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Mares tail problems

• Message 1. 

  Posted by 711sammie (U14046421) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Hi all, I spend an enormous amount of time digging down two feet on my allotment to try to rid myself of this dreadful pest having dug out what must have been a skip full of roots. Its coming back with avengeance now and ironically I cant use anything as the plot is full of edibles. Anyone got any ideas?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by LeCreusetFiend (U14355898) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Hi!
  
  What a nightmare! I thought I had it bad with my couch grass!
  
  I've seen a tip (although I've never tried it) that if you remove as many roots as you can (and it sounds like you've made a sterling effort!), if you then hoe back any shoots that emerge before they're 3 inches high at an inch below the surface, then eventually the food sources in the roots run out, although it'll probably take more than one season.
  
  I don't know how you feel about using chemicals, but I'd be inclined, if there's any left there after all your edibles have been enjoyed, to apply a weedkiller. I've looked it up on t'internet, and apparently you need to look for something containing "ammonium sulphamate". Also, apparently towards the late stages of autumn and the onset of winter (which is probably when your ground will be crop-free) the leaves develop a waxy coating that limits the absorption of any weedkiller. Someone had a tip that if you crush the leaves with your hand first, it helps.
  
  Best of luck

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by margaretstar (U14415248) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Dear Sammie, my heart goes out to you, this is a burden that you will have to bear for a long time.
  
  However: the more you improve andb enrich the soil with compost,
  blood and bone etc, and where possible, some lime, then less the mare's tail will like it - it prefers poor and acidic soil.
  
  Now that you've got vegetables growing the best thing to do is to keep on pulling up the new shoots as often as possible. This will at least weaken the plant and if in the autumn you dig deep and remove lots of roots you will keep on top of it.
  
  The good news is that if you do this then you can get quite good crops from your plot. I have this stuff but find as long as I keep it down it doesn't affect the amount of veg I can harvest.

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• Message 4

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  Posted by 711sammie (U14046421) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Thanks Le Creuset, great pans too. I was going to find some evil chemical later in the year, but an interesting point about the waxy leaves, rules out some of the most effective ones. Thanks for youir advice. Sammie

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by 711sammie (U14046421) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Appreciate your kind encouragement, I'm not the only one suffering it and I have been told its more of a pain than a crop breaker. I'll have to have a battle of wills with it. Sammie

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• Message 6

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  Posted by the2 jays (U14383723) on Saturday, 29th May 2010

  Sammie is it horse or mares tail? Mares tail is a water weed. If it's horse tail just keep at it. Last year we had a severe infestation of it through our raspberries which had come from the plot in front of ours which was left unchecked. I just kept rooting it out with my trowel & in the Spring we put a thick layer of manure over it & there is hardly any. I don't think it likes the dark. We will put another thick layer over all the beds in the Autumn except the root bed (no dig) & just leave it to do it's work over the Winter.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Sunday, 30th May 2010

  We used to grow good crops of mares tale on fertile high Ph sandy soil so ignore advice about it being a water weed or only liking poor acid soils.
  It is true that there is a great confusion on a lot of plant names depending on where you are in the country and I know Mares tail is alsl known as horses tail
  Keep hoeing at the momnent it is all you can do and it does spring up overnight. as soon as an area is clear of crops allow it to green up and then spray it with glyphosate. It will help greatly if you give it a good stamping around first. I am afraid it may take a year or two to get rid of it totally though

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• Message 8

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  Posted by ageing_hippie (U6742113) on Sunday, 30th May 2010

  Horse tail, mares tail, equisetum; it's a real survivor whatever we call it. It's been around for many millions of years. Some people on our site call it "dinosaur food". I'm constantly digging out the roots too.
  
  You can't ever get rid of it but you can get it down to a level where you can live with it. At the college where I did my RHS courses they used to paint on a mix of glyphosate and wallpaper paste to make it stick to the stems. Bruising the plants also helps the weedkiller penetrate the stems.
  
  I've also noticed plots on our site where one application of weedkiller has killed off all the other weeds but the equisetum, being more resistent has survived and come back even stronger, filling the vacuum. This has led to some plots becoming just solid marestail, defying cultivation. Ploughing and rotovation have a similar effect. Getting the upper hand takes determination and persistence, but it can be done.
  
  

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• Message 9

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  Posted by LilAmbar (U14195859) on Monday, 31st May 2010

  Has any one tried vinegar? Mares tail appears in my flower beds thanks to my neighbour (who only strims her garden once a year) and the local authority to the otherside of her. Thought I might give this a go this year.

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• Message 10

  , in reply to message 9.

  Posted by bookertoo (U3655866) on Monday, 31st May 2010

  Oh dear sorry to hear you have mares tail. We have actually given up our allotment because of mares tail, it was just impossible. It wasaround when the dinosaurs were here, they grazed on it, since then it has not changed one iota, the fossils tell us that and it is as sucessful as it ever was. It is virtually indestructable. When there was alot of mining around here, East Midlands, the roots were often seen meters underground.
  
  The only thing you can do if it is a fairly small area is keep on chopping its head off, not even mares tail cares much for that. The one thing you must never, ever do, is rotovate, each little chopped up peice will grow a new plant almost quicker than you can say it. Sieving helps but you must burn the root bits, and every tiny microscopic bit you miss will grow.
  
  Sorry to be so negative, but we tried for years and in the end just surrendered - not an easy choice. I've got ground elder in the garden, problem enough but nothing in comparison.........

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• Message 11

  , in reply to message 10.

  Posted by the2 jays (U14383723) on Monday, 31st May 2010

  Farmer Steve if you google horse tail & mares tail that will show you the difference.

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• Message 12

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  Posted by kiocarp (U2370311) on Monday, 31st May 2010

  
  Its the oldes weed in the world .I would try lots of Lime on it ok it will not get rid of it but it knocks it back so you can keep on top of it.Our council where building a new reclycle plant but where knocked back 2 years to get rid of this weed.

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• Message 13

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  Posted by collperson (U13806187) on Tuesday, 1st June 2010

  I too live with the scourge of horsetail. In the veggie patch I hoe and hoe. Digging the roots up is impossible as there is always another piece coming through. I found round the fruit tree a good scuffle with my boots and then a brushwood killer finished most of it off, but I think it is something you just have to learn to live with. An old fashioned gardener told me he got ride of it over a couple of years smothering it with black plastic. Presumably he cut it to ground level to start with, but who has two years spare?

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• Message 14

  , in reply to message 11.

  Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Tuesday, 1st June 2010

  sorry but wht I meant in my post is that the two plants in different parts of the country are called differently here in East Anglia they always call things by a different name. I originated up in the midlands. Coming to East Anglia nad talking about weeds to neighbours got a lot of blank looks as they did not know what I was talking about
  I think the plant we are talking about here is mares tail in this part of the country
  

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• Message 15

  , in reply to message 13.

  Posted by bookertoo (U3655866) on Tuesday, 1st June 2010

  and, collperson, even if you did have 2 years to spare the b****ety stuff will come back!! We tried covering an area of our allotment for several years with all sorts of things, plastic with carpet on top, fixed down with sleepers - 3 days after it was removed up came the mares tail!! It is one of the very few occasions when I would have been sorely tempted to use a disgustingly ungreen weedkiller, but they don't work for it anyway. Even salt doesn't kill it - I know, we tried......
  
  In a way of course you have to admire something that is so tenacious, and ignores our pathetic attermpts to control it, but I do wish it had been quite so clever somewhere else!

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