Topic: MARES TAIL,HORSE TAIL

[Gordon]

Hi Everyone

This is my first post I have just got a lottie and all the other plot owners have said that i have got Mares tail upon digging the plot there are roots everywhere the guy who had the plot before me has not touched it for 18 months. So I was wondering what is the best way of destroying this weed.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Thanks
Gordon

[ipt8]

You have a big problem. I am sorry to say it is almost impossible to eradicate. It will grow from broken roots and the roots will go down at least three feet :(

To try and control it bruise it in any way you wish then spray with Roundup at the rates recomended for tree stumps, but you will have to keep doing it.
Frankly if it is bad it will be a nightmare on an allotment.

Perhaps you are lucky and it is only in certain areas and you could grow taller things like runner beans there ???

I would smile nicely and tell the allotment owners of the problem and ask for a plot without the problem :)

[busy_lizzie]

I depends if you want to go the chemical or non chemical route.  I can't help you with the chemical route as I try to be organic, but I am sure someone else will be able to advise you.  When we first got our plot, three years ago, ours was covered in mares tails and we just dug them out as  we could, trying to get as much root as possible, -  difficult as they do go down a long way.  The legend is that even miners used to come across it in the mine shafts, and it has been around since prehistoric times.

However, I think there are far worse weeds to have and I would rather have marestails than couch grass or bindweed, which is horribly invasive.  It is quite pretty in it's way and we just keep it down as much as possible and as soon as we see it, it just gets dug up and we keep it at bay, so it never becomes a problem.  :) busy_lizzie

[Wicker]

Gordon, if you do discover a way of getting rid of it you will also make a fortune!!  We had a lot all down one side of our plot when we took it over (about 20 years ago!) and tried digging out as much as we could, since then it's a case of pulling it out whenever we spot a stem growing - pushing fingers as far down into the soil as possible then nicking.  As BL says there are possibly worse weeds............

[delboy]

Double-digging your beds and going that little bit deeper when two spade lengths down whenever you see the black root, will certainly teach it a lesson.

I have tried putting the black permeable sheeting stuff down once the bottom was reached and forked over. with a couple of feet of soil, manure etc on top the marestail hasn't yet reappeared in those beds.

Trying to kill it with strong weedkiller is all well and good, but it costs a small fortune and I am doubtful you can be even 80% successful.

[euronerd]

Hi Gordon.
I took an allotment with the same problem about eight years ago. Mine too had been neglected and I went through the same procedures as you probably are now. We are stuck with it unfortunately, but the good news is: the better the soil becomes through cultivation, the less of a problem it is (in my case, at any rate); it doesn't seem to sap nutrients to any great degree, and I've even heard it said that it brings nutrients to the surface via its deep roots; its minimalistic foliage doesn't block light from surrounding plants, and I'm led to believe you can turn it into a fertiliser by immersing it in water, a la comfrey. Further reading reveals that it has medicinal properties, and you can use it for scouring pans. How about that for a bit of optimism?  ;D . Incidentally, marestail and horsetail are two different things, or at least they have different Latin names, but the end result is much the same. Good luck.

Geoff.

[mat]

Hi

When I moved into my house in 1993 I had an area of horsetail in the garden.  I bought roundup, made up a solution at the strongest strength (for brambles/woody plants) and sprayed it onto the plants when they were growing stronly.   Maybe I was lucky, but I waited the 2 weeks (what a long wait of thinking "nothing is happening"!) and hey presto they started dying.  I did a 2nd treatment I think about 3 weeks after the first one and this wiped them out.  They have never returned.

I avoid sprays like the plague (I was badly affected by organiphosphates many years back) but I will spot treat bad weeds with glyphosate (e.g. Roundup) if I have to on my new allotment (e.g. all bindweed which appears after my winter digging)  I have learnt how it works and it's lifespan and am happy to use it, but this is the ONLY spray I will use

Good luck
mat

[Gordon]

Hi Ladies & Gents

Thanks for all the advice i'll see how we go with it

[digswell]

Unfortunately it's most likely going to be one of those things you have to live with, also it is very doubtful that yours will be the only plot with it. So perhaps asking those around you how they dealt with it would be a good solution.

Years ago my father had a plot on a site that had it, and slowly year on year every plot on teh site ended up with it. He used to go round and cut the tops off the shoots once they had some foliage on them like most things if you keep doing this eventually it stunts it. If you grow Rhubarb and want to use an organic weedkiller boil up some rhubarb leaves, bruise the mares tail and spray it with the water from the rhubarb leaves, it won't kill it but may knock it back a while. Disturbing the soil as little as possible is a reasonable idea so raised beds with membrane underneath for non-root veg could be the way to go.

When they were building the M2 motorway down in Kent they found roots going down about 30m! If you site is near a railway line then it may have come across from there, or if you are the only plot on the site with it there is a possibility that the previous tenants had it at home and tried composting it then used the compost on teh plot and so importing it in as it doesn't compost very well.

[telboy]

If it's any help, and it probably isn't, the symptom of the weed is poor drainage.

[Obelixx]

I found this growing in a new 7mm x 4m miced border bed we made using imported soil - donated by a farmer -  I should have konown better really.  I gave up trying to clear it without damaging other plants and ended up first removing all the plants I wanted to keep and washing their roots before planting in pots to make sure they were clean.  then I used glyphosate at triple strength witha drop of washing up liquid to help it stick  and sprayed it liberally and frequently over one summer.  I also crushed the stems and brushed it on by hand (wearing rubber gloves). 

It was a pain but it has now all gone.   I got OH to rotavate the soil last spring and then left it fallow to make sure no nasties appeared and it stayed clean so it has now been planted up.

Horse tail roots go very deep so on a lottie you will have to prepared for sporadic reappearances.  It's a waste of time weeding it as the tiniest bit grows into a plant and you can never get all the roots.  At least glyphosate becomes inert on contact with the soil so has no long term effect..