Most of the people on this thread don't post any more @jobod92 , but horsetail can get through most things, including a really good depth of concrete. It will also just spread underground and come up at the edges, so if you have it - you'll keep getting it. You'd just have to treat it when it appears. Bruising the stems can help, but I don't know if the new weed killers will have any effect on it.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The best way to tackle horsetail is to hoe it regularly and especially before it can release spores to multiply itself. The roots go for miles underground - very deep anyway - and it will pop up again but without the bit above ground to synthesise sunlight theroots eventually weaken and die.
When you do hoe it, gather up the stems and make a fungicide which is safe for plants and insects and can be used to treat orprevent mildew, black spot, peach leaf curl, seed dampening off etc:-
1kg horsetail stems 9 litres rainwater
Crush the stems and steep them in the water, covered, for 2 weeks or till it all turns black. Do not use a metal container. Strain the resulting goo and keep in sealed bottles. Dilute 1 part purin to 9 parts water and spray in spring or autumn when fungal problems are most prevalent.
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)."
I have sometimes wondered for a small infestation of horsetail or knotweed, as the stems are hollow, would cutting stems down to, say, 1 inch then injecting the remaining hollow stem with brushkiller or strong systemic weedkiller work? Sorry it's a bit of a rambling sentence.
I think it would be tricky to inject horsetail stems @SueAtoo, but maybe someone's tried it. In open ground [ie with soil] hoeing regularly can weaken it, but it'll come back if you don't keep on top if it ,as @Obelixx describes. We're quite lucky here that it isn't a problem, although I had a little in a previous garden, but I had it in the last garden which was quite rural. It had spread into the pond too, and it wasn't the cultivated 'pond' variety - just the normal, very invasive stuff.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I don't know about injecting horsetail, but Japanese knotweed is controlled that way, but I think you have to be trained and licensed to do it. It's not straightforward.
I’m with @Obelixx. I used to hate it coming through in my front garden, but I have been making tea with it for the garden for a few years now. It doesn’t smell half as bad as nettle tea. Horsetail has a high silica content, which really helps strengthening plants. I use it either fresh, boiled in water on the stove for 20 minutes - undiluted, or let it steep in water for a few weeks in a bucket and use a dilution to water my plants.
Well done Watsonia..Why on earth would you want to kill horsetail anyway???!!!Not only is it ône of the most primitive plants on Earth and should be preserved but in Biodynamic Gardening it is regularly used for many fungal problems. . You can buy it ready prepared (called prêle) even in the Supermarket in France. See Thread Gardening with the Moon and Biodynamics.Just as a sideline Knotweed makes fabulous kindling wood. .weeds should be nurtured , many are useful pollinators and can be used in salads. Also in hot weather, if you must weed this leaving earth bare to baking sun, place the unseeded ones around plants as a mulch. In particular Roses and Peonies.
I don't know about injecting horsetail, but Japanese knotweed is controlled that way, but I think you have to be trained and licensed to do it. It's not straightforward.
I've read in the past about injecting horsetail but that can only be practical if you have very little of it. Constantly ripping it out does weaken it for a time, but it generally comes back. One area where I was reasonably successful entailed walking over the entire area in order to damage the stems, spray with max recommended strength glyphosate and then covered the area with heavy duty weed suppressant to eliminate the light. Several years on, there is some regrowth but nothing like previously. That is only practical on larger open areas.
Posts
It will also just spread underground and come up at the edges, so if you have it - you'll keep getting it.
You'd just have to treat it when it appears. Bruising the stems can help, but I don't know if the new weed killers will have any effect on it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
The best way to tackle horsetail is to hoe it regularly and especially before it can release spores to multiply itself. The roots go for miles underground - very deep anyway - and it will pop up again but without the bit above ground to synthesise sunlight theroots eventually weaken and die.
When you do hoe it, gather up the stems and make a fungicide which is safe for plants and insects and can be used to treat orprevent mildew, black spot, peach leaf curl, seed dampening off etc:-
1kg horsetail stems
9 litres rainwater
Crush the stems and steep them in the water, covered, for 2 weeks or till it all turns black. Do not use a metal container. Strain the resulting goo and keep in sealed bottles. Dilute 1 part purin to 9 parts water and spray in spring or autumn when fungal problems are most prevalent.
We're quite lucky here that it isn't a problem, although I had a little in a previous garden, but I had it in the last garden which was quite rural. It had spread into the pond too, and it wasn't the cultivated 'pond' variety - just the normal, very invasive stuff.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've read in the past about injecting horsetail but that can only be practical if you have very little of it. Constantly ripping it out does weaken it for a time, but it generally comes back. One area where I was reasonably successful entailed walking over the entire area in order to damage the stems, spray with max recommended strength glyphosate and then covered the area with heavy duty weed suppressant to eliminate the light. Several years on, there is some regrowth but nothing like previously. That is only practical on larger open areas.