We have this creek that feeds our pond (not the only inlet) and the cattails are just such a pain. What do you recommend doing? We had them dredged two years ago by an excavator but it just ruins the surrounding grass and they’re back with a vengeance.
Anybody have any suggestions or ideas how we can begin to work with them? How do you manage them easier than we are?
by lynk1
22 Comments
Eat the roots or feed them to your pigs (if you have pigs). They’re full of starch.
Here i am, wishing my land supported cattails (admittedly, I want all the cool native plants and can’t have most of them, it’s not limited to cattails).
A place to start: https://www.mtpr.org/arts-culture/2018-04-02/cattail-plant-of-a-thousand-uses
You should be careful about wanting these gone, vegetation helps stabilize sediment and soil. If you remove these you could risk you creek washing out and potentially muking up everything downstream.
I have a friend with a small creek and pond and he wished he had cattails to prevent the whole creek to wash out when it rains.
An acre of cat tails produces more flour than an acre of wheat every single year. Just be happy you have a perennial food source if SHTF
Why are you destroying habitat?
If dragonflies and fish like them.. I like them 🤷♂️
Remembering that a weed is just a plant you don’t want genuinely helps me think practically about my garden/property.
Or just clench your love muscles really hard when you look at them. It’ll happen with time.
I love cattails, but they can also clog up areas you want to keep clear or flowing. Can you add large stones to the banks of where you don’t want them?
What you see as a nuisance, some see as a valuable resource. I personally love the young shoots at the bottom of the leaves, where it is very light in color. Very tasty. Search for all the uses online. every bit of the plant is useful. Also, the plant is good at cleaning toxins from water, good for if that is a need of your water supply. But, if the water isn’t a clean source and free of pollutants, then your cattails are not good to eat either. Fresh vegetable, starch source, pollen flour extender, animal feed, weaving material, fibers, thatching, compost, bio fuel, bio char, the list goes on…
‘Edit to add: I am envious of your cattail bounty.
Edit #2: Looking at your second photo just now, what you likely see is a mass of dead cattails choking the pond at the creek inlet. But, that plant matter can provide cover and habitat for wildlife, frogs might benefit, for example. But, if you really don’t want it there, you could dredge it ashore, even with a very long handled rake. Then compost it with other materials from your homestead. Compost has good value for use, sale, gifting, or trade.
I love cattails (they grow in the ditches where I live and I have a wet spot in a part of my lot with a few. I think they look great and as others have said can be eaten (roots, young shoots, pollen, etc have different uses at different times of the year).
In what way are they “a pain” OP?
You don’t actually explain the problems you have with them…. Other than the money you spent to have them removed and failed.
Start making baskets out of them and selling the baskets. Handmade baskets are not cheap.
What exactly don’t you like about them? Too tall? Too messy looking? Can’t see the water? Makes the creek wider? Slows down the water reaching your pond?
Cattails provide an essential ecosystem service by slowing down water and sediment, which increases infiltration into the soil around the creek to support a larger riparian corridor. Riparian corridors are messy looking but they keep water cleaner and cooler and help protect from flooding and erosion. They also make good fire breaks in dry regions.
Edit: tall vegetation near your pond and creek will provide habitat for insects like dragonflies (which eat mosquitoes) and mayflies (which feed fish). A buffer of vegetation around the pond will also help clear up the water so it doesn’t look so murky and gross.
Why remove native plants from their natural ecosystem? They provide an extremely important role in both your ponds health and the health and stability of your entire local ecosystem.
Growing up in Louisiana you learn to love and even appreciate what these guys do for our environment.
Not to mention it’s really funny tricking kids and even adults into taking a bite out of the cattails and watching it explode lol
Realize that red wing blackbirds are in serious population decline and they need tall wetland vegetation to build their nests. They particularly like cattails.
As kids we thought cattails were magic fun! (Pro tip: not indoors) Cattails really spice up a flower arrangement.
They are excellent filter plants. Do you use this pond for anything? Without them it may become a stinking mess.
You can also eat the tubers, and use the fibers for making cordage. You can eat young cattail (seed pods) if green, or use the mature ones for insulation or fire starting material.
Redwing blackbirds love them!
Why do you care about the surrounding grass???
They are also super good for the water quality? Leave em be
Relinquish some modicum of control. Cattails want to grow around ponds, just let them. I don’t understand why you’d want the banks totally clear like they are — worse habitat for fish, frogs, and birds.