I try to spray as early in the morning as I can, say 6:30 - 10:00 am, on the theory that all the little plant pores are open. I haven't, personally, looked at all that many plant pores, but thats my theory, and I'm stickin' to it. I also think that it being cooler, the spray doesn't evaporate quite as quickly, allowing better penetration.

I've got some mess of cat-tails, thistle, and the wrong kind of willow below my pond, and I just got back from spraying the thistle. I have to spray the cat tails once a year with a heavy dose of RU, or they take over the place. It won't kill them all, it just knocks them back a bit. I'll do that tomorrow.

Thanks - that's just what I thought, too.

Have you tried the new spray, Milestone? I got some of that for the thistle and knapweed around my pond area. It's supposed to be very effective, and safe to spray around water. I have not tried RU on cattails, but I do mow all of them that I can get to with a brushhog. They have completely invaded my upper pond. Darned things!

Cheers,
Michelle

Me too! I spray early (Not 0630! I'm, hopefully, still sound asleep then!) But I try to get it done before it starts to heat up very much and before the sun is actually hitting the area very much. Just sprayed Weed B Gone this AM trying to get rid of thistles I've been fighting in my front lawn for 3 years now. I think it's helping. If I can't do it in the morning, I do it way late, like just before it gets dark out, when things are perking back up from the daytime heat.

Good luck to both of you with the cattails,
Skybird

And good luck with those thistles. :-) I get confused b/c the vinegar spray is supposed to be sprayed when it's hot. Easily confused, I yam.

Cheers,
Michelle

Once upon a time, my pond was half full of cat tails. I waited until the winter when the soil was frozen, cranked up the lil' 4 hp wheeled string weed whacker, checked the mirror for a proper steely look in the eye, and pushed right into the 8' high cat tails. Well, how can I put this, but a 4 hp string trimmer, even on wheels, is no match for 8 ft high cattails, takes maybe half a minute to whack one stalk down. But. It is plenty powerful to shake all that fluff off, and after about an hour of this, I finally get tired, knocked over about 1/15 of them, and figure its time to think about a "Plan B".

I come out of the cat tail patch, with about a two inch thick layer of fluff all over everything, sneezing my head off, clouds of the stuff darkening the sky. There are half a dozen pickup trucks parked on the road, my neighbors watching the show, and I know its hard to believe, but they were laughing.

Anyway, if you want to kill them off, this is a good time of year to do it. Mix up Roundup with about twice the recommended concentration, and spray 'em good once, then come back and do it again in about a week. That will kill almost all of them, and then in the spring, knock them down, and spray the new shoots a couple times.

I understand the roots are edible. All those muskrats can't be wrong.

I tried running over a small patch with the riding mower - no chance of success on that venture!

I believe your neighbors would come watch the show. And they still might talk about the abominable fluff man coming out of the cattails. :-) That would be something to see.

Have you ever burned them? We used to, and it would go up in about 30' flames, which roared for only 4 or 5 minutes before it goes out. Last time we did that, several years ago, a County employee saw the flames and called it in as a raging out of control fire with 30' flames. Get the Fire Department here, STAT! But by the time the Fire Dept. arrived a few minutes later, it was completely out. :-) The County guy was 10 shades of red faced.

Aaaah, country time fun.

Is it horribly humid over your way today? I keep going out and doing a few small chores, then coming back in where it's cool. Even in the cool basement, I'm dripping with sweat.

I did go spray the baby pigweed and mallow with vinegar. I hope it's cooking.

Cheers,
Michelle

I burned them once, which was enough since there are some telephone lines pretty close. Yea, its miserable - humid, sort of do everything before 12 and then go take a nap all afternoon.

ROFL! You guys are funny!

So your neighbors actually had the nerve to laugh at you, huh David!

I needed a good laugh right now!

Thanks!

Skybird

We spray at dusk usually on the farm, and it is very effective.
Reasons- lowest heat of day without it being freezing
- plants pores are open and receptive
- it works!

It works with most other sprays as well.