Mare's Tails

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hadn't been able to get to lottie for 3 weeks till last Sunday.
I could've wept! Mare's tails EVERYWHERE! In my raised beds, totally covering the paths..................
I know you are supposed to dig them out, one by one as far down as you can - and I am doing this in my beds. Got a load of black plastic to cover the paths and try and kill them off.
Does anyone have anyother ideas?

[SarzWix]

Don't stress, they might look messy but they won't take much away from your veg. And don't waste your time trying to dig them right out, unless you want to dig a mine shaft or something - they can go down 20ft or so... Just hoe them, or pull as much as you can when hand weeding, and they'll weaken eventually.
There's a couple of threads in Allotment Advice too.

If you Google, search for Horsetail - mares-tail is a different thing, I think a water plant
Equisetum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Horsetail)

Hippuris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Marestail)

[zazen999]

Aye, don't fret it....there are worse things to have. Bindweed just strangles everything...and horsetail can be collected up and put into water to soak the goodness out for giving goodness back into the soil.

[NOG]

Just keep hoeing them off at ground level......eventually you will win.

[Alice]

Oh what a shame DDL. Yes, they are a nightmare. Don't waste your time trying to dig them out - it can't be done - they have roots all the way to Australia. Hoe them off at ground level. It's not possible to get rid of them, but they can be kept under control.

[Polly Fouracre]

I was told, years ago, that you can make a spray for blight from mares-tail. You have to soak the plant in water for a few days and spray spuds and tomatoes every day.
I've never tried it as have never had mare's-tail.

[organic vic]

If you keep hoeing them off the roots will eventually starve. Keep the hoed off part and make a tea with it and spray on all plants as it contains a high amount of silica and helps strengthen other plants making them less succeptable to pests and diseases! Also works to prevent blight. In a way you are lucky as I have to forage for it whilst walking my dog!! It is also used as a biodynamic prepareation tea.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Thanks for your advice everyone, youve made me feel a lot happier.

[Incy]

OOh didn't know it helped against blight!!
We have loads of it and I actually find it quite therapeutic pulling them up one by one but maybe I'm weird.
I will now start making a tea from it if it can help fight the blight. Thanks for the tip

[dexterdoglancashire]

I had a really good 3hrs down at the lottie this morning before my back said stop. Pulled every mares tail out I could and put it in a separate waste bin. Laid down black plastic on my paths. Feel a lot happier than last week.

[King Carrot]

this article suggests its an insecticide as well , you can also clean your pots and pans with it!


Horsetail

[fredb]

me and my father have an allotment and he adds rape seed oil to the glyphosate weedkiller to help it stick to the waxy leaves it knocks them back but with a few applications of the high strength roundup weedkiller thats sold on ebay,it should kill it completley.

[Glutton4...]

I have a customer whose garden is overrun with Mare's Tail - she squirts it with Glyphosate (Roundup) and not the strong stuff, just the over counter spray thingy. It seems to be working!

[Atta]

Dig up a buckets full of black roots the other day....Hopping it will go away in few years

[Gillykat]

Pleased I found this thread as I was expecting the worst - I found some horsetail behind the shed a few weeks ago

I'd planned to just keep pulling it up as it appeared and eventually starve it out.....like I did with a clump of it in our back garden back in the 1980's. Glad I don't have to get all stressed out