Talkback: Field horsetail - Talkback

MuckyPuppy

24/11/2011 at 15:29

I'll try this as I have horsetail every where. I sprayed the horsetail and other weeds in the cracks of the pavement this spring with a weed killer. This caused all the weeds to die except for the horsetail which seem is bigger and healthier without any other competition. It is now spreading to the lawn. I'll never get rid of it completely as it is coming in from the neighbour's garden.

jaye_85

24/11/2011 at 15:29

I've got a big problem with this weed aswell as all my neighbours. I just keep picking at it, making sure I grab the very bottom of the stem otherwise it just breaks off! All my neighbours are elderly and this one couple can't seem to look after their garden properly so that doesn't help. I even offered to weed their garden once a fortnight during the summer but they're not interested. So the war goes on...

Luigi

24/11/2011 at 15:29

Ive got a few more tests to do and then I will be going to companies to see if they are interested in selling my product.
Sorry i cant tell you what it is ive been working on this for the last ten years and now im coming to the final stages to help all you by putting it on the market.
Many thanks Luigi

rodway

24/11/2011 at 15:29

reserveing comment until i have had time to see how it works

tramp

24/11/2011 at 15:29

Ammonium Sulfamate (compost accelerator) seems to kill horsetail pretty effectively, just try not to spill it or overspray onto anything else green!

ebower

24/11/2011 at 15:29

We have lived in our house for some 30 years and have waged battle with mares tails all that time and they still come back. Having tried every weed killer and digging them up they still come back as strong as ever!

rodway

24/11/2011 at 15:29

when lavatera has finished flowering. is it possible to move them to another part of garden ? and if so when to do this

Luigi

24/11/2011 at 15:30

Hi all with the problem with horse tail weeds, ive made a weed killer that will kill the weed from the tip to the root even if it rains it will still work not like other weed killers that wash away the weed killer.
Ive mixed it with water and it still kills it within a week you can see them dying

Alma Rigby

30/04/2012 at 15:35

Vinager works a treat!

blairs

30/04/2012 at 19:10

The problem with Marestail is that it has a tough outer coating that resists herbicides. The thing to do is to get 2 stones and mush the Marestail up. That opens it up to herbicides and you can kill and eradicate it. Undiluted vinegar may work!

Bookertoo

30/04/2012 at 22:20

Mares tail is one of the hardiest and most long lived plants there is. We live in a mining area, the roots are often seen several meters down in the pits, those liquorice look stems are quite distinctive. It was grazed upon by dinosaurs, we're not going to beat it! You can keep it slightly under control by regularly chopping its head off, even that doesn't kill it but usually keeps it small enough so you can almost ignore it.

Sadly we had to give up an allotment because of it, there was just a solid mass of root over the whole area, and nothing was possible to do with it.

If it is in a small area, chopping will just about keep it in check - you will I'm sorry to say just have to learn to live with it and accept this is a battle you are not going to win completely.

doug45

04/05/2012 at 11:21

I Have tried salt, Kurtail and lots of others on my allotment and also in my garden but Salt seems to do the trick in my garden but NOT on cultivated soil(for obvious reasons) I have been mildly successfull with kurtail from Pro green.

Garden of kt4

15/05/2012 at 09:47

I have this all over my garden and have decided I will just have to learn to live with this dinosaur of a weed... its easy to pull up when it appears, the only issue is getting rid of it as you cant composte it at home.

lucky3

26/05/2012 at 18:06

My mum , when she wanted a lovely shiny pan pulled a large amount of this weed, bruised it slightly and cleaned her pan with it. I don't know how true this is but also told me it was a plant that survived the stone age - or was it the ice age ? sorry can't remember which exactly. But it made her pans clean and shiny .It was not called horsetail plant by her , it was always called sileca plant.

stringdriventhing

18/06/2012 at 09:04

Horsetail and Marestail are two different plants. Marestail (Hippuris vulgaris) is an unbranched erect perennial classed as a flowering plant found mainly submerged in streams. It bears small pink flowers (male and female separate) that have no petals between June and July. They reproduce by means of a small greenish nut.

Horsetail (Equisetum arvensis) however is classed as a vascular plant that reproduces by means of spores not seed. The plant is toxic to sheep, cattle and horses if eaten green or dried in hay. It thrives in wet meadows and gardens. They are known as 'living fossils' as they are the only survivor of plants living on earth over 100 million years ago. Some as tall as 30 metres.

russianmama

18/06/2012 at 11:28

I have been fighting this for 4 years! Tried a lot of stuff, with limited sucess. It does, however get less invasive if one keeps pulling up fresh erruptions regularly. Thinking of trying SBK. Blairs tip to crush does help! Just been to Harlow Carr whre they've abandoned one of their beds infested with this and have grassed it. For those with in their lawns regular mowing seems to disuade! Good luck!

K S mith

22/03/2013 at 16:38

Ammonium sulphamate can be effective but you have to be aware that it migrates in the soil water and puts the ground out of growing action for all of the growing season.

K S mith

22/03/2013 at 16:39

So how will we know what it is and when it is ready?

Bunny ...

23/03/2013 at 10:38

Mine come from neighbours beds who are never weeded , I've just kept snipping, removing as soon as they're seen , beds are barked now and so far they have stayed at bay .

Woodgreen wonderboy

23/03/2013 at 11:28

An old wives tale says you can eradicate this weed by picking it on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps not as daft as it sounds because you will eventually weeken it even if the roots do go down to the centre of the earth!

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