# Removing Cattails?



## DJH (Aug 9, 2013)

My pond at my new place is covered in Cattails. I will not remove them all because I know they are good for the Eco system. But they stretch the entire circumference of the pond. I plan on leaving a thick batch on 2 sides of the pond. What's the best way to remove them myself?


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Do you have a backhoe?  If not, it's probably best to hire it done if you have as many that need removed as it sounds.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Backhoe sounds like the best option. Gas weed eater with a blade, and a couple products called Fluoridone and Diquat for smaller areas


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## DJH (Aug 9, 2013)

I'd like to do it myself. We have a week off here coming up in mid sept so ill take that week to do it. Ill have a few buddies helping. Ill have to order those chems you listed and invest in a back hoe. Do bass like to hide out in Cattails?


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

DJH said:


> I'd like to do it myself. We have a week off here coming up in mid sept so ill take that week to do it. Ill have a few buddies helping. Ill have to order those chems you listed and invest in a back hoe. Do bass like to hide out in Cattails?


I would think if the water was deep enough and the plants spaced pretty well , they could be there. But I would think the baitfish and the panfish and other food sources would use them a little more and the Bass in turn would use that to their advantage. I fished a private pond down here that had a small fishing deck and cattails were immediately to the left and the right and it was just perfect for the children around( with a little casting help and positioning) and the kids always had a blast. It also had a patch of cattails to the west below some trees for some summer shade and that helped us with a little earlier topwater bite. This pond was about an acre and had these 3 patches in well placed areas, trees all around except the east side was clear.


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## Rod Hawg (Jan 13, 2011)

I have done it numerous times. Typically what I do is work certain areas hard with a pair of hedge clippers and cut them all the way down to the bottom. Unfortunately they will grow back. I'll keep cutting them as they grow back and eventually the cold weather will kill them. Thus very little/no cattails in that area the next year. They're a pain to deal with but if you get on top of them you'll be in good shape


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

We just did a whole pond. Started with hand clippers and ended up with a chain saw went way faster. treated with the chemicals listed above and will have yo do it a few more times but they are thinned out. I never knew that some cattails are invasive species and the ones we had were.


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## icebucketjohn (Dec 22, 2005)

FYI: Cattails grow in 2ft of water or less.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Been there done that.

Cat tails are very difficult to remove by hand. The root system is extensive and they spread like crazy.

The new house had a pond and had about 80% of the pond bank covered with a deep growth of cattails. I did not want to kill them with chemicals and leave the rotting vegetation in the pond. This pond has a high nutrient load as it is and I didn't want to add to it.

I borrowed a friends mini excavator and dug them all out. The ones that were missed or started to grow back were eliminated with a chemical treatment for watermeal and duckweed.

Cat tails are normally in shallow water but will grow in water deeper than 2 feet deep and I had a entire pond full to prove it. 

If you dig them you better have a plan on what to do with after you get them out. They create a LOT of plant material to deal with. Did I mention that the root system is extensive


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Before of the island and after.


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## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

That looks like a lot of hours of hard work, good thing you had some heavy equipment. How many hrs do you think you had with that project? Hope they don't come back. How many acres is the pond? Just tryin to get an idea how much work involved. Have a similar situation on property out of state.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

I spent 4 days digging with the mini excavator, had a guy with a long reach backhoe and his dump truck for two days.

A whole lot of tons of stone to build a land bridge to the island to dig the cattails and remove the trees and then dig our way back off of the island to create the water channel again.

A hole on the back of my property that was 8' deep, 8' wide and 40' long to bury all of the removed cattails.

A dose of sonar to kill the watermeal and duckweed and all remaining cattails.

It was a week long, non stop, daylight to dark, fairly expensive project, but the results have been great and are still going well after 4 years, no cat tails since

The pond is 3/4 acre


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## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

Sounds like everything is under control now. I had to get a cold one after reading your post-made me thirsty. LOL. Thanks for the info.


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## Jtom (Apr 6, 2007)

When I bought my place the pond (~1 acre) had cattails roughly 8' thick all the way around except on the dam where the slope is steep. I ended up pumping it down several feet and bringing in a track hoe operator who cleaned them all out then used a dozer to put in a 3:1 slope (he stated that this slope ratio would prevent them from coming back). That was 7 yrs ago and no cattails have come back. And, I have blue herons every day in the summer/fall who I am sure bring the seed on their legs..


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