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[MyWifesBrassicas]

life after horsetails or rather living with horse tails.
I took on a plot that hadn't been touched in years and through my eagerness, i spent two days rotavating it. It allowed me to grow what i wanted that season, it also chopped up all the horsetails which grew exponentially, just like mickey mouse chopping the broomstick in the disney classic fantasia.
Anyhow, I've curbed it over the years, but the point is, it never stopped me growing what i wanted to grow and still doesn't, it's roots grow deep and doesn't really interfere with what i've grown.
I religiously pull them when i see them, this severely weakens it over time and i soak the pulled horsetails in a blue barrel of water for a year with all my other persistent perennial weeds then compost them.
I use them to my advantage.
Hope this helps, there is a plot balance and don't give in

[1Bee]

We have horsetail. We also have lovely veg and yields... ;-)

Cover to inhibit growth, pull it all out when you dig and dispose of/drown. Lime in rotation. Hoe-hoe-hoe. We have drastically reduced it this way, and it's now at a level I can live with, and deal with just as any other weed. It seems to be a lot less damaging to productivity that a lot of other weeds, too.

You'll never have a neat, tidy, bare-soil-between-rows-of-crops plot, but you can still have a beautiful and productive one.

[1Bee]

Oh, by the way, the best way to pull it is to get a good grip slightly lower than the 'green' bit and pull straight up - don't try and wrap it around your hand or pull at an angle, as it will snap. A good, straight draw can pull up a fair bit in loose soil.

[benb89]

Thanks all, I wont be giving up, just another challenge to keep me busy. Following discussions with others at the allotments who also have this problem I have come up with an action plan and will be trying something different on each bed to see which works best. Like everything else this year I will be experimenting.

[Mudsweatandtea]

Personally do not like chemicals.... However, whilst trying to de weed the in-laws garden (which was Jurassic to say the least) I dealt with the extremely large perrenials (deep rooted docks etc) by getting a cattle syringe filled with weed killer and injecting the roots directly, trying to keep it localised. Worked quite quickly and efficiently without contaminating the surrounding area. Of course they aren't growing food so not sure how much would have seeped into the soil. Could this method be of any use?

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Oh, by the way, the best way to pull it is to get a good grip slightly lower than the 'green' bit and pull straight up - don't try and wrap it around your hand or pull at an angle, as it will snap. A good, straight draw can pull up a fair bit in loose soil.

Totally agree with this

[Snoop Puss]

Here's me and my pet recommendation again: a hori-hori, as recommended by Jay-ell. Top tool for deep digging in very localised areas. Working a treat for me for bindweed.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ing-hoe-2.html

[benb89]

Out of interest is there any app or website that anyone would recommend for identify plants/weeds etc? I have tried Garden Answers although have found this to be unreliable.

[ameno]

Personally do not like chemicals.... However, whilst trying to de weed the in-laws garden (which was Jurassic to say the least) I dealt with the extremely large perrenials (deep rooted docks etc) by getting a cattle syringe filled with weed killer and injecting the roots directly, trying to keep it localised. Worked quite quickly and efficiently without contaminating the surrounding area. Of course they aren't growing food so not sure how much would have seeped into the soil. Could this method be of any use?

Systematic weedkillers like glyphosate and the aforementioned ammonium sulphamate break down quickly in the soil into harmless products (in fact, ammonium sulphamate becomes ammonium sulphate, which actually fertilizes the soil). They can be replanted within two weeks, usually, to no harm to the plants or to people eating them.