Topic: Battling mares tail..help

[Jeannine]

 My 2 foot raised veggie beds run alongside the fence shared with the house next door and his mares tail is right up to our boundary. We  had the area graveled with weed block under the gravel so no mares tail could push up, but when the beds were built and filled with lovely new soil I guess it thought it had won the lottery. It is everywhere in my raised beds. I pull it out every day and try valiantly to control it but it is very determined.

In the winter this year I shall cardboard cover all the soil then top it with black plastic but for now I need to do something.

I wondered if I laid several thicknesses of newspaper over the soil and around  the plants if that would help. I could do this with my brassicas and broadies as they are a decent size but not with the smaller plants, well not yet anyway,

I have irrigation hose on the beds which I will lay on top of the paper so I don't have to worry about them going dry, but slugs may be a problem although I get very few.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

XX Jeannine

[Tee Gee]

i once had mares tail on my plot and like you I couldn't find  a way get rid other than constant use of the hoe.

But then I noticed as I cultivated the soil over the years it gradually disappeared and I got to thinking that changing the pH had helped. That is as the soil become more alkaline the mares tail could not cope with it.

So my suggestion to you is lay a layer of lime long the base of the fence and water it in and this should alter the pH and fingers crossed this might kill or at least weaken the mares tail.

It might want a few applications

I am not sure if this will work but I think it is worth a try, sorry I don't have a more definitive answer for you....Tg

[sparrow]

We have a lot of it on part of our site, my plot included. I find it does get weaker the more you pull out, and it's very satisfying to get it out with a big bit of root. It's also weaker where the soil is richer.

Ammonium Sulphamate is supposed to be very good against it, and had the bonus of being considered an organic herbicide, but it's now banned over here except as a compost accelerator because the manufacturer's didn't want to do lots of additional testing on the impact on dogs, which was being requested by Ireland for the EU licence. (if my memory is right)

[galina]

I agree with Tee Gee. 

On my slightly alkaline soil there is no marestail at all.  We just get loads of convulvulus.  Which I understand is not such a problem on acidic soils.  Swings and roundabouts - there is always something to keep on top of.  Trouble with convulvulus is that every tiny broken off root will produce a huge root run and new plants.  Just like marestail breaks off into segments which all grow into new plants. 

I am resigned to deal with it every year, preferable before it strangles plants.  At least marestail does not do that and can be pulled out easier.  But that is not a lot of consolation for you Jeannine. 

[Jeannine]

Gee, I can't do that as the timber of the beds is right up to the fence, I would have to lean over and do the neighbors side, not a good idea.

I am glad to hear it does go away if you keep pulling it but ut is just going under the fence and coming up in my beds.

Well I will keep pulling I guess, it is easy enough when it is about 4 inches tall, but it is a pain in the neck.

I don't use any commercial stuff in my garden other than organic  all purpose  dry fertilser, lime and manure. 

I will have a go with the newspaper idea and see how it does. It might just decide to grow in the other direction with a bit of luck.

[Deb P]

I unwittingly imported a load of mares tail into my lottie which was in the last load of manure.......? Wonder if that's compounding your problem?

[Malcolm Brown]

Sticky buds are an absolute pain, but our dog Hugo is extremely good at collecting the seeds for us from late summer right through winter so that should reduce the population a bit, bless him - I think.

[Tee Gee]

Gee, I can't do that as the timber of the beds is right up to the fence, I would have to lean over and do the neighbors side, not a good idea

Try mixing up some lime water  ( lime dissolved in water) then water in between the fence and the bed.

[Jeannine]

Oh yes Tee Gee I could do that..how strong should I make it..It is just a narrow strip of open land next door about 3 feet then the whole area beyond that is gravel so he doesn't have anything growing in the ground apart from the mare's tail.

[Tee Gee]

I don't really know I think it will be a case of numerous applications until you see it taking effect.

As I see it if you use too much lime it will block the rose of the watering can.

You could start with say a cupful of lime to a two gallon watering can and see how it pours out.

Subject to how it does you could add or reduce the quantity of lime until you get it to pour out freely, then make further weekly applications.

But to be honest I have no idea how long it will take, because I have never done it this way as it is more normal to spread the lime on the surface of the soil and let the rain to dissolve it into the soil

If you have a pH meter take a reading before the first application then check the pH to see if it is more alkaline as that is what you are trying to achieve.

Best of luck!

[Jeannine]

MMM... I guess I was hoping for a quick fix. I would have to be discreet so envisaged myself at midnight in my nightie pouring it over the fence, bit if I have to do it weekly . I will have to think on that one..maybe I would be better off asking him to pull it out, trouble is I think it has taken hold and he ain't gonna do it all the time, Grrh.

Thanks Tee Gee, I am a bit nervous and I guess it would show white streaks.

I will just keep pulling from my side.

I have wondered about taking one bed at a time, emptying the soil out, putting plastic at the bottom with a few drainage holes in or heavy weedblock and filling it up again. The beds are 24 inches high so it is a lot of soil. My SIL built them for me and he filled them but I am a bit reluctant to ask him to re do them.  The weed would still find it's way up through the edges maybe but it would have less of a chance.

[ancellsfarmer]

Is your neighbour totally unapproachable? Unless he is armed and extremely dangerous, surely a little feminine guile, the odd batted eyelid, a lightly held hand and a promise of a few veggies would win through. Perhaps he might like you to "landscape" the offending area, or extract, membrane and shingle right up to the wire.

[Jeannine]

 Actually he is quite nice, a shy batchelor, we are going to see him tomorrow but he will only strim it

[Vinlander]

The problem with lime water is that it takes ages to dissolve slaked lime and the solution holds so little anyway. Other more soluble alkaline substances like Potassium Hydroxide tend to make the soil sticky.

I'd be tempted to dig a narrow trench at the boundary and include a lot of lime in the backfill - mostly at the level where the roots enter - so much that almost nothing could grow in it for years. I  think the effect of the lime would move upward very slowly into your raised beds - getting weaker as it does - you might be able to grow brassicas etc. in the 'clean' soil above it.

Or you could wait for dry weather to backfill it with quicklime in (if you can still get it?) - then you'd have the satisfaction of knowing the first lot of rain would start boiling the marestail roots to death.

Cheers. 

[thexman]

Changing the PH of the soil does seem to work.

Last year, by mistake, I used ammonium sulphate (which I mistakenly acquired, thinking it was ammonium sulphamate) and sprayed the marestail with that at 200g per litre concentrate.

I think it burned the marestail, all of which disappeared. I was expecting regrowth this year, thinking I had only burned the tops off, but it has not reappeared.

Ammonium sulphate contains nitrogen and sulfur and is actually good for the soil!

However, ammonium sulphamate is also good for the soil. Check it out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate

It has got some good testimonials.

Sulphate is considerably cheaper than sulphamate.

[woodypecks]

I have a tub with a giant mares tail plant in ...it is so beautiful and prehistoric looking     So I guess I,d better not plant it out into the garden . 

[Borlotti]

I do my 100 a day, twist and turn like Beckham, but it still comes up.  Think on my allotment just have to learn to live with it.  Pull/dig up one and 3 more babies come up.  Plants still seem to grow well with it, think I prefer it to bindweed.  Wish someone would find a use for it and I could sell it and become a millionaire (dream on). 

[Crystalmoon]

My new allotment has Marestail/Horsetail & I have never had to deal with it before so I researched it on line & have found out that it is a prehistoric plant that was around when the Dinosaurs were here...back them it grew to huge heights, hundreds of feet tall so I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies, at least it doesn't get that big now. Its roots go down very very deep so digging is pointless & just spreads it as does rotovating. It totally disappears in the Autumn so people who have treated it with chemicals often think it has died but it hasn't....apparently it is extremely resistant to weed killers. When I got my plot in the new year there wasn't any sign of it but now there are loads of them. Rotovating my plot probably helped make millions of new ones!
In the Spring it puts up weird shoots that look a bit like Terrantulla Spider legs to me lol, this is how it spreads as it uses spores to propagate itself. The green leafy bit is actually feeding the root system deep below the ground. So in theory if you just keep pulling up the green shoots the roots will weaken over time.
There are loads of medicinal uses for it in herbal medicine, fascinating plant really
 

[Crystalmoon]

I've just done a bit more research & I am going to embrace the Marestail/Horsetail on my plot & put it to good use by using the green shoots to make a fertiliser tea like I do with Comfrey & nettles. It's packed with Silica & has antifungal properties so at least it can be useful 

[Borlotti]

Thats interesting, I make nettle fertilizer, but haven't used Marestail.  The nettle fertilizer seems to work on my peas, not sure what other plants I should use it on.