Aren't they a tuber?
If so, I guess you have to treat time of year-dependent.
Hope you painted the brush killer instead of spraying.

Nope, rhizome
Digger there's GOBS of info on control and eradication on Google. One Ohio state site confirmed that the treatment time depended on what product you used. Some required multiple applications and in every case you need a good sticking agent because the leaves of cattail are waxy.
Simple dishsoap may not be adequate. get googling

Organic method is to pull by hand. Please do a search for 'Euell Gibbons cattail pollen pancakes'. Some interesting reading and eating to be discovered. Be certain to copy the recipe and cook a batch of his pollen pancakes this spring. Delicious!

And don't forget to make sure the poison you use is OK near water. Most brush killers are not. Don't want to kill the fish and other good things in the boggy area.

And yes, pulling by hand is very therapeutic, if you have the energy. Honeysuckle pulling is my remedy for aggression.

I don't recommend pulling catbriar down from treetops as remedy for aggression.
Took me over 3 weeks to get over the whiplash when one stubborn briar tore loose.

Hate the thought of using poisons near wetlands.
My brother has five kids and growing up at their lake house, pulling marsh grass and reeds was their punishment for misbehaving.

Dottie, your brother must be a great parent! And sorry about the battle with the catbriar.

I like cattails.
The ones I planted didn't do any good.
What can I do?

Basil, come to my house and dig some up! ;)

Where are you? Would the cattails work in a container?

I have been growing cattails in a bug tub for more than 5 years now, so yes, they work in a container, plantbug.

ncdirtdigger

Where you live?
How did you get your cattaills started?

basil, we'd love to see more of your pond progress and all the shrubs you planted near it and your woodland walkways.

How about posting some recent photos for us?

And, (if I recall correctly) what were the results of your
'poison ivy wine' project?

Basil, I live in the Waxhaw area, south of Charlotte. My cattails came on the winds of nature. If you would like to come dig some, you are welcome to them. Shoot me an email at NCdirtdigger at mac dot com.

http://agrowingcuriousity.blogspot.com/

My 9' deep pond was dug in 2001 - maybe 50' squarish widening the year 'round stream. In 2006 Hurricane Alberto dropped so much rain that silt from the forests at the deep springs' head waters along the mile up filled it in to where it is now maybe 6" deep. To redig it would be $5K and special permits from the County land use, watershed, sanctuary, and multitudinous whatevers' governing bodies. So, one bank is covered with native bamboo, jewel weed, and pinxter azaleas to the edge and the other lower side is trying real hard to be a marsh, complete with beavers who have to be dispatched by the USDA every year (because our stream flows into a reservoir). So, cattails have appeared. I don't want to get rid of them but I do want to find out how to use them for food. Kinda like lemons for lemonade though I'd rather limoncello the lemons and find out how to eat the whole cattail like Gibbons said I could. Who can point me in that direction?

Nancy

Nancy, while you're at it, harvest the jewelweed for poison
ivy/oak rash relief.

" Posted by tamelask z8a NC (My Page) on
Tue, Apr 17, 12 at 13:20

I have been growing cattails in a bug tub for more than 5 years now, so yes, they work in a container, plantbug."

Thanks tamelask for the info. plantbug

sure thing. and i meant big tub, not bug tub, LOL!

Dottie,
I had same problem with my pond that nancedar had.
A big part of my pond was filled up with sand from big rains.
Two big trees have fell over the pond.
I will redo it better latter.
I have had other things that I need to do that been putting off for years.
Lot of my time is mowing (my bigger mowers are broken and using a way to small mower). I got to get big mower fixed are be mowing ever day of the growing season. The pond is a mud hole now maybe some cattaills growing in it but don't see how. The cattail I planted never had any tails.

Dottie,
Some of my walkways got wash away the same time that all the sand filled part ot my pond. Most of the shrubs are doing good.

I had no poison ivy wine project.
But some what afraid that I will get poison all over my body.

We had a large pond in Kansas, a natural pond about 5 acres. We burned the cat tails. It took several years but eventually we got rid of them.

Nancy,

Here's one article about using all parts of the cattails:

http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/foraging/cattail.php

I also noticed a youtube clip about it when I did the search using the words "cattail root flour."

Cattails can grow very densely and with no input other than from mother nature. With the right enzymes, you can even ferment them into ethanol. Unfortunately, those enzymes are still fairly expensive, but once the cost comes down, the cattail could be high in demand. And the land used for ethanol from corn could be put back into food.