I have a perfect solution for the stump but need one for the marestail/horsetail....
I am still struggling with marestail after using hte Kurtail 2 years running- each year it grows back thick and fast. I only have 3 shrubs in the bed and lots of over weeds. Digging 2-3 foot down did not work either. The bed is on a slope so is well drained.
Thinking now whether to try the vinager or to try manure and lime. I am thinking that vinegar will just burn the tops off and come back next year as the kurtail did exactly that. When I dug down and checked the roots they were green inside the bootlace exterior.
However, I do have a perfect solution for sprouting tree stumps- it worked perfectly after trying all the paint on bramble, brushwood, treestump killers which didn't work.
In my last house I had the stump of an old hawthorn hedge in a border, I couldn't dig it out so I used it as a feature and pruned off all sprouting branches, ofcourse pruning made more grow, used all the above strong paint on but to no avail. My solution that worked first time was- I made several holes in the stump with a screwdriver, then carefully poured a little household thick domestos in the holes.
It worked perfectly- the stump was then a dead stump used as a feature, and all my growing palnts around it were unaffected.
Would love to hear from anyone who has sucessfully treated maretails and can see the results the following year. My photo is the following year after using Kurtail- totally useless. It is contained in a walled bed just next to the patio, and I would love to plant permanant plants. Also tried the green manure- hungarian rye grass and growing the african daisy-but that didn't work.
Did read that growing turnips got rid of it????? any allotmenteers advise me on this one? What about lots of fresh manure or rotted manure?
I always wonder why I haven't seen it growing in cultivated farmers fields- is that because of the muckspreading?
The reason you don't see it causing a problem in farmers' arable fields is because they are regularly and rigorously cultivated. Good drainage also helps keep it in check.
It is a problem on grazing land as it is toxic to livestock, particularly horses. It is also a problem where crops remain for more than a year, such as on fruit farms.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
All I'm doing with mine is checking the veg patch (where it mostly grows) and just pulling it out as and when I see it, with as much root as possible. I've accepted that I'm never going it get rid of it, I just need to deal with it / control it as best I can. When we moved in our house my veg patch looked like your picture
I've not seen what my allotments like in the summer but there's mares/horse tail growing in the plots either side of mine. I've just been digging it out and pulling any shoots which show.
Thanks for the tip about tree stumps.
I'm digging out the bindweed and where the grounds not been dug I'm going to grow it up canes to a reasonable size then treat it with roundup.
dizzylizzy sorry I can't really offer you any more advise about the mares/horsetail but would be pleased to hear any more suggestions for killing it.
Hi David Olive- thanks for your message re the perfect product- I am interested please contact me with more details and references, I couldn't get the message system to type a message back - so posted my reply. Sure others who do the the dreaded marestail or horsetail would be interested.
David Olive's previous posts and spamming advertisements have been deleted from the Forum by the Editor and Moderators as they are in breach of the Gardeners World Website Code of Conduct.
I have just received a Spam Private Message from David Olive and have replied as follows:
David, your advertising posts have previously been deleted from the GW Forum by the Editor. If you are looking for a way to seriously piss off an influential group of gardeners in the UK you are going the right way about it. I suggest that you seriously reappraise your marketing strategy as it appears to be counter productive. The Editor and Moderators will be alerted to this flagrant breach of the Gardeners World Website Code of Conduct. Please do not contact me any further. Dovefromabove
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I won't be replying to private messages from anyone I don't want them from, so my message from David will be replied to publicly here for all to see.
Yes I have Marestail, yes it's a problem, but I am dealing with it and do not want to be targeted by unsolicited 'cold call' PM's. I have enough issues with people phoning trying to sell me things I don't want without coming in here to find the same!! I have also reported your PM to the moderators.
Had a major problem with mares tail, on both allotment plots, so being a lazy old blighter,I used the mower to cut through every weed. I had, then used the leaf rake to clear all excess cut stuff away, and sprayed both plots with the cheapest weed killer I could get hold of, the ones I used all contained glyphpsphate, and 3 weeks later every weed is brown or going brown,. Personally I would only ever dispose of mares tail cuttings by feeding them to the chickens or burning them , as they only need the slightest bit to restart growing, white vinegar, resolva etc all work well, good luck everyone
Same here, alf marsh. Fortunately, my plot hasn't any marestail but I'm keeping an eye open. The plot opposite me has marestail but he told me he just lives with it as you can't kill it. When I was originally invited onto the site (by a friend who's hubby took ill just after they got it), I found she had loads of the dreaded weed. I deep dug to 2 feet and came across a thick, inpenetrable black mass of roots - the fork just bounced off it. The soil above it was perfect . Solution? - Roundup about three times over 3 months.
Posts
Hi
I have a perfect solution for the stump but need one for the marestail/horsetail....
I am still struggling with marestail after using hte Kurtail 2 years running- each year it grows back thick and fast. I only have 3 shrubs in the bed and lots of over weeds. Digging 2-3 foot down did not work either. The bed is on a slope so is well drained.
Thinking now whether to try the vinager or to try manure and lime. I am thinking that vinegar will just burn the tops off and come back next year as the kurtail did exactly that. When I dug down and checked the roots they were green inside the bootlace exterior.
However, I do have a perfect solution for sprouting tree stumps- it worked perfectly after trying all the paint on bramble, brushwood, treestump killers which didn't work.
In my last house I had the stump of an old hawthorn hedge in a border, I couldn't dig it out so I used it as a feature and pruned off all sprouting branches, ofcourse pruning made more grow, used all the above strong paint on but to no avail. My solution that worked first time was- I made several holes in the stump with a screwdriver, then carefully poured a little household thick domestos in the holes.
It worked perfectly- the stump was then a dead stump used as a feature, and all my growing palnts around it were unaffected.
Would love to hear from anyone who has sucessfully treated maretails and can see the results the following year. My photo is the following year after using Kurtail- totally useless. It is contained in a walled bed just next to the patio, and I would love to plant permanant plants. Also tried the green manure- hungarian rye grass and growing the african daisy-but that didn't work.
Did read that growing turnips got rid of it????? any allotmenteers advise me on this one? What about lots of fresh manure or rotted manure?
I always wonder why I haven't seen it growing in cultivated farmers fields- is that because of the muckspreading?
The reason you don't see it causing a problem in farmers' arable fields is because they are regularly and rigorously cultivated. Good drainage also helps keep it in check.
It is a problem on grazing land as it is toxic to livestock, particularly horses. It is also a problem where crops remain for more than a year, such as on fruit farms.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
All I'm doing with mine is checking the veg patch (where it mostly grows) and just pulling it out as and when I see it, with as much root as possible. I've accepted that I'm never going it get rid of it, I just need to deal with it / control it as best I can. When we moved in our house my veg patch looked like your picture
I've not seen what my allotments like in the summer but there's mares/horse tail growing in the plots either side of mine. I've just been digging it out and pulling any shoots which show.
Thanks for the tip about tree stumps.
I'm digging out the bindweed and where the grounds not been dug I'm going to grow it up canes to a reasonable size then treat it with roundup.
dizzylizzy sorry I can't really offer you any more advise about the mares/horsetail but would be pleased to hear any more suggestions for killing it.
Hi David Olive- thanks for your message re the perfect product- I am interested please contact me with more details and references, I couldn't get the message system to type a message back - so posted my reply. Sure others who do the the dreaded marestail or horsetail would be interested.
I have just received a Spam Private Message from David Olive and have replied as follows:
David, your advertising posts have previously been deleted from the GW Forum by the Editor. If you are looking for a way to seriously piss off an influential group of gardeners in the UK you are going the right way about it. I suggest that you seriously reappraise your marketing strategy as it appears to be counter productive. The Editor and Moderators will be alerted to this flagrant breach of the Gardeners World Website Code of Conduct. Please do not contact me any further. Dovefromabove
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove
I won't be replying to private messages from anyone I don't want them from, so my message from David will be replied to publicly here for all to see.
Yes I have Marestail, yes it's a problem, but I am dealing with it and do not want to be targeted by unsolicited 'cold call' PM's. I have enough issues with people phoning trying to sell me things I don't want without coming in here to find the same!! I have also reported your PM to the moderators.
Please DO NOT contact me again.
Same here, alf marsh. Fortunately, my plot hasn't any marestail but I'm keeping an eye open. The plot opposite me has marestail but he told me he just lives with it as you can't kill it. When I was originally invited onto the site (by a friend who's hubby took ill just after they got it), I found she had loads of the dreaded weed. I deep dug to 2 feet and came across a thick, inpenetrable black mass of roots - the fork just bounced off it. The soil above it was perfect . Solution? - Roundup about three times over 3 months.