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Catt Plex, Water Lilies, & Spadderdock

Can Catt Plex treat lily pads? Lily pads are just a general term to describe the leaves on water lilies. Water lilies and similar plants seed easily and can quickly become invasive and overtake your pond. Though water lilies are not listed under the “Weeds Controlled” section of the label’s booklet, Catt Plex can in fact successfully treat water lilies and their lily pads to the root when used as directed. Listed in this booklet is a perennial weed called spadderdock, which is in the same family as water lilies. Because of their relation, we use spadderdock as an umbrella term to cover this family of plants.

Before treating any type of growth in your pond, it is always crucial to identify what it is that you intend to eliminate. Many different pond weeds can resemble one another and might need a different approach for a successful treatment. Spadderdock, water lilies, lotus, and water shield are similar in appearance and are often confused with one another.

Spadderdock, or Yellow Water Lily, has large, heart-shaped leaves and small yellow flowers. It is a very aggressive plant and can be quite difficult to chemically eradicate from a body of water. Part of this is due to the fact that its leaves sit lower into the water, which can make it difficult to work with when it comes to treatments with a product like Catt Plex.

Water lilies, or pond lilies, float on top of the water and have a large, fragrant flower. There are almost 60 different types of water lilies, which mean there are many different sizes, shapes, and colors. The most common tend to have rounded, notched leaves and have stamen in the center of the flower. Because of the large variety, this makes water lilies quite popular for ponds and water features.

All growth must be emergent from the water to treat with Catt Plex. Catt Plex is a contact herbicide and will not be successful if sprayed overtop any submerged weeds. The more mature the plant, the better success you will have with Catt Plex. Contact herbicides should be paired with a surfactant to help stick the product to the plant. Plex Mate not only does this, but it also helps break down the waxy coating on aquatic plants so Catt Plex can have a better kill.

Contact us at the office if you have any further questions regarding Catt Plex or Plex Mate.