Pond Cleaning

dirtworksequip · Apr 4, 2008

If you just go easy with the hoe and don't get carried away you can remove the cattails pretty effectively without gouging into the pond bottom. The only thing is the black muck makes somewhat of a mess on the shoreline, even that is fairly easy to scoop up in the front bucket of your loader.

Usually if you do a good job it will last for a couple of years with only a few cattails coming back in that period. Cattails are very prolific and hard to completely eliminate without chemicals and that really isn't the best enviromental solution.

Sincerely, Dirt

ammodram · Apr 4, 2008

Since cattails are great wildlife habitat for birds and other critters, and are often a natural part of the pond ecosystem, I leave mine in, unless they are threatening to choke out the whole pond.

If you have the time/energy and don't want to tear up the pond bottom with a backhoe, you can cut off the plants at the base by hand using a sharp lineolum knife. Digging them out is really going to disturb the site.

There is one species of cattail (Typa angustifolia) that probably originated in Europe and is now considered invasive in the eastern U.S, but there is another common native species (Typha latifolia) that is a natural part of pond ecosystems. Lesser cattail, also called narrow-leaved cattail (T. angustifolia) has narrower leaves than common cattail (T. latifolia). Also, the male flowers of lesser cattail are separated from the female flowers by a section of stem. The flowering head of the lesser cattail tends to be much narrower than that of the common cattail.

Many land managers use the lineolum knife method to control the invasive one in wetlands that they want to keep free of it. The best time to cut plants is in the spring.

See the following:
TNC Global Invasive Species Team page
Invasive Plants of Ohio - Factsheet 11 - Narrow-leaved and Hybrid Cattail
Invasive Species -Common Cattail (Typha latifolia) - WDNR

I'm a biologist, and for me, I'd tend to leave the cattails in if they aren't covering too much of the pond. If they're really choking it out, they may be the invasive species. Maybe after you clean it up this time, you can keep after them with the linoleum knife method to keep them under control in the future.

-Matt

froggy · Apr 4, 2008

Look at this weed rake at The Pondguy:
Accessories - Lake Rake/Weed Eradicator Combo

Chuck K. · Apr 4, 2008

john_bud said:
What about using a chain drag harrow? You would have to attach a long chain or wire rope, walk around to the other side of the pond and attach to the tractor then drag it thru the pond. Would make for a long and slow day, but would be doable.

jb

That close to what I was thinking... I have some old 6' chainlink fence that I was going to cut a ~20 foot long section add some weight, place it on the far side of the pond and slowly drag it a cross the bottom to the near side with the tractor....

Redbug · Apr 6, 2008

That's a really good idea of using the chain drag harrow. You can get them wider than 6 feet. A 10 footer or so would be nice for that type of work. If it gets hung up on the bottom, I suppose you could unhook the rope, walk it around and pull it back the other way.