I found using a trowel to follow the black underground bit back meant each time I pulled some out I was getting much more than just the surface green part out. There was lots of it in my parent's back garden at one stage but improving the drainage and just pulling it out like this and leaving it dry out and rot on the surface worked to get rid of it after a few years with less and less to be found each year with a bit of persistence. I have not seen it in my parents' garden in recent years so I don't agree with those saying chemicals are the only solution to removing horsetails.
Worth mentioning that ammonium sulphamate was withdrawn as a herbicide back in 2008 from the whole of the EU which is why online sellers are using the "compost improver" lie to sell it in the UK and elsewhere. It's on the long list on the RHS website among all the banned chemicals...it may have been a clerical reason but it is not meant to be used as such. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=820
lots of commonly used things were been banned by the EU. Why? Because the manufacturers refused to submit to the 'money' driven rule making non elected dictators in Brussels.
These products did not become unsafe overnight, nor did they become ineffective at the purpose they were designed for, it is purely a case of the manufacturer refusing to pay the EU a recurring licence fee on each purpose ( were dictated ) the product is used for. Some purposes do not require licencing. Hence the product can be sold as a compost accelerator, a purpose it is very good at.
Thanks for your responses. I did say I'm not using chemicals as I have a young family, so I'll stick to pulling them up and using salt. They punched through a thick layer of membrane so I won't bother with that. Thanks Robin, that's encouraging, I'll stick with it. There's not much so far.
Hello @Smudgerii, my suggestions that it will weaken over time are based on my personal experience in my own garden. We are in year four with this garden and there is definitely less this year than the first. Like everything in gardening, experiences will vary from garden to garden.
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
We are in year four with this garden and there is definitely less this year than the first. Like everything in gardening, experiences will vary from garden to garden.
Thanks Butterfly, I'll stick with it. Its like all weeds, they all eventually come back. There's not much, luckily.
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Can I ask where you buy your ammonium sulphamate from?
many thanks,
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Year 2 was a case of using the paste method on any stragglers
Year 3 nothing required.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham