Allotment Stuff > The Basics
Mare's Tail
Borderers1951:
I recently took on a second plot on the local site. I was warned it was badly infested by Mare's Tail and have been digging out shoots and roots for some weeks yet still it comes. I have decided to give it a good dose of a suitable weedkiller - perhaps several doses. It's no longer a case of should I use it or not, it's the death penalty now. I have tested a small segment with a strong glyphosate which does work to some degree but is there anything else which is as effective or possibly more so?
Plot 18:
Ammonium sulphamate really does kill the stuff, but the EU banned it's use, because it refused to review the data supplied unless it contained details of animal testing on dogs, which the supplier thought would cause unnecessary suffering to animals :BangHead:
You can only buy it to as a compost accelerant now.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate and other sites about it and its use.
Tee Gee:
Although it took a couple of years to get rid of it I found that constant hoe hoe hoeing :icon_santa: :icon_santa: was the answer, I never let it grow higher than 50mm(2") before hoeing it down.
I also found that improving the quality of the soil and making it slightly alkaline seemed to help.
I never tried chemical treatment so can't vouch for this method although it is often recommended!
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/M/Mare%27s%20Tail/Mare%27s%20Tail.htm
Beersmith:
--- Quote from: Plot 18 on May 11, 2019, 12:46:00 ---Ammonium sulphamate really does kill the stuff, but the EU banned it's use, because it refused to review the data supplied unless it contained details of animal testing on dogs, which the supplier thought would cause unnecessary suffering to animals :BangHead:
You can only buy it to as a compost accelerant now.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate and other sites about it and its use.
--- End quote ---
It was reported that the Irish rapporteur behaved in a very perverse way in the handling of this case. Technically it is not banned. It is simply unlicensed. What pressure or incentives might have caused the rapporteur's behaviour? Who can guess?
nodig:
I can remember Joe Swift of BBC gardeners world starting his own allotment plot a few years back. When he found out that his new plot was infested with Mares Tail he enthusiastically asking an old boy for advice. I had to laugh when the answer he was given was 'give up'. Funnily enough I think he did after a few more episodes!
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