This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
The dreaded Horsetail
anneh-CzT28J
Posts: 2
The weed that invokes rage and desperation. So what do you do to get rid of it? On bare ground/gravel etc where there are no cherished plants, I have had good success at reducing the problem with two strong doses of Roundup each season over 3 years. The first dose when they are about six inches tall and starting to look a bit too comfortable in the garden and the second towards the end of summer, before the leaves start to die back. A heavy infestation is now almost completely gone in my garden but I’ll keep an eye out in case it re-emerges!
In my flower borders it was a different approach… I dug everything out of one border in April a couple of years ago. In April I found that the roots were easy to spot as they had green growing tips. It was back breaking and I filled half a dozen sacks with the roots as the infestation was so bad. Following that it was a case of almost daily weed watch. If any popped up they were immediately forked out and disposed of. 2 years later and there is hardly any to be seen but I keep a constant watch. This year I have just done the same for another border and now I am in paranoid weed watch mode! If only there was an easier solution but you can get rid of it with hard work and persistence. It’s actually quite satisfying when it works!!
In my flower borders it was a different approach… I dug everything out of one border in April a couple of years ago. In April I found that the roots were easy to spot as they had green growing tips. It was back breaking and I filled half a dozen sacks with the roots as the infestation was so bad. Following that it was a case of almost daily weed watch. If any popped up they were immediately forked out and disposed of. 2 years later and there is hardly any to be seen but I keep a constant watch. This year I have just done the same for another border and now I am in paranoid weed watch mode! If only there was an easier solution but you can get rid of it with hard work and persistence. It’s actually quite satisfying when it works!!
2
Posts
Well done @anneh-CzT28J
I did manage to pretty much eliminate bindweed that was everywhere in my old garden, with similar daily persistance like you described, over 2 seasons but minus the roundup in this case (it helped that it was in lockdown which meant I could do a twice daily patrol). It kept coming back, but weaker and weaker, before eventually giving up the ghost. I think overcoming horsetail is much more impressive though.. one of those cases where the glyphosate is definitely justifiable.
Snapped the stems and put weedkiller on it. See what happens.
Not letting it fruit is also important. The petrol station along the road has a little area at the front with shrubs etc, but there's a patch about a metre square at the entrance which is full of it - all about to sprout. It gets covered with all the planting as time goes on though. Outcompeted as @wild edges says. It's well contained though - pavement & road etc, and it never seems to get into the field next door.
It can be crushed and soaked, like doing nettles etc, and used for mildew [?] or similar.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...