Horsetail problem

[mothhawk]

they dislike being shaded and don't compete well with taller plants...

I'm also sowing green manures to try and crowd it out

I've read in a couple of old gardening books that sowing turnips really thickly will get rid of horsetail if you leave them to flower and seed and come up again for a year or two - don't know if it works - horsetail doesn't grow round here much.

Oh, I see that's what it says on your link, rustylady - must be a bit of truth in it then.

[chris]

I've pretty much defeated it in my garden. I've dug the ground over twice (and really dug it out - at one point the mount of soil was higher than our patio doors) - all the stuff back in has been riddled. Haven't seen it in the greenhouse either this year

[gojiberry]

It went down at lest 20 foot when a hole was dug for a septic tank by the side of out allotments. So the chance of digging it out is remote. If you don't mind using chemicals then you can keep it under control with repeat applications. I find that if you keep pulling it up so it does not swamp your plants then it does no harm. If boiled it can be used as a fungicide.

Ian

[Two_Sheds]

Oh, I see that's what it says on your link, rustylady - must be a bit of truth in it then.

eh?


???????????


anyway, we get charlock all over the place here: it grows thick & tall, alongside the hosstail

[Davyburns]

My father in law was a coal miner in a drift mine in Durham, and a keen gardener, and he used to tell me tales of marestails (as it is called here) 60 to 70 feet down. They seem to be pretty indestructable. All you can do is keep them under control or learn to live with them

[Alison]

Just don't worry about it - it takes its nutrients from very deep therefore doesn't compete in that way with your plants. I have loads of it on my plot and I just keep pulling it out and binning. Actually I find it quite fun to see how long a root I can get in one go

[Two_Sheds]

... he used to tell me tales of marestails (as it is called here)

A lot of people do indeed call it marestail, but that's actually a different plant, an aquatic one Hippuris vulgaris

Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is the bristly one you get on wasteland

[Piggle]

pull it up and either drown it or leave it to bake in the sun. It's actually a rather good fungicide if you boil it up and strain the liquid off

[BUFFS]

we have had horsetail problems for years,but last year i let the chickens loose on that area,saw no sign in the spring and none since,so we now get the chooks to do it for us,they enjoy digging up and eating it all,but lift any small plants that you want to put back or they will eat them too,and they will fertilise the ground for you, if you can get hold of some..gotta be better than chemicals if you do use chooks..sadly not an option for some...