Horsetail eradication..

[saddad]

Very interesting report in The Organic Way this month about getting rid... I will post the basics when I get back... just off  out for the evening..
;D

[saddad]

[pete10]

Now that will usefull fella a lot of people are blighted by it.

[saddad]

OK here goes.. Organic Way Spring 08 (191) page 50
An experiment on Elder Stubbs allotments in Oxford
3x10pole plots infested with Horsetail
1) Double dug and all traces removed
2) hoed off and seeded with perennial rye grass
3) hoed off and covered with fresh straw/pig manure

Plot one was smothered in reinvigerated Horsetail by the end of the year
Plots 2 and three weren't... 2 had been regularly mown..
2+ 3 were repeated for another year after which both were free of of it and were ploughed, rotorvated and brought back into cultivation... no serious recurrence.

There is also a les successful article on sowing turnips as they are supposed to poison the roots but this had to be done every other year..

???  ::) worth a try?

[star]

I would say certainly for anyone with a horsetail problem. It gives a lot of hope, where there was none before  :D

My OH was at work one night(he's a driver) and said he saw this beautiful plant and wanted to bring some home. After seeing the photo he took.........................agh nooooo marestail :-\!!!!

[djbrenton]

I've found that the marestail has stopped growing where I always pee behind the greenhouse. I've calculated that if I drink 29 gallons of water a day I can cover my whole allotment once a week.

[cambourne7]

I had some, i got a hammer and a stone and smashed the horsetail this breaks to outer shell then i painted it with roundup. It seamed to have worked.

[manicscousers]

ours was infested with it, we covered it with thick cardboard, added 8 inches of well rotted manure, topsoil and leaves, not had a recurrence so far, 3rd year  :)

[saddad]

The basic solution seems to be to improve the soil... as it doesn't compete well with others and likes neglected areas..
:-\

[Deb P]

I've found that the marestail has stopped growing where I always pee behind the greenhouse. I've calculated that if I drink 29 gallons of water a day I can cover my whole allotment once a week.

;D ;D ;D

[ACE]

One allotment I had was infested before I took it on. I used the old double dig and thorough weeding method. Then as I planted my crops I dug again and reweeded all the little black bits of root. Naturally this did not stop it coming back but it was managable. I used to dedicate an hour a week just to hoeing marestail. It gradually gave up and I ended up with a relatively marestail free allotment.

It took just over two years to get to this state, but the crops were still growing and I can't say that the marestail damaged anything I was growing, it was mainly untidy.

I think regular hoeing/mowing the tops off will eventually weaken it to a managable state.

[Tee Gee]

Saved me a lot of typing there Ace

Ace!! I agree with your way entirely  :)

[sawfish]

I definitely think lightening and aerating the soil works. It worked for me.