Blackbirds feed on nearby sunflower in the fall. Blackbirds have become a major pest for Upper Midwest sunflower growers. Reducing cattail stands located near sunflower fields should reduce losses due to feeding by blackbirds. Cattail control is difficult due to the large rhizome system that enables the plant to reestablish rapidly after top-growth is killed. Several carbohydrate depletion techniques such as mowing, crushing, burning, and discing have been used to control cattail but with limited success.
Herbicides provide the most effective control method.
Treatments were applied with a backpack sprayer. Three similar experiments were established in Fisk Lake and Dion Marsh near Lakota, ND, in 1990. The plots were 10 by 30 feet in a randomized complete block design with four replications. A total volume on June 19, July 27, and September 3, 1987. The treatments were applied to cattail at the flowering growth stage on July 31, 1990.