Cat tails question

[Roy Hauer]

I dug some cat tails up from a swampy area and planted them in my ponds inlet and outlet waterways. They multipled, and have grown great, and are doing what I had wanted. However, none of them have gotten the so called brownish colored cob thing on them yet. Is there different types that do and don't have this cob? It matters not, weathwer they have the cob or not, since as all I was looking for was to make an area to fill in with some type of vegetation when the water level gets low, and not have to look at weeds and mud, and since they grow in relatively shallow areas do not have to worry about them taking over my entire pond.

The question is just out of curiosty not need. Thanks

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foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects. Regards Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever. Remove capital A from chipmAkr for correct email address

[Jim Shaffer, Jr.]

I have some that are around 4 years old I think, and just this year one of them produced a seed stalk. The rest of them still haven't.

[Paul Below]

Are you sure the plant you dug up was a cattail? Not every rush-like plant is a cattail.

[GrampysGurl]

Don't be to sure of that.... I just pulled some out of a friends 3 foot deep pond and there wasn't much pond area left for the fish when I got there..... They were no shorter then 7 foot tall and growing like mad.... they also punctured the liner. Colleen zone 5 Connecticut.

[Phisherman]

They will flower, believe me. I made the same misktake and let them grow in my pond (25' x 18') and they took over the entire pond. I spent several hours pulling them out, then pulling them out for several months to eradicate them. I plant to plant a less invasive variety, such as dwarf or varigated variety. I understand they are edible, even the pollen is used in some dishes.

[Roy Hauer]

Thanks for all the info on cat tails. I really think now that the problem is that they are too young, as they barely had stems much more than 6" long and very small pieces of root system intact when I planted them, so its probably just a matter of waiting some more.

Not too concerned about them taking over, as my pond may be small but the banks drop very quickly and deep. On average its 4 to 5 feet right off the bank drops, except for the inlet and outlet sections, and after that drop it eventually gets to 20+ feet, pretty quick and its only about 3/4 acre in size.

Like I said i want it for covering up the shallow inlet area and outlet and give a somewhat natural wild look in these areas, as well as provide some cover for critters and fish etc.

Thanks for all the replies

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foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects. Regards Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever. Remove capital A from chipmAkr for correct email address

[simy1]

They are actually quite good. The female cob, of course, around July, and the inner shoot around May. Both are delicacies. I do not understand why they are not sold commercially. Usually wild edibles are too strong-flavored for commercial use, but not these. Perhaps they are too perishable?

[Janet Baraclough]

The message from [e-mail] (simy1) contains these words:

Phisherman wrote I understand they are

How do you prepare and eat them please?

Janet

[Chris Owens]

1. Are you sure you have cattails? There's other rushes that grow in swamps.

1. It can take several years for the cattails to establish well enough to form cobs; this may be a patience issue.

2. Cattails prefer slightly acid water; they'll grow in other conditions but aren't likely to fruit.

Chris Owens

Roy Hauer wrote: