How to Kill cattails and or controlling cattails could be a full time job as these guys are fairly aggressive with a root system that pops up a new stalk just about anywhere.

Cattails may take their time getting to your pond or show up in the first year. These guys don’t take long once they start and can become a real nuisance in a short time. But on the other hand they are good in a way, the small fish have a place to hide from their predators, birds nest in them, help break the water for erosion control and a safe haven for the smallest of bugs to help with the food chain of the pond even frogs use them for their hang out. Another useful aspect is to help control geese, with a width of 2-3 feet from the pond to the shore the geese will not want to tread thru them in fear of predators.

So Cattails are useful in the whole scheme of things but when or how much is enough? Depends on the pond owner. Personally it is free aquatic plant you don’t have to buy and spend the time planting, they come back every year, can be used as shade for the pond. Over the years I’ve let them go as they see fit  cattails over growing.

Ok on with how to kill cattails, starting by hand, shovel, cutting below the high water line and with machine.  Using the Pond Weed Cutter we could wait just before winter and cut the cattails below water level. This will help next year to slow down the growth because the cut off stock below the water can’t receive oxygen, and be sure to get rid of the dead decaying stalks and seed heads that are in the water with the Pond Rake . Leaving the seeds and stalks to decay, create more unwanted nutrients for more cattails, algae food and muck. Caution: when removing and dumping the cattails be sure to put them in an area where the wind won’t blow them or the seeds back into the pond. Or let dry out and burn them if it is legal in your area, even use for compost.

Using a machine such as a backhoe can be very effective in removing cattails along with their root system. Be sure the pond does not have a synthetic liner or only having a thin clay liner because with each scoop of the bucket you’ll be removing some of the clay in order to actually remove these roots.

These are the safest ways without using chemicals or taking a chance of harming the environment.  With that said there is the chemical way of dealing with the cattails called AvocetPLX. Although effective in controlling them we need to watch we don’t harm wildlife, other wanted plants and our drinking water supply. Caution, some states do not allow the use of chemicals and other state you’ll need a permit to apply chemicals.
Be sure to watch the video below…

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How does a summer fish kill happen? Wow what a year, spring seemed to last forever and the rain seemed never ending. Then all the sudden the faucet was turned off and hasn’t turned back on again. At the same time the rain stopped it turned into summer temps’ and has been here since. Now we want rain for the gardens, crunchy brown grass, crops and of course the ponds are slowly getting smaller.

With the hot temperatures and lack of rain the water has warmed up as well, no need to “get use to it” just walk right in. Good for us but not the fish. You see they can stand some pretty warm temps’ and they will just slow down a little. The biggest thing to be concerned with is how much dissolved oxygen is in the water and to what depth does the oxygen reach?

Why does this matter? Fish need oxygen just like we do. But a pond without aeration or a poor aeration system does not get enough oxygen to the bottom of the pond where it is needed. Down at the bottom there is these guys called anaerobic bacteria. They live in the muck slowly eating away at it, they create some bad stuff. The “stuff” is toxic gasses to fish, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. These gasses accumulate at the bottom and build towards the surface, see what’s happening, the fish are being pushed to the surface for more oxygen.

Seeing the fish at the surface of the pond gasping for air is the state of an emergency. For quick oxygen you could use a display aerator fountain or even a boat motor propeller partially in the water to break the surface tension and create oxygen. Bottom diffused aeration would not be for an emergency but actually a long term cure for the pond, the fish, water quality, muck reduction and pushing those bad gasses out of the pond.

A note of caution not all system are created equal. Some say good for an acre but what is the actual gallon per minute of water they are moving? Is the system turning over the entire water volume at least once a day? Same with the diffuser itself and the design so it is moving water off the bottom of the pond at the mud water interface where the oxygen is actually needed, to break down the muck and maximize oxygen content. Sure sound simple but wait a minute, let’s say the diffuser doesn’t affect or start moving water until 20”-24” or more from the bottom. If the pond is 20’ deep the fish maybe safe…but what if the pond is only 5’ deep? There is only 3’ left for the fish to try and breathe, but the gasses keep building and the warmer the water the less oxygen it holds.

This year has been bad for a lot of folks with summer fish kills. Some had no aeration while others did, which was due to the type of system, poor design or not sized properly. Why wait and take that chance of losing your fish. It is a sad day walking to the pond and seeing them all floating. Contact us with your pond location and we will work with you to calculate the proper aeration system to meet your pond and fish needs. See also the Pond Management page for a free MP3 download.

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How about this nice warm weather? Some think it UN bearable while others are soaking it up, too bad we couldn’t save it for February when the digits on the thermometer are single or negative and the pond is iced over with white stuff piling up all around.

No rain, no wind, high humidity and soaring temperatures really play havoc on the ponds.

With the intense sunlight beating down on the pond all day long the water keeps warming up and depending on the size of pond could reach bath water temps. With the warmer water temperatures combined with the photosynthesis accelerating the weed and algae growth. No wind so no ripples or waves to help break the surface of the water leaving the ponds very stagnant and not much chance of any oxygen exchange from air to water. Then with no rain the pond is evaporating, or simply leaking out leaving the pond with less water. Believe it or not the rain does aerate the pond but in a small way and only an inch or two deep. But does help to break the smooth glossy surface of the water, make a little movement on the water to help break up the formation of algae.

There are a few steps that can be taken to help our ponds in these extreme days, some permanent some a short term fix. With no rain and evaporation taking place and you’re running a fountain it would be a good idea to limit the hours of run time during the day and run more in the evening. This will help keep water in the pond rather than shooting it in the air, exposing more water to evaporate.

With no wind our ponds are stagnant, no movement leaves the nutrients in the water a chance to grow and mature eventually turning into algae even weeds. As for current weed growth we can help slow the process down and remove weeds manually with a weed cutter and rake. After piling up the cut weeds take them to the garden or for composting. Once the weeds have been removed this will allow more sunlight into the pond and the remaining weeds can grow again due to, remaining roots and sunlight. One way to help retard weed even algae growth is to use Pond Dye to minimize the sunlight penetration and photosynthesis, just like putting sunglasses on the pond.

With the above weather situations there is an invisible culprit that we can only feel if we are swimming. Where there is colder water at our feet and warm up by our shoulders. This is called thermal stratification where in the colder water there is much less oxygen and the slow bacteria’s(anaerobic bacteria) feeding on the muck are creating bad gasses such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide even ammonia, which is toxic to the fish and could create a fish kill.

The main work horse for the pond is bottom diffused aeration where the diffusers are on the bottom of the pond, releasing tiny bubbles which break this thermal layer and releasing these bad gasses to the atmosphere.

Bottom diffused aeration allows the bacteria that thrives in oxygen (aerobic bacteria) to the bottom of the pond to help reduce muck at a faster rate. Pond aeration can help with all the problems above, no rain no problem at we are aerating from the bottom to the top of the water column. No wind or movement is also taken care of with aeration as the bubble are moving up to 4500 gallons per minute keeping the entire water column moving and essentially turning over the pond volume at minimum twice a day. Quick Tip: If your pond is getting too warm, run your aeration system at night to help cool the pond water temperature.

Learn more tips and tricks about Pond Management.

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