How to Kill Cattails in a Yard

Many homeowners are pleased when cattails grow along the edges of their ponds, as they can create a charming aesthetic and provide areas in which fish may hide and play. However, because cattail plants possess not one but two methods of reproduction, they can slowly creep away from the appropriate growing areas and onto the rest of your lawn. The root systems of these plants grow very deep, and trying to dig them out is generally frustrating and futile. The best attack is a controlled chemical eradication using a customized mixture, followed by the removal of the top plant growth.

Herbicide activator
Herbicide
Garden sprayer
Hedge trimmers

Instructions

- 1
  Combine ¼ oz. of herbicide activator and 1 oz. of herbicide in the reservoir of a garden sprayer. The activator will allow the herbicide to penetrate the protective coatings on the head, stem and leaves of the cattails, which would normally make it resistant to the chemicals.
- 2
  Spray the mixture all over the cattails you wish to remove. Be sure to cover each entire plant from the tip down to the base of the stem. Watch the cattails for two weeks and reapply the herbicide mixture to any plants that persist.
- 3
  Cut down the dead cattails after two weeks. This waiting period is necessary to allow the herbicide to reach the plant roots to avoid new growth. Clip through each plant as close to the ground as possible with hedge trimmers.

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