Home & Garden Trees & Houseplants

How to Kill Cattails in a Yard

By Home & Garden Last updated Monday, July/08/2024

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.