you may continue purchase any pesticides that you require from stores, or online. Only remember the hazards.

Keep another thing in mind, you may think cattails are a serious issue and you need to eradicate all of them, but know that cattails help stop erosion, and that’s a very good thing. Therefore remember to leave at least a few of them alive, because all plants and animals (wasps not included) has a purpose, even if the reason is as yet unknown.