I have it on the allotment and when relaying brick paths, which had been down for yrs, the roots had spiralled round in the indunture of the up turned bricks, such was it's persistance to grow.
You can see on the photo some bits of horsetail which have just sprung up around the bouganvillier, in a recess in my ip terrace. When we laid the IP last July we left this recess for a future plant, and it became such a rubbish dump that I couldn't be bothered to hook out the rubbish and inject the horsetail. None of the horsetail just in front of the terrasse which got injected has survived apparently.
Stem injection does seem to be effective but I had hoped the poison would spread in the root network for several yards all around but it doen't seem to be the case at all
So last week I injected Round Up into the stems of the surviving horsetail which I had let grow since the spring, about 50 injections in all. Wasn't so easy because I had to avoid contact with the lawn grass, and quite a few stems had been trampled on and broken, so instead of having one nice tall thick stem, I had several low bits having only one or two mm diameter, no way of getting the needle into that.
I'll let you know next year around June how it worked out. Can't rush nature.
I have had some success by using Roundup at the highest recommended dosage. I worked by pulling all I could see out and then waiting until new growth was a few inches tall. Then walked all over it to bruise the stems and finally sprayed Roundup. Stems turned black within a few days and didn't have any major regrowth for a couple of years.
Unfortunately I was then unable to do much due to knee problems and it did reappear, so it was a battle won, not the war!. This time I have dug over the area and removed all I can of the root by hand. I know it won't stop regrowth but I'll be better placed to treat any that does appear.
Yes, I can well imagine that "waiting until new growth was a few inches tall", then re-attacking on bruised stems could work.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that my great success last year was due to the fact that injecting into the stems was only "the last straw". I had sprayed earlier in the year and then brush-bruised and sprayed apparently to no avail. But maybe that had seriously pre-weakened the plant...
I say this because one part of the where it unexpectedly had survived was where we dumped all our planks, so I hadn't been able to give the earlier treatments in the year. Doesn't explain all but just a feeling if you see what I mean.
What worries me is when you say no major growth for (only) two years !!!
It's tough stuff but doesn't seem to like competition or regular weeding. Parts of the garden which are heavily planted have much less of the beast than areas which haven't been used. My main problem area is a veg plot which hasn't actually been used for a few years.
Last summer's campaign against horsetail was a failure. I let it grow freely in the lawn and stem injected in september when some pieces were a foot high, all to no avail. I killed the grass around the base of the stems but the horsetail has sprouted again since april.
I don't know why 2015 was so unsuccessful. Same time of year mid-september and more or less the same concentration of round-up as 2014 which got rid of 90% of it.
No more round-up in my lawn !! I've put little bits of silver paper in the lawn where it sprouts in order to pull it out as soon as possible.
Horsetail roots can go as deep as 6' and it has the ability to store nutrients in nodules so, whilst you may clear the surface and even the top layer of soil it will always be lurking. It has such a tough structure that it used to be used for scrubbing pans and cleaning metal. It's the silica in its cells which make it tough and means you really have to crush it to get glyphosate to work but I doubt even that is transmitted all the way to the ends of the roots so it will come back sooner or later.
I have it in parts of my front garden. The main bed was weeded completely 6 weeks ago and is full of roses under-planted with hardy geraniums, penstemons, aquilegias, heucheras, cyclamens and spring bulbs so plenty of competition but I noticed today that this b****y weed has grown like a forest in all the wet and warm we've had in he last 2 weeks, despite all the competition.
Can't spray and don't like to anyway so it'll be a hand weeding job again and constant vigilance. The stuff I pull will be left to dry and die for several days and then be put in the dustbin.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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You deserve a medal Roger442.
I have it on the allotment and when relaying brick paths, which had been down for yrs, the roots had spiralled round in the indunture of the up turned bricks, such was it's persistance to grow.
You can see on the photo some bits of horsetail which have just sprung up around the bouganvillier, in a recess in my ip terrace. When we laid the IP last July we left this recess for a future plant, and it became such a rubbish dump that I couldn't be bothered to hook out the rubbish and inject the horsetail. None of the horsetail just in front of the terrasse which got injected has survived apparently.
Stem injection does seem to be effective but I had hoped the poison would spread in the root network for several yards all around but it doen't seem to be the case at all
So last week I injected Round Up into the stems of the surviving horsetail which I had let grow since the spring, about 50 injections in all. Wasn't so easy because I had to avoid contact with the lawn grass, and quite a few stems had been trampled on and broken, so instead of having one nice tall thick stem, I had several low bits having only one or two mm diameter, no way of getting the needle into that.
I'll let you know next year around June how it worked out. Can't rush nature.
I have had some success by using Roundup at the highest recommended dosage. I worked by pulling all I could see out and then waiting until new growth was a few inches tall. Then walked all over it to bruise the stems and finally sprayed Roundup. Stems turned black within a few days and didn't have any major regrowth for a couple of years.
Unfortunately I was then unable to do much due to knee problems and it did reappear, so it was a battle won, not the war!. This time I have dug over the area and removed all I can of the root by hand. I know it won't stop regrowth but I'll be better placed to treat any that does appear.
Yes, I can well imagine that "waiting until new growth was a few inches tall", then re-attacking on bruised stems could work.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that my great success last year was due to the fact that injecting into the stems was only "the last straw". I had sprayed earlier in the year and then brush-bruised and sprayed apparently to no avail. But maybe that had seriously pre-weakened the plant...
I say this because one part of the where it unexpectedly had survived was where we dumped all our planks, so I hadn't been able to give the earlier treatments in the year. Doesn't explain all but just a feeling if you see what I mean.
What worries me is when you say no major growth for (only) two years !!!
It's tough stuff but doesn't seem to like competition or regular weeding. Parts of the garden which are heavily planted have much less of the beast than areas which haven't been used. My main problem area is a veg plot which hasn't actually been used for a few years.
Totally agree to doesn't like being in a crowd. Not sure if it's root and or water competition, or competition for the sun.
Hi everbody
Last summer's campaign against horsetail was a failure. I let it grow freely in the lawn and stem injected in september when some pieces were a foot high, all to no avail. I killed the grass around the base of the stems but the horsetail has sprouted again since april.
I don't know why 2015 was so unsuccessful. Same time of year mid-september and more or less the same concentration of round-up as 2014 which got rid of 90% of it.
No more round-up in my lawn !! I've put little bits of silver paper in the lawn where it sprouts in order to pull it out as soon as possible.
Horsetail roots can go as deep as 6' and it has the ability to store nutrients in nodules so, whilst you may clear the surface and even the top layer of soil it will always be lurking. It has such a tough structure that it used to be used for scrubbing pans and cleaning metal. It's the silica in its cells which make it tough and means you really have to crush it to get glyphosate to work but I doubt even that is transmitted all the way to the ends of the roots so it will come back sooner or later.
I have it in parts of my front garden. The main bed was weeded completely 6 weeks ago and is full of roses under-planted with hardy geraniums, penstemons, aquilegias, heucheras, cyclamens and spring bulbs so plenty of competition but I noticed today that this b****y weed has grown like a forest in all the wet and warm we've had in he last 2 weeks, despite all the competition.
Can't spray and don't like to anyway so it'll be a hand weeding job again and constant vigilance. The stuff I pull will be left to dry and die for several days and then be put in the dustbin.