Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi there everyone,
This is my first post. We, (the wife and I), got a half plot in february. We did our very best to dig out the roots of an abundant crop of the dreaded 'Mares Tail' weed and intend to burn these roots when they are dried out. However, the blighters still keep popping up - often within only 2/3 days of hoeing! My question is this: "is it safe to compost the green tops or must we destroy them along with the roots? Your advice would be greatly appreciated

hi chelmsleybloke welcome to the vine,yes mares tails are a pain,you sort of live with them,have you googled them,you will get a better understanding of what makes them tick,what i do is either constantly dig up,keep hoeing,or just pull,no matter what you do up they pop,do not compost them straight away,put them out to dry,i often leave them on the soil in dry weather,they soon go brown,or drown them in a bucket,the only thing is try to avoid planting seeds near it,it's over a lot of my plots,you cannot dig it out as you can other roots,because they go down several feet,and have very fine blackish roots,they also just disappear as quick as they arrive,when they first emerge in the late spring-ish they look like a mushroom,thats why i suggest you do a google search,good luck.

Hi there, many thanks for your advice on the Mares tails. I will try a search for more info.

Personally, I'd say burn it every time!

It's about the most persistent weed there is, which propagates from the tiniest scrap of root.

Legend has it that it survives at greater depths than anyone is prepared to dig and just keeps on resurfacing.

Just keep working the ground and getting rid of as much as poss.

Good luck.

Its not worth the risk. Its the worst weed I have because I just can't kill it. I'd dispose of it by burning or binning.

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Many thanks to: lottie dolly, thingybobby & Matt who all replied to my query. It seems that I shall to burn tops and all it and keep going hoe, hoe, hoe every few days for many years to come. Never mind the excercise will do me good :-)

I got an American book on organic gardening out of the library and the bloke who wrote it says that marestail tops can be used as a compost accelerator. I'm too feared to try it, I've got enough of the stuff as it is. Has anyone else tried this or is this man just an evil marestail propagandist?

If you pull them up before the 'pop' open into Christmas tree shape, then you should burn them - they still contain spores apparently. Once they've popped open, they've thrown the spores around and they should be safe to compost, or bash them, add to water for a few days then use the water on your plants? They supposedly contain good stuff! I have even heard of them being used in some kind of tonic for hair/nail strength, but I've never tried it!

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Sarah

http://wixypixies.blogspot.com/

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Hoe them off as soon as they show their ugly little heads. You should have weakened them sufficiently to disappear altogether in 10 or 15 years. Remember they've had 60,000,000 years to develop defence mechanisms

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if you ain't going to eat it, don't kill it

Horses ar*e as we like to know it here...I wouldn't compost it- just burn it. or rub it between two bricks to break the waxy coating, stuff it in a bag and squirt it with weedkiller laccy band and leave

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Advertising is the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket. George Orwell
Paul

Many thanks to: lottie dolly, thingybobby, Matt, greenstar, sarah, norm & paulottie who all replied to my query. I am definately going to burn the whole of the mares tails. Thanks guys.

Enjoy the bonfire!!!!!

they are a pain, have loads in my garden, have been pulling these out for the past 5 years and I must admit they are not as bad as when i first moved in, the previous couple did no gardening, it was like a jungle, these things were huge, i heard that the roots can go upto 40' (not sure how true this is?)

Considering the monster has survived from prehistoric times I wouldn't even trust burning it and leaving the ashes lying around.

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Digger-07

"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right" Henry Ford.

did'nt the pheonix rise from the ashes ?????

I put all parenial weeds and roots into a onion bag and suspend in water tank for 3 months then on to compost heap so that the water kills roots and nutriants go into the water.
Grandad used to dry them out and use as fuel for lotty burner.
All the best to all
Fred Perry xxxx

I read somewhere,years ago that mares tail could be used as a spray for potato blight. Has anyone else heard of this. I've never tried it though.

Mares tail is the biggest pain of a weed going. It will find it's way through anything even came up through our driveway which then need to be dug up and re-laid. The problem mares tail we had coming up between the house and the canal we have almost eradicated.

I hate weedkillers even the ones they say are safe but on this occasion we did use weedkiller (strongest one we could find!) left it until it looked dead, then we cleared it and then spent another couple of years pulling them up gently to ensure we got the whole thing. If any of the bits break off they seed themselves and then start growing again. Fingers crossed 9yrs on they have virtually gone now and for the last three years been growing tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, parsnips and cucumbers.

Good Luck and happy weeding!!

I believe they are rich in silicone, which makes them good as pot scourers (that was a bad Victorian idea, eh ! ) They are almost inevitably high in nitrogen as well, like all fast growing evil b******rs.
Don't know about using them as veggie "tea" - as long as they are well dead, I don't see why not, I do it with dockens and so on - but why don't you try using a flame gun on them ? I used a big paraffin one on cloudberry bushes, which have roots that go 15 feet deep and 30 feet sideways (or the other way around, I didn't care as I wasn't going to dig ) and that stopped 'em dead in their tracks. Heat seems to shock the whole plant. I don't know if a twee wee gas gun would work though - maybe a blowlamp ?
Funny to think, when the dinosaurs were around, these things were 90 feet tall and formed huge forests. Then bacteria that could eat lignin evolved, so they died and made fossil fuels. Who is having the last laugh now....?