Topic: Mare's Tail

[gardenqueen]

Is there an easy way to get rid of this plant please? Just been looking round part of my garden, after being housebound for some 6 weeks, this plant has spread everywhere ::). Normally I would pull it up to try and keep it contained but to no avail!

[tomatoada]

The man on the allotment plot next to me took  it on the same time as I took on mine.  The mid third was a forrest of mare's tail and I thought rather you than me.   However we are into our fourth year and he has  really won.   None at all this year.
 Most of the tips and advice are on here.  Dig out as much as possible to start with.  Burn or bag it.    Then hoe/cut down the shoots before the leaves open.  This prevents the roots getting fed and weakens then.  It has to be a priority job at the time they are growing.  If they have got leaves cut collect and destroy. 
My plot was covered at one end with convolvulus and I am getting rid of it in the same way.
Hope this helps.

[gardenqueen]

Thank you for your reply. I will try and get rid of as much as I can in the way you suggest. It will have to be with a little hand fork though  >:( as I am unable to dig! Wish me luck.

[Hazelb]

I let part of my plot under carpet for 4 years...that pretty much irradiated it.

Then I used a weed killer/ stump killer called 'root-out' , it was the old recipe of root out that contained ammonium sulphamate. Worked a treat!

It's not available as weed killer any more, but you may be able to find it under it's chemical name...on certain auction sites  ;)

[percussionman]

you may like to read my post on mares tail hope it goes some way to help good luck.

[ACE]

Thank you for your reply. I will try and get rid of as much as I can in the way you suggest. It will have to be with a little hand fork though  >:( as I am unable to dig! Wish me luck.

If all you have is a little hand fork, you might as well give up now. Getting rid of mares tail is not border maintenance, it is full on heavy gardening for the first part of the cure.

[digmore]

Have a look on percussionmans post.

Digmore

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

By now I have a sizeable pile of horsetail roots that have dried (yes!) on some metal sheet. It seems to die easily when it dries. I haven't seen any reshooting. That said, I don't propose to dig it in! I can tip it in the council green compost bin; I can burn it but both go against my thrifty grain. Is there any mileage in popping it into the nettle tea butt to extract all those underground minerals?

[Digeroo]

As anyone tried a good dosing of lime?   

[kt.]

I have just purchased some KURTAIL.  It cost £69 including postage for 2x 500ml bottles.  Postage was the same whether you purchased 1 or 2 bottles.  Four of us split the cost so have 250ml each.  Instructions state 15ml does 6litre spray which treats 50 square metres so it should last 2 seasons on my full size plot.  £17 is a small investment over 2 years; worth trying I thought.

[Robert_Brenchley]

By now I have a sizeable pile of horsetail roots that have dried (yes!) on some metal sheet. It seems to die easily when it dries. I haven't seen any reshooting. That said, I don't propose to dig it in! I can tip it in the council green compost bin; I can burn it but both go against my thrifty grain. Is there any mileage in popping it into the nettle tea butt to extract all those underground minerals?

I don't see why not. Anything organic will add to a soup.