Horsetail

[Rosefriend]

This request is from francegarden who is having a few problems posting and she has asked me if I could post for her. She can see the board and any replies.

RF

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I have accidentally imported the dreaded horsetail into my garden with a load of topsoil.
It is popping up everywhere I have put the soil.
Has anyone successfully dealt with the beast?
Any helpful suggestions appreciated - other than moving!

Francegarden

[Jasmine]

I have it in my garden too FG.
If you are happy to use chemical weedkiller you can bruise the leaves and then spray them. The leaves have some sort of waxy coating which weedkiller won't penetrate unless the leaves are bruised first.
It is supposed to have been around since prehistoric times so has survived most that's been thrown at it. The only other thing is to keep pulling it up every time it shows its head - its roots are too deep to be dug out.

I have read something useful you can do with it but the newspaper is upstairs - wil post again later.

[Jasmine]

Here's a bit more...

'Crushing the leaves to break up the coating helps weedkiller to penetrate and become absorbed but in large areas it is not so easy to crush all the leaves . However, glyphosate weed killer will have an effect and eventually kill the plant. You will probably need 5 or more applications. Knock it back, it re-grows and you repeat.

I don’t think you can clear this in less than one season.

Ammonium Sulphamate seems to be a far more effective weed killer. It can kill it in one application but may well need two. It used to be available as Amicide but now you need to look for a brushwood killer that incorporates it like Rootout or Deep Root. Just check the packet for ammonium sulphamate.'

[Jasmine]

And an organic method...

'You can control/irradicate horse tail by digging/forking through the soil when it is in the right condition: ie not too wet and sticky!

Once you have removed as much as possible, any that shoots is easily dealt with. Before it reaches 3 ins/7cm high, hoe off an inch below the surface.

Eventually the food supply in the root is exhausted. Let it get bigger than stated and food begins to be stored in the roots again, and round and round you go ad infinitum.

Never touch Horsetail with a mechanical cultivator. If you do you will understand why it has been around for 60 million years.'

[Jasmine]

And here is the useful way to deal with it.
It has a high silica content apparently and silica within a plant prevents the growth of fungal enzymes.
Collect a couple of pounds of horsetail, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for half an hour. Allow to cool and mix 1:10 with water. Spray weekly on potatoes and tomatoes - it should help prevent blight. It should also help prevent powdery mildew on cucumbers. Use as a preventative not a cure.
This idea was in the Gardening Telegraph a couple of weeks ago.

[Barbara]

The garden here when we moved in was just marestail/horsetail, I dug it out and back it came, this went on for months, then a friend said just pull it out where you see it and the plant gets weaker and weaker, a much easier way, and it really works, so dont dig FG just pull.

[carolann]

My little veg plot has it but it getting smaller each year all I do is scrap around each piece then pull it out as far down as I can reach, hope this helps you a little FG.

[francegarden]

Thank you for all that helpful info. I think I shall try the pulling out method as it is not too tall yet and easily accessible.
It is also close to plants so reluctant - apart from trying to be organic - to use weedkiller.
Let's see if this post works!

[francegarden]

At last - contact!!

[Dutchy]

;D
Well done FG.
And yes the pulling once you see them helps and makes it less every year.
I do suppose one never really gets rid of it completely.
It is useful as Jasmine described.
Do try to get the funny brownish flower heads they appear before the plant mostly and you don't want them to seed. They are not easy to spot and not always there ( thank heavens) but look like a little segmented pale brown stick with a knob on top.
And NO do not move. It is no where near as bad as Japanese knotwood .

[jb1982]

I've just dug my horsetail up since I've heard about the nightmare stories of growth and spread! So I'll see how I get on the with the new shoots!

[andy]

When I got into the Rockery some 14 years ago, there was quite a bit of it. I continually sprayed it with a very strong roundup mix and eventually got it under control.

One of the areas where I had the Horsetail is now heavily planted with Persicaria 'firetail'. I noticed that the Horsetail has returned among the Persicaria with no hope of getting it sprayed. Manual removal from now on