or for a bit of moral support, I dunno.... Do any of you have marestail on their plot?

Glyphosate does the trick! it's systemic so will not harm the soil.

Bruise the b****y stuff then spray as per instructions ... wilkos do a small bottle for a fiver. Wait till its hot again and then it will be taken well down into the roots ... may have to repeat process but you will win

No but I have had Dom - and Japanese knotweed Just keep going mate you'll get there

no but i have loads of creeping buttercup, looks nice but hard to plant through,

I've only only got it in my pond. Think I must have imported it with another plant. It's been there for four years though and does not seem interested in escaping.

Dunno. Not seen my plot since January. Need child minder so I can go on my own.

I promise not to rant but does the instructions tell you to bruise them, Flo?

I still have some popping up on my plot but I just keep digging it out where I find it.

It would be handy if Dom's marestail was in just one place so you could cover it with black sheet mulch and forget it for 20 years but it's unlikely and is more likely to be in patches so difficult to do that

So G2 what would you suggest to eradicate this baddie? Fire would only kill the top wouldn't it

I just had a read somewhere and it says it thrives in damp conditions and on poor soils. So would it be a good idea to improve the soil where it thrives? Don't know like, just askin

Is it a different plant then Dom and is the one I have just not a problem at all, apart from the fact it takes over my pond. Is the one you have more frond like rather than succulent like?

is it correct that it's an annual

Does yours flower Ady? If it does it isn't related apparently... Mine's called Equisetum sumthing and nooooooooooo, deffo not an annual Wardy I re-read stuff about it and it loves being dug which of course explains why it is so rampant where the potatoes have been which by now pretty much covers the plot

Constantly hoeing its head off will keep it in check they say as long as .... you do it before it reaches 3in so the roots don't get fed Well, it grows about 10 cm overnight tss Maybe I should spend my nights on the plot

Get a weed wand and burn the bugga out, the weed killer cant work on it cos its not got a transport system, its a prehistoric plant (has got a special name but cant remember) so beat its head in(feels good) or burn it. And the round up kills a fungus in the soil that is needed for nitrogen transportation and that effect lasts up to 22 years in sandy soil, It made by Monsanto the peeps who are trying to make us use GM.

This is what mine looks like:


Is this what yours looks like?

The second picture is purloined from an interesting site showing the effects of various weedkillers on [url=]Glyphosate Resistant Horseweed/Marestail]"Glyphosate Resistant Horseweed/Marestail"[/url]
And the one I have got is dwescribed as:

Quote:

Water plant with stems up to 2m long.... Habitat: Still or flowing water.

It does not say anything about it growing on land.

My book does not have horsetail or horseweed and the fleabanes it has (Canadian and Common) look nowt like it.

David is right, it is a prehistoric plant and has incredibly long roots, you need an all round approach to getting rid of it - you can bruise it and spray it like Flo says - but it's not a one off job - other than that you need to keep hoeing, firing or pulling it out, eventually the roots die from lackk of food produced by the leaves.

It's unlikely you'll ever be completely rid of it Dom, but you should ba able to get it to manageable proportions - found this on google

"Horse or Mares Tail

Horse or Mares Tail, Equisetum Arvense is, in my opinion, public enemy number one. It looks like it belongs in Jurassic Park and, unchecked, spreads like wildfire.

In spring, brown green shoots appear with small cones at the tips that produce spores. (Arghh – millions of ‘em) and it grows away from creeping thin brown roots that you can hardly see as they are soil coloured. Digging out these roots is not feasible – they go down into the soil for up to 1.5 metres – yes, 5 feet.

Later the ‘leaves’ or tails appear. These will die off as autumn turns to winter and the roots sit there waiting for spring. The leaves have a waxy coat, which makes the plant highly resistant to weedkillers.

Crushing the leaves to break up the coating helps weedkiller to penetrate and become absorbed but in large areas it is not so easy to crush all the leaves . However, glyphosate weed killer will have an effect and eventually kill the plant. You will probably need 5 or more applications. Knock it back, it re-grows and you repeat.

I don’t think you can clear this in less than one season.

Ammonium Sulphamate seems to be a far more effective weed killer. It can kill it in one application but may well need two. It used to be available as Amicide but now you need to look for a brushwood killer that incorporates it like Rootout or Deep Root. Just check the packet for ammonium sulphamate.

I’d recommend NOT digging where there is horsetail until it is dead for sure. Otherwise it just starts springing up from the root cuttings. Drying or drowning the roots prior to composting is a must.

I've been contacted by Mr Charles Bailey who points out that Horestail is correctly applied to the weed growing on land whereas Marestail is correctly applied to the weed growing in water.

He also puts forth an organic control method, which he says is effective.

Without resorting to chemicals you can control/irradicate horse tail by digging/forking through the soil when it is in the right condition: ie not too wet and sticky!

Once you have removed as much as possible, any that shoots is easily dealt with. Before it reaches 3 ins/7cm high, hoe off an inch below the surface.

Eventually the food supply in the root is exhausted. Let it get bigger than stated and food begins to be stored in the roots again, and round and round you go ad infinitum.

Never touch Horsetail with a mechanical cultivator. If you do you will understand why it has been around for 60 million years"

Both worth a read:

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In fact the dgsgardening website has been one of my bookmarks for ages. Often refer to it for pests and weeds.

just shows how fantastic plants are. Despite mans' best efforts a humble weed still wins Isn't nature fantastic. It just shows that humankind doesn't always have the last word

right I'm all of a confuddle, what I thought was marestail, doesnt' appear to be I'm googling like a gud un and all I can find is stuff which is tall, my stuff creeps am i crackers or do I not have a clue bout what is marestail

This is at least the 5th time I lose what I'm writing and I'm losing the will to live

This is my marestail oops horsetail

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And yes, I'm in awe, it's even quite pretty but I don't want it interfering with my veggies

And it has its uses.... great to clean the spade or whatever with it

Yours be horsetail then. Just keep following the advice of others Dom as I don't have it. We do have it about 5m away from the house but it has not invaded the garden but I do not think our arid unfertile limestone based plot is very horsetail friendly - thank gawd! Good luck Dom.

Thank you Ady... I'm not a disheartened as I was earlier

But so far... it' only Andy who's shared my misery... and Bags? Only she can't remember

Baggy deffo had that on her old plot....I remember her on her hands and knees swearing at it