Composting horsetail tops

**Penellype** · 06-08-2019, 07:06 AM

I've got horsetail growing in the grass paths at the allotment and although I go round each time pulling up what I can see, I certainly miss some and it ends up in the compost. I used some of the compost to grow potatoes in buckets this year and no horsetail came up. However, the compost bin got very hot last year in the hot summer (it is less hot this year) so one year's experience could be misleading. I would still recommend pulling out anything big, but tentatively the signs look promising that it is ok to compost the tops if your bin gets hot.

**Snadger** · 06-08-2019, 07:27 AM

I am not familiar with horsetail (mares tail?) but would think the parts above ground are leaves, flowering, and fruiting bodies?

It's hard to believe its sole means of propagation is by root rhysomes?

I know Pen has a constant battle with horsetail so would bow to her superior knowledge of how to cope with it.

**bikermike** · 06-08-2019, 08:15 AM

the bl**dy stuff does spores as well as rhizomes (and spreading roots). I've read somewhere that it fires spores out as it dies off.

What I do with mine is drown it to make weed tea along with bindweed and couch grass. In a way it's almost (look away now Penellype) beneficial as it's deep roots drag nutrients from the subsoil. So the idea is to get those nutrients into circulation by means of weed tea.

I have done that this year in quantity and have had a good year (but changed lots of things as well as the weather being different), so it's impossible to be sure if it works.

Stinks too, but that is a major selling point with my 4-year old... :-)

I dumped the contents of the weed tea bin on one of my new plots (annoyingly I have lost my notes), but at very worst in a marestail-riddled plot it's no worse and is probably better. So I think that a good year to two years dunking does kill it.

OTOH if it was as bad as its reputation suggests, there'd be nothing but marestail everywhere.

**ESBkevin** · 06-08-2019, 08:31 AM

Not sure, but I would think the heat of the fresh grass decomposing (about 60deg+ for several days) was enough to kill it if it's just in grass clippings.
Otherwise drowning the lot and making a vat of compost tea sounds like a marvalous way to get value from it all.

**bikermike** · 06-08-2019, 08:48 AM

I think that's the issue, if you can guarantee the heat, you can probably compost it.

I also think I've seen grazing a recognised way to control it, and the end product is useful too. Do you have a plot sheep?

**Penellype** · 06-08-2019, 10:38 AM

Originally posted by bikermike View Post

the bl**dy stuff does spores as well as rhizomes (and spreading roots). I've read somewhere that it fires spores out as it dies off.

What I do with mine is drown it to make weed tea along with bindweed and couch grass. In a way it's almost (look away now Penellype) beneficial as it's deep roots drag nutrients from the subsoil. So the idea is to get those nutrients into circulation by means of weed tea.

I have done that this year in quantity and have had a good year (but changed lots of things as well as the weather being different), so it's impossible to be sure if it works.

Stinks too, but that is a major selling point with my 4-year old... :-)

I dumped the contents of the weed tea bin on one of my new plots (annoyingly I have lost my notes), but at very worst in a marestail-riddled plot it's no worse and is probably better. So I think that a good year to two years dunking does kill it.

OTOH if it was as bad as its reputation suggests, there'd be nothing but marestail everywhere.

Horsetail is a problem weed because it is a completely different type of plant to everything else and is therefore not controlled by ordinary weedkillers, it grows very deep and is almost impossible to dig out, and it can grow from tiny pieces of root left in the soil. Allowed to grow unchecked it will outcompete most other plants and weeds, and the area will resemble a field of grass, except its horsetail (this is what happened on the next door plot to mine).

Yes it produces spores. In my experience the fruiting bodies appear in the spring, before the foliage. They are pinkish brown and hard to see:

The spores appear as almost invisible pink dust when the fruiting bodies are ripe and disturbed. I would not compost these, and check over any grass areas that you are about to mow in spring before cutting and composting the grass. Spores and seeds usually survive at much higher temperatures than foliage, so it would not surprise me if horsetail spores could survive hot composting. I am not going to try and find out!

**Penellype** · 06-08-2019, 10:58 AM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

I am not familiar with horsetail (mares tail?) but would think the parts above ground are leaves, flowering, and fruiting bodies?

It's hard to believe its sole means of propagation is by root rhysomes?

I know Pen has a constant battle with horsetail so would bow to her superior knowledge of how to cope with it.

The correct name is horsetail, although it is often called mares tail. Mares tails are wispy high cirrus clouds that have a characteristic hook to them and were named mares tails or fillies tails as female horses were thought to be more temperamental (and therefore inclined to swish their tails in annoyance) than males.

That's it for today's piece of useless information

**ameno** · 06-08-2019, 02:13 PM

I think I'm going to test it, actually. I'm going to pick some horsetail stems and bury them in a pot of compost and see if anything grows.

Originally posted by bikermike View Post

I dumped the contents of the weed tea bin on one of my new plots (annoyingly I have lost my notes), but at very worst in a marestail-riddled plot it's no worse and is probably better. So I think that a good year to two years dunking does kill it.

Horsetail doesn't actually need long in water to kill it. I think a month fully emersed is probably enough, although maybe best to make it two months, to be sure. It dies pretty quickly if you leave it to bake in the sun, too.
In both cases, it's couch grass which proves itself to be more resilient. The roots have a waxy coating which seems to offer some protection from both drowning and dehydration.

**Snadger** · 06-08-2019, 02:22 PM

Originally posted by Penellype View Post

Horsetail is a problem weed because it is a completely different type of plant to everything else and is therefore not controlled by ordinary weedkillers, it grows very deep and is almost impossible to dig out, and it can grow from tiny pieces of root left in the soil. Allowed to grow unchecked it will outcompete most other plants and weeds, and the area will resemble a field of grass, except its horsetail (this is what happened on the next door plot to mine).

Yes it produces spores. In my experience the fruiting bodies appear in the spring, before the foliage. They are pinkish brown and hard to see:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]88337[/ATTACH]

The spores appear as almost invisible pink dust when the fruiting bodies are ripe and disturbed. I would not compost these, and check over any grass areas that you are about to mow in spring before cutting and composting the grass. Spores and seeds usually survive at much higher temperatures than foliage, so it would not surprise me if horsetail spores could survive hot composting. I am not going to try and find out!

I also wonder whether the spores would survive drowning for liquid feed?

Because of its silicon content it is abrasive and can be used for pan scouring. I think I will stick with Brillo pads mesell!

**Penellype** · 06-08-2019, 04:29 PM

Originally posted by ameno View Post

I think I'm going to test it, actually. I'm going to pick some horsetail stems and bury them in a pot of compost and see if anything grows.

Horsetail doesn't actually need long in water to kill it. I think a month fully emersed is probably enough, although maybe best to make it two months, to be sure. It dies pretty quickly if you leave it to bake in the sun, too.
In both cases, it's couch grass which proves itself to be more resilient. The roots have a waxy coating which seems to offer some protection from both drowning and dehydration.

Couch grass roots are incredibly strong. I have found them in tarmac chippings where they have clearly forced their way through solid tarmac.

**1Bee** · 06-08-2019, 05:30 PM

The horsetail in next door's plot has almost completely been out competed by couch grass. It's been rotavated once and stuff over I've, but otherwise pretty much abandoned, so it ought to be the other way round, but there we are.... Very little horsetail left, loads of grass.

I do compost horsetail tops, but mostly just in my heap where I do a lot of work to make sure it heats.

**Martin H** · 06-08-2019, 05:37 PM

I compost horsetail tops (but not the fruiting bodies!). My heap never gets very hot and the horsetail hasn't spread from its one small bed at the front of the house. So I say you're fine if it's mixed in with other weeds and stuff to help it rot down.

**1Bee** · 06-08-2019, 05:52 PM

"... rotovated once and dig over once..." Sorry.

**Chestnut** · 06-08-2019, 07:34 PM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

I also wonder whether the spores would survive drowning for liquid feed?

Because of its silicon content it is abrasive and can be used for pan scouring. I think I will stick with Brillo pads mesell!

I wonder if I could persuade council inspectors that I grow it on purpose, to harvest and dry for pot scouring?!
When I was a teenager, dad managed to get rid of a patch by grassing it over and mowing weekly for 6-8 years. He also tried digging the roots out once - was up to his shoulders in the hole he dug, sifted every ounce of soil and 2 years later they were back with a vengeance...

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