How come horsetail has not conquered the world? A search reveals It flourishes where it can root in water or clay soil - that's quite a lot of habitat.
don't know, we live on London clay, yet to see it locally, thankfully.
Thank you everybody for your quick and comprehensive responses. Yes, that is some bad news indeed, even though it’s a neighbours house, but I did some quick research and it appears that it can reproduce both by spores and by roots which makes it incredibly invasive. I shall talk to the neighbours and see if they are willing to tackle it. If they are not - it already “spilling” over to the foot path, which makes the council responsible and hopefully they have the duty of care.
Thank you everybody for your quick and comprehensive responses. Yes, that is some bad news indeed, even though it’s a neighbours house, but I did some quick research and it appears that it can reproduce both by spores and by roots which makes it incredibly invasive. I shall talk to the neighbours and see if they are willing to tackle it. If they are not - it already “spilling” over to the foot path, which makes the council responsible and hopefully they have the duty of care.
Council won’t act, it is not given the same classification as knotweed. The council may give an annual spray ( ours does ) of the verges and pavements but it will have little effect.
Glyphosate won’t do the job so save your money, digging alone won’t rid you of it so save the muscle ache, mowing it in the lawn just hides it so serves an asthestic purpose at least.
Unless your neighbour takes action it will eventually invade your garden.
I’m with you @Smudgerii we had it at our last house - it’s all clay in this neck of the woods - and I’m still surprised to see advice about pulling it and it will weaken. Any broken root, which can go many feet down will just kick into life. If you try and dig it then every broken piece will also regenerate and you’re spot on about the lawn. I did have some good success with Round-Up Stump Killer. Bruise the plant then apply in a suspension of a few drops of washing-up liquid which keeps it in contact with the plant for longer.
When it arrives in your property the only solution is ammonium sulphamate and KG’s of it, this will any plant it touches and is active in the soil until it breaksdown into ammonium sulphate ( fertilizer )
Mix in a ratio of 1KG in 1ltr of water with some washing up liquid in a pressure sprayer, spray anywhere that Marestail is growing. Wait 2 weeks and spray the whole area again, wait 2 more weeks and spray any new growth. After that you can ‘spot’ treat any stray bits that show up by making a paste with the above ratios and adding wallpaper paste.
Nothing you want to keep should be planted in the area for at least 8 weeks.
I found some in my front garden last year. Not sure where it came from. I looked in neighbouring garden to try and solve this but there was none.
It was only a very small amount which came up between two paving slabs so not on your scale. I used round up. It shrivelled up and it has not come back (so far!).
It was before joining bere that we had it. I had a vague recollection of its name as it was something that i must have picked over the mists of time. I googled it and learnt it could be a difficult one.
I’ve did one of my annual marestail hunts around our garden yesterday. I just pull off the emerging spikes, I don’t try and dig it out. I probably do it about three time’s at this time of year when it’s starting to get going and is about 3-4 inches long. I only have to do about two sessions as it doesn’t seem to keep sprouting during the rest of the year. I’ve been doing this for about three years and there’s definitely less each year.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
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I shall talk to the neighbours and see if they are willing to tackle it. If they are not - it already “spilling” over to the foot path, which makes the council responsible and hopefully they have the duty of care.
Mix in a ratio of 1KG in 1ltr of water with some washing up liquid in a pressure sprayer, spray anywhere that Marestail is growing. Wait 2 weeks and spray the whole area again, wait 2 more weeks and spray any new growth. After that you can ‘spot’ treat any stray bits that show up by making a paste with the above ratios and adding wallpaper paste.
Nothing you want to keep should be planted in the area for at least 8 weeks.
It was only a very small amount which came up between two paving slabs so not on your scale. I used round up. It shrivelled up and it has not come back (so far!).
It was before joining bere that we had it. I had a vague recollection of its name as it was something that i must have picked over the mists of time. I googled it and learnt it could be a difficult one.
Good luck getting rid of it.
Let us know how it goes 😁
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham