horsetail weed

I have a huge problem with horsetail, what weed killer can I use without damaging the

lawn, or any  other suggestions would be  greatly appreciated.

There's no weedkiller that won't damage grass. Your best option is to cut the grass very frequently - that will keep horsetail under control, at least.

Alina W wrote (see)

There's no weedkiller that won't damage grass. Your best option is to cut the grass very frequently - that will keep horsetail under control, at least.

Is this just in the lawn?

Thank you for your response. I will have to perserver with frequent grass

cutting.  There is a small problem with it around the drive at the front of the house,the main problem is in the lawn at the back.

My garden is being taken over by Horsetail and I've tried various weed killers to no avail.  Someone has suggested smothering each piece in vaseline will kill it off.  This would be a huge job.  Does anyone know if it works before I embark on such a big job  PS why can't slugs like horestail!!

I've never heard of that idea before. However, glyphosate will work if you bruise the horsetail first - it has a waxy coating which you need to break to allow the weedkiller to penetrate. You will need to spray several times, so don't give up after one go - the plant has deep and extensive roots.

Dinosaurs liked horsetail! That is why it is so hard to get rid of, it is one of the oldest plants on earth, and will not take much notice of us johnny come lately humans efforts to get rid of it.  As I have mentioned before, in this mining area, the distinctive black 'liquorice string' roots were noted meters down the pits.  You can keep cutting its head off, not even horesetail likes that treatment too long.

We had an allotment that we had to abandon eventually as the infestation of horesetail and the solidly matted roots were just impossibe to remove.

Whatever you do, DO NOT rotovate or anything like that - each tiny bit of plant will root and form a new plant - probaby what made our allotment quite so badly infested. 

I had this in my borders in my last garden.  If you pull it up from as far down as you can with a trowel it gives up eventually.

We have a weed getting perilously close to the back gate. The leaves look like morning glory but it flowers white. I've watched it over several years growing round the allotment at the back. The allotmenteers put up a fence around the allotment and it started off on the far side, it's now travelled at least 100yds on this fence and is now 6ft from the back gate

A friend has horsetail in her garden, she tried alsorts to get rid and now just keeps pulling them up as they appear in the veg bed, eachtime trying to get as much of the root as she can. 

There was horsetail in the front garden when we moved here. I gave it a water of glyphosate when clearing the garden of plants I didn't want, and after that pulled it out whenever I saw it. After about ten years I would only see a handful of shoots in spring, and that was it. I doubt I'll ever eradicate it completely, but it's not a significant problem any more.

My mum used to pour boiling water (usually excess from the cabbage or potatoes for Sunday dinner) over any weeds that ventured into our back yard and it worked a treat. No weed surely can survive being cooked at 90 odd degrees C especially every Sunday!!.