Is it possible to compost Mares Tail

[Jimmy]

I normally pop the roots in the councils brown bin.
But they are proposing an extra £30 fee for the brown bins.
Being a scrooge I may not pay this.
So can Mares Tail be composted.
I read if you put the roots in a black bin liner and leave them in the sun to toast for a year they expire.
Anyone any advice.
Thanks
Jimmy

[Jay-ell]

You could put them in a bucket of water with a tight lid till they start to rot. Should give a liquid plant feed aswell as drowning it

[lottie dolly]

Our plots are riddled with horsetail,to much to put in the barrel oh water,i have put some on the compost heap,BUT,not the root,only the top green,but it needs other stuff with it to help,also used it as a mulch,looks a mess as it dries,failing all else,burn it,or take a trip to the council tip,anyway £30 is not a lot per year,and less stress than luging it about in the car to tips.

[Jimmy]

£30 is not a lot per year,

£30 is probably not a lot but when you are already paying for it in your council taxes it is.
Don't suppose they would be too happy if I deducted £30 from my council tax bill !
Have you noticed how you have to pay twice for many things.
NHS , you pay in , but still have to pay !
Whinge over, Jimmy

[ESBkevin]

If you have black bin bags put the Mares tail in one and some water, place it out the way in the shade and knot the top. Without light and in water it will die and produce a fertiliser, but leave it over winter.

[Snadger]

You could put them in a bucket of water with a tight lid till they start to rot. Should give a liquid plant feed aswell as drowning it

Apparently it has a lot of silicon in it which makes it good for scouring pans!I would think that silicon is one of the trace elements as well, although I don't know how it helps plant growth, and can't be bothered to look it up!

[lottie dolly]

am sure on here is a mention,about using to help with blight,maybe it's the silicon that puts a coating on plants to protect from other other things like bugs,now there is an experiment for someone,a few years ago,i had a barrel of mixed stuff incuding rhubarb leaves and horse tail,this mix was sprayed on brassicas after the rain,am sure it helped,so am wondering if that is the answer,will have to get some from the lottie,and try an the home beans and see if the black fly reduce,nothing to loose.

[Terryrat]

Mares tail

Well in the Mail magazine someone has asked the question and Monty Don says yes put it in the composter You know how much clout he has too

[veggiechicken]

Hi Terry and welcome.
I found another refererence to Monty's ideas about Mares tail in 2009!!


Has anybody else seen Monty Don’s article in the Daily Mail Weekend magazine? In the Ask Monty section the question is “what can be done about mare’s tail”. Monty’s answer? “The most enlightened view is to incorporate it into the design and appearance of your borders.”

Will the last one into the loony bin shut the door behind them!

The last sentence is not mine - although I do agree.

[Penellype]

My experience of the stuff over the last 6 months is that if you give it an inch it will take a mile. Incorporating it into your borders is fine if you want to look at nothing but a sea of horsetail, and fall out with the neighbours over it as well.

I won't put it anywhere near the compost heap, although I fear that some is bound to have got in as it is very good at entangling itself in everything else.

[Baldy]

I guess he's saying (badly) that you might have to live with it - though clearly he should have given a *lot* mot emphasis on regularly doing something to keep on top of it - whether hand weeding or stomping and weedkiling

Never trust a man in corduroy trousers...

[Two_Sheds]

I put all nasty weeds in the compost, but killed first, by baking/drying it out on a path

Horsetail is a poor competitor for light, so surround it with taller, closely packed plants

[lynda66]

ive spent the last 2 years digging 2 ft deep trenches across the lottie and pulling out every bit of mares tail, and bindweed, i can find, the soil was all like concrete, so filled in trenches with alternate layers of manure and the removed soil. also had to pull up the paths to remove the roots from under there too. in the first bed I.did 2 years ago, the soil.is now pretty good, plus if any bindweed or mares tail appeared they've been from a bit of loose root that pulls straight out. its been flipping hard work, but compared to not being able to see the soil because of the stuff 2 years ago, I can live with the odd loose strand ... I also left it all out to dry over the summer, then compost.
a few days ago, was reading about comfrey/nettle tea fertiliser. and other stuff to add to the infusion, and it said anything with very deep roots (mares tail, dandelion, dock etc) is really good to chuck in, as the roots reach down to all the plant yummies that have soaked through the soil, and bring them back to.the surface in the leaves making them much more nutritious. so I've dug up 3 buckets full of roots today in a bit I haven't previously dug. so definitely gonna chuck some of them in to drown 😁🤣

[Penellype]

ive spent the last 2 years digging 2 ft deep trenches across the lottie and pulling out every bit of mares tail, and bindweed, i can find, the soil was all like concrete, so filled in trenches with alternate layers of manure and the removed soil. also had to pull up the paths to remove the roots from under there too. in the first bed I.did 2 years ago, the soil.is now pretty good, plus if any bindweed or mares tail appeared they've been from a bit of loose root that pulls straight out. its been flipping hard work, but compared to not being able to see the soil because of the stuff 2 years ago, I can live with the odd loose strand ... I also left it all out to dry over the summer, then compost.
a few days ago, was reading about comfrey/nettle tea fertiliser. and other stuff to add to the infusion, and it said anything with very deep roots (mares tail, dandelion, dock etc) is really good to chuck in, as the roots reach down to all the plant yummies that have soaked through the soil, and bring them back to.the surface in the leaves making them much more nutritious. so I've dug up 3 buckets full of roots today in a bit I haven't previously dug. so definitely gonna chuck some of them in to drown ����

Great to hear that digging it out has enabled you to get pretty much on top of it - that is very encouraging. I haven't been digging trenches, but I'm hoping that repeated digging as deep as I can is going to give me a similar result.

[lynda66]

there's probably a few roots. further down, but 2 ft seems to be where most of them are and where the ground becomes awful solid clay and stone subsoil. so pretty sure I've got most of them, the worst bits were along the side of and under the paths so you get rid and they all decide to pop out cos the soil is nice. think it's just a case of pulling out as much as you can, as often as you can, our lottie is covered in it, so it's bound to come back at some point, but at least the soil will be nice and diggable if I ever need to do it again, rather than the concrete it was.