Phragmites

[TheDuckKid]

I know they recommend against it but can I brush my boat blind with phragmites? I can get as much as I want from a yard waste depot where they cut it each year, the area I hunt is loaded with it and I simply cannot afford to brush the boat with fast grass. I don’t want to use camo netting and I don’t think I can get enough cedar as a substitute.

[oaknut]

There are numerous species of phragmites, some are native while others are invasive. I can't see an issue with using native plants, I wouldn't however want to chance being part of the spread of an invasive.

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[Sprite]

There are numerous species of phragmites, some are native while others are invasive. I can't see an issue with using native plants, I wouldn't however want to chance being part of the spread of an invasive.

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The Phragmites he's talking about is very likely Phragmites Australis, which is the invasive species. It is far more widespread than its native cousin.

I'd highly recommend that you don't brush your blind with Phrag. You'll be spreading seeds everywhere you tow your boat.

-N.

[Fenelon]

Cattail works well. Cut them low and bunch them together with a piece of tie wire in bunches of about 8 stems. The bunches can then be tied to your boat/blind frame. I tried reed canary grass once and didn't find it to be very durable. I snipped all the tassle seed heads off first and burned them, then sun dried about 200 lbs of the remaining stalks. The dried leaves are very fragile and about 90% of them fell off during the weaving and after the first boat ride. You're then left with just the round stems which doesn't make very good camo. Cattail is much better. Add some clumps of leatherleaf and sweet gale and you'll be invisible. Bad optics for other hunters/ conservationists to see you using the reed canary grass.

[Ouzel]

I made some cat tail panels similar to how this guy did it . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5H0NIKeM7Q
Instead of making the elaborate frame, I hung loops of cord from three 2x4's fastened horizontally to a shed doorway suspended with a single bolt in the center, so the 2x4 could rotate. The one end looped cord was fastened to each end of the 2x4 to form the loop. I placed a bunch of cat tails in the 3 parallel loops, gave each of the 2x4's a half turn, and then placed more cat tails in, and repeated. In no time, I could make a reasonable paned as long as the height of my door way. It worked better if I alternated the direction of the turns on the different 2x4's. The panels were a bit heavy, and a bit fragile, and only lasted for a season. They were also free, and it took an hour of so to make one after the 2x4's were in place - beer helped make it fun. I also would avoid phragmites. I don't want that stuff growing where I hunt - I'm too short to see over it.

[longpointer]

Sprite is absolutely right ! Do not use that stuff !
Down here on Long Point they have waged a war on this type of phragmites and then the Long Point Region Conservation people also got on board with a program to eradicate it from the Big Creek water shed ( Big Creek flows into Long Point Inner Bay ) so it would not re-establish itself. Find anything else to use but please not that stuff.

[sk686]

Just use cattails. No phrag.

[Gadwall]

If you are going to try use the phrag, collect them into the early summer the year after they grew ... they are a tough plant and last through the winter and into the next spring ... collect in May, and mostly all the seeds have blown out over the winter and spring winds and will limit the spread.