How to Kill Cattails Without Harming Wildlife

Cattails provide food and habitat for wildlife in wetlands, but this invasive plant can quickly become a nuisance that takes over your lake or pond. Controlling the plant requires patience, since rushing to kill the plants can harm fish or lead to costly and difficult treatments later. A surefire way to kill cattails without harming wildlife is to pull new plants up by hand. However, this is not a viable option if you have acres of wetlands to manage. With the proper timing and tools, you can thin out or eliminate invasive cattails without harming area wildlife.

Granular contact herbicide
Aquatic weed cutter
Pond rake
Shovel

Instructions

- 1
  Apply a granular contact herbicide to cattails in the water using the instructions on the product label. For the least risk to fish and other wildlife, apply the herbicide before late June. Warm water contains less oxygen than cool water, and plants use oxygen as they decompose, quickly depleting oxygen levels in warm water for fish and other plants. For best results, treat a quarter of the area at one time, allow the plants to decompose for two weeks and then treat another section.
- 2
  Cut the plants at the base with an aquatic weed cutter once the plant becomes limp and brown. If you can control the area's water level, lower the water level at this time. Cut submerged plants three inches below the water surface to cut off the plant's oxygen supply.
- 3
  Rake the area with a pond rake to remove remnants of the cattail plants.
- 4
  Dig up cattail plants on land using a shovel. Be sure you get the entire plant, including the root. Otherwise, the plants will come back the next year.
- 5
  Burn the plants and remnants, or dispose of them at your local green waste collection facility.

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