In early summer, the east end of the pond is still pretty wet, so you can’t drive the tractor too close. Still, it’s an excellent time to pull phragmites resprouts, because it’s easier when they’re in the water. I put on my waders and patrolled the east end of the pond with the canoe, gathering up all the phragmites stems that were floating on top of the water at that point.
I piled them all, mostly dead stems, but a few resprouts, into the canoe, pulled the canoe up away from the water with the tractor, then loaded up the front end loader, then dumped them on the burn pile to dry out. I did about 3 canoe loads. The pond looked a lot better when I was done!
Plus – I am now strong like bull!
