Which is worse........

[Lily]

.........Horsetail, Creeping Buttercup or Ground Elder.  Well, I've got all three on my plot.  The last 2 I'm not too worried about, after all buttercups are pretty flowers.  But, Horsetails,  :o  :o.  I was digging on the plot this morning and found a small patch.  I dug it up straight away, and will dispose of it in a most fitting way, ie not the compost.  I think I've got it just in time, it just seems to be on a small area.  Any ideas on how it spreads.

Lily

[Lily]

[Mrs Ava]

Horse tail has long long long long brittle roots which travel deep deep deep down into the depths of the earth, so even when you think you have removed it, chances are it will reappear a few weeks later!  Blasted stuff - I have it also,a dn buttercup, but not ground elder - mum has enough for both of us in her garden!  I believe horsetail spreads with creeping stems....I think.....  Just keep digging it up, and digging it up, and digging it up!  ;D

[Lily]

Thanks EJ, you've made me feel so much better  ;D   ;D

I've looked on the internet for a picture to match what I have on the lottie, and it seems I've got Field Horsetail. It says to keep cutting back, especially in summer to stop the spores from travelling.

Mine didn't seem to have deep roots, unless, of course, the roots broke off when I pulled them up. :'(  :'(

I'll just keep digging it up. >:(

Lily

[Derekthefox]

The one advantage of marestail (horsetail?) I have noticed, is that on reasonable cultivated ground, it doesnt seem to provide much competition for other growing plants. The biggest problem is around the roots of bushes etc. Here my neighbour resorted to triple strength roundup, applied through the neck of a cutoff plastic pop bottle. This was effective and cleared ALL the marestail from his gooseberry bushes.

Derekthefox :D

[spacehopper]

Derek, did your friend leave the upturned cut off bottle over the marestailto let the roundup soak in? This would seem a good idea to get the plant to absorb it. I might well try that next year. It's a pain to get rid of.

[Multiveg]

Ground elder omelettes were mentioned on GQT a while back!
Horsetail - good foliar feed (the silicon in it)
Buttercup - pretty flowers for testing if we like butter

[Robert_Brenchley]

What have the Romans done for us?

Given us ground elder!

[Rosa_Mundi]

And sanitation, straight roads, lots of interesting ruins.... ;D ;D ;D

[moonbells]

AND BLINKING SNAILS!!!!!

moonbells

[Heldi]

I've got marestail from here right up to the billabong!  When I've been digging I've been pulling out loooooooooooooooong black spindley roots. Some are like elastic and some just seem to disintegrate in the hand. I've also got ground elder,creeping buttercup,brambles and couch grass. The other week when I happened to walking onto the field behind my shed I saw bind weed. Uh oh!

Worse than any of that is someone lets their dog poo right beside my gate.  >:(

[busy_lizzie]

I had loads of marestails on my plot when I first got it, but find it no trouble now, just keep digging it up and it gets to be quite unobtrusive.  Creeping buttercup I haven't got, but we have ground elder in our home garden and I hate it.  It is just horrible to get rid of. When I see it I think of War of the World and Martians, wish a ground elder cold would come along and finish it off. It is not even very pretty which at least marestails are. I don't use chemicals so it is just dig and dig and dig again.  >:( busy_lizzie

[RSJK]

Two more plants or weeds, to add to your list of worse things Lily,  horseradish and bindweed.  Horse radish is a big problem in one of my allotments it goes way down into the ground and just a little bit of root left in will grow on.

[Multiveg]

Perhaps you could supply the local butcher with horseradish!

[terrace max]

Apparently the roots of marestail can be 100 foot deep  :o

You can make a decent plant food out of it, though.

I have plenty of buttercup - I find the trick is to use a full-size fork to weed it - not a hand fork or you end up leaving a lot of root behind.

I HATE bindweed... >:(

[Lily]

Richard- I planted a small amount of horseraddish on the plot some time ago, it doesn't seem to have grown very much, but come the summer it might just take off :o  :o  I guess I should dig it out and put it in a large tub to keep it from spreading. 

Lily

[Icyberjunkie]

One of our allotmenteers got fed up with the neighbouring hedge cropping up all through his plot so he decided to dig a deep trench all along that side to pull up the roots.
At waste deep he called a few people over - all the hawthorn gone but he'd found marestail roots....just to finish with a cheery note....... ::)

[lorna]

Didn't the Romans build straight roads? Was it to stop corner shops popping up? Maybe not methinks it was to avoid being ambushed ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

It was actually to get the army round the place as fast as possible.

[lorna]

Ah Robert I must have read a different book ;D ;D

[redimp]

Didn't the Romans build straight roads? Was it to stop corner shops popping up? Maybe not methinks it was to avoid being ambushed ;D

Cornershops were a Roman speciality - that's how most small Roman settlements grew up - crossroads, cornershop and cornerinn and cornerstables etc.