Cattail Killer, or how to clean up around the pond?

[o2batsea]

Here's the deal...I have a small 1/2 acre pond that's part of the septic system. It's got a gentle slope into the water of maybe 10 degrees. The berm is somewhat soft when the water is high and in the summer it's rock hard when the water is low. The best time to cut is obviously when the water is low and the berm hard. Well the thing is that the cattails have really gotten out of hand and they are pretty thick in summer. I'd like to be able to nip them before they get monster sized which means risking a stuck and worse, tearing up the berm.
My thought is something like a giant sickle mower that fits the loader, or one that goes on a TPH but sticks out backwards so I can back into the edge of the pond. Maybe a giant chain saw. Of course it has to operate under water. I don't want to make something that is too highly engineered because I want to lick this problem and hopefully kill off the Cattails with chems.

Arsenal includes a Kioti DK45 Cab with a backhoe and loader, a Gravely 8123 rider with front attachment adapter and belly mower, a Gravely walk behind that's pretty much never moving again, and random weed whackers, pioneer tools and a Model 90 Brush Bandit (which has nothing to do with cattails other than maybe eating them) that I just refurbished.

Any brilliant thoughts? Many thanks.

 

[moonlite]

I have done quite well with Roundup. It will not kill the fish

 

[ToadHill]

Import a muskrat, they love cattail roots.

 

[trialsguy]

I hope its ok to mention another fantastic site like this one,

Check out Pond Boss Magazine go to the "ask the boss" and click on any of the forums. The guys over there are some of the best bunch of guys you will ever meet. Just like here, in fact I have posted this site over there when there was tractor questions. The roundup is fine for around the pond but the surfactant that is in round up is what is suppose to cause problems with frogs.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Depending on how big the pond is try a chain drag across the pond. If you have a long cable or chain you can drag it across the bottom and may drag them up to the edge.

 

[forgeblast]

how do cattails spread, rhyzomes or seed? dragging the heads where the seed might be may spread them even more.

 

[20 20]

The best way to get rid of them is to redig. If you can't do that then try to dig as much up as possible from the bank with your BH. I also took a push mower, made a handle to fit my mini excavator and use that to reach out and mow them down.
I'm against chemicals no matter how safe they are labeled. Just check how safe yesteryears chemicals were before they found them to cause some type of under lying problem.

I have a stupid question, you say the pond is part of your septic? What do you mean?

 

[20 20]

Import a muskrat, they love cattail roots.

this cracked me up . Muskrat love cattails that is for sure, they also love to destroy the side banks of a pond. I did have a beaver for a while he tore a crap load of cattails out, still wasn't enough though.

 

[bhostasa]

I have done quite well with Roundup. It will not kill the fish

Are you talking about regular Round up or is there some type of aquatic version?

I have some cat tails that I'd like to get rid of but have always been hesitant to use chemicals.

 

[tommcintire]

We had a pond as a kid, and the muskrats did do a good job on the cattails. Yeah, they burrow into the banks, but it is a tradeoff...

Unfortunately, cattails do spread both by seed and by rhysome. Mechanical removal before they reach the "puffy stage" is ideal.

If you are in a location that freezes during the winter, you also can cut them off at ice level and dispose of the tops. It doesn't eliminate them, but it helps. I used to use a shovel which I sharpened the edge on. (I loved ice skating).

Yes, Roundup will work, but be warned, it is not advised for women who are pregnant, nursing, or may become pregnant... My brother looked into it and found that while the "active ingredient" wasn't of concern, some of the other ingredients could be damaging to the unborn, and newly born... Better safe than sorry here...

-Tom

 

[forester2]

Round Up per se is not labeled for aquatic use. Rodeo is the aquatic label and is more expensive because of lower sales and higher costs associated with a specialty aquatic registration. Care should be taken using any pesticides but having concerns over something diluted to parts per billion in a 1/2 acre pond borders on paranoia especially with something tested to the extent glysophate has.

Check the MSDS on the deisel used in our tractors or the washer fluid in our cars and then put things in perspective.

 

[charlz]

I have a stupid question, you say the pond is part of your septic? What do you mean?

I'm curious about this as well. If it is... aren't the cattails also helping to clean the water?

 

[forgeblast]

We had a river near us that acted like a septic tank for most of the older buildings in town, the only thing that lived in there were carp/suckers and people called them brown trout as a joke.
DEP went through and fined and made everyone join up with the sewer system and now its a high quality trout stream. Even had some herons eating from it now. I just cant bring my self to fish it knowing what it was like before.
Is your pond part of the drain field?

 

[Piperflyer]

Muskrats sounds like the best alternative to you problem. It's easy to fill the bank back in & 5 cents will get rid of the muskrats when you don't need them anymore.

 

[ToadHill]

One of the warnings on Roundup is "Do not apply to wet areas or standing water." They do make a product like Roundup that can be used in wet environments but I can't recall the name.

 

[trialsguy]

Here are a few links to the pondboss forum, I would not ad any rats to a pond that doesnt have them already as they are very hard to get rid of and very damaging to your pond.
Cattail Plex? - Pond Boss Forum
cattails - Pond Boss Forum
cattails - Pond Boss Forum

And for manual cutting you can try one of these. I made my own using 1/2 rebar and used 3/4 banding material for the cutting edge, I just welded strip of banding on edge then sharpened to make a nice razor cutting edge and didnt cost me a thing.
Water Weed Cutter, Aquatic Herbicide, Pond Weed Removal

If you have a pond you could benefit from this site. Great bunch of folks that wont steer you wrong.

 

[o2batsea]

Wow thanks for all the good ideas. To answer some of the questions, the pond is indeed part of the septic system. On the Eastern Shore the soil is clay and does not perk. In order to be sure that the septic has been properly treated there are two septic tanks...one flows into the second. From there the treated overflow water goes out to the pond. It's pretty well taken care of by the time it gets there so it's not like there are solids going into the pond. It's designed by the county or the Corps of Engineers or someone like that who knows their **** (sorry couldn't resist that)
Anyway the muskrat thing...we have a critter called a nutria that's similar to a muskrat but they don't eat cattails. No love there.
I'm not against chemical warfare but just getting to the cattails that are in the pond is a challenge. Might have to do an amphibious assault by water.
I was hoping to bolt Optimus Prime or something to the loader bucket and have him flail all the cattails to within an inch of their lives and then bomb 'em with that glysophate stuff.
The cattails have to go because technically I'm supposed to keep the banks free of overgrowth in case someone from the county comes out there to inspect. I doubt anyone really ever will, but it's all part of a grand plan to get the pond looking good. The whole reason for buying the chipper was to clear away the trees that have grown up around the deer fence. The gate has fallen off the posts and it's all gotten generally shabby from neglect.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

There is a company called Aquacide that makes aquacide pellets which do a great job. The pellets kill the vegitation but won't harm the fish or insects. It is totally safe. I am against using chemicals too, but I know this is safe and sometimes, you just have to.

Just because an overzealous EPA and whacko environmentalists banned certain chemicals doesn't mean they were bad. The non-use of DDT has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands due to mosquitoes spreading malaria and is proven to be not near as harmful to humans as first suggested.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I made an extra reach stick a few years ago for my 12 000 pound mini excavator for ceaning arounds a pond edge. I made a plate with ears to fit my boom after I pulled the bucket off and put on 8 feet of 4x4 tubing. Then I took a small bucket off a Ditchwitch trenchers back hoe. I mounted it straight to the added stick to be dumped like an old cable hoe, just extend it out to dump. I had to becareful because it added alot of extra weight when extended. I t wasnt too bad as long as I would put the bucket o nthe bottom and drag it in. I went all the way around one side and I ditched the bucket and made a rake foot out of some old spring cultivator teeth. It workd fair then I added a cutter bar across the front of them out of 3/16 by 2 inch. It really worked great. I did another pond and sold the boom to the owner of that pond to go on his Case hoe.

 

[smiley]

The cattails have to go because technically I'm supposed to keep the banks free of overgrowth in case someone from the county comes out there to inspect. neglect.

Around here they'd likely throw you in jail for cutting them as if there's a cattail in a mud puddle it's considered a wetland. On a couple jobs I was on, they even had surveyors ribbon hanging over the roadside ditches that said, "FEDERAL WETLAND DO NOT DISTURB". Pretty hard to clean ditches without disturbing them.