Bad luck dude! My allotment is over run with it as well. Alls I’ve found is you have to just keep digging them out – you can use weed killer but your soil will die with it
Optimal-Idea1558
Nukes and broken backs are no guarantee of success
ElusiveDoodle
Weed burner
MultiMidden
If there was a nuclear explosion that stuff would probably be the only stuff still growing.
lurrrrb
Ammonium sulfamate. Stuff online about it. One of my customers (I’m a gardener) got rid of a really thick patch of it with just one or two applications
RDN7
2 years ago I trampled it then sprayed it with weed killer until it all went brown and dead. I went pretty heavy on the weed killer.
Then I dug the beds over. Lots of manure / soil improved etc. Planted things that do a reasonable job of outcompeting it. Sedum has done well.
Following 2 years just pull it up when we see it. It is notably less strong when you pull it up now than it was.
It’s not gone. But it’s nowhere near as bad. You just have to keep at it. And accept that if you stop it’ll probably spool up again.
Significant_Run_8165
The stuff has been in existence since the dinosaurs. If that couldn’t kill it off, doubt anything can. Good luck trying.
Blank-Hedgehog
My garden is made up of 3 lawns.
One is unaffected by the horsetail.
One has a relatively small patch of it and the other was covered with it. My main concern was preventing it spreading from the worst covered lawn to the unaffected lawn.
I decided to give up the lawn and covered it in a combination of stone and bark…but before I did that I let the sun do its work. I covered the whole area in heavy membrane and left it. The guidance I was given was for a full 12 months but due to personal life stuff; it was more like 30 months. The horsetail was not successful in coming thro in that time and the sun beating down on it killed it all off. I covered part of it in Cotswold chippings and the rest in bark…I split the difference simply for aesthetics and the type of pots and beds I’ve built on it. I get the occasional growth in the chippings themselves but it’s easily pulled out because it’s not grown thro the membrane but rather just in the stones. Nothing has ever come back thro the bark.
Ive no doubt that if I pulled up the membrane the stuff would grow back pretty quickly but this way it’s under control and not in my lawn or flower beds.
The third, only partly affected lawn I mow regularly throughout the summer and try to keep it under control.
I know it’s not beaten but it certainly looks better than it did.
LLCoolBrap
>How can I get rid of this without breaking my back or using nukes?
By moving to a place that has no horsetail, and praying that it doesn’t follow you.
It’s a never ending battle for most of us. I wish I could go back to a time in my life when I was unaware of the existence of this mofo.
lavievagabonde
that’s the fun part, you don’t :’)
Feersum_endjjinn
Everliving unkillable omnipresent 😂😂😂😂 they were here before the dinosaurs (not joking), one of the oldest known species on the planet. Some pesky humans ain’t shit to them.😂😂
IAmLaureline
You need ancient incantations.
Mactonex
You can’t. Learn to live with it. Pull it regularly and you can keep it under control.
si2winit
Almost impossible, have it in my front garden, I just keep pulling it out and accepting it will come back.
oWingtailo
My lawn was covered in this stuff. Glysophate works but it kills your lawn and other plants.
The thing that worked for me was Fertilizer. Yup. No weed killer needed. Horsetail love nutrient deficient soils. A good couple rounds of fertilizing and then maintaing regular fertilizing the following years should get rid of it no problem.
DataFreak58
Boiling water kills anything
Cerebral_Overload
Walked past a house the other day, who had clearly given up and just let it develop a little hedge on the border down the side of their drive. Looked really nice until I got closer and realised what it was.
Candid_Party7169
Learn to love it. Do some research find out how old it is, how it propagates and how many species are based off it. What it likes and what good it does your soil.
You will still want to remove it, but give it some space to live in your gardeb. It has been here a hell of alot longer than humans and will probably out last our race too.
martzgregpaul
Dinosaurs loved the stuff apparently. Get a really big time machine?
WannabeSloth88
SBK Brushwood weed killer. Trust me. I have it in my front yard and I did a lot of research to find it.
Works a treat for me, doesn’t kill grass and I have never seen collateral damage when spraying horsetail. I use an ever so slightly higher dosage but it does work. Better if you step or take them first but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it work even without doing it.
It still pops up every now and then but so much weaker.
Alarming_Mix5302
Time Machine to the Jurrasic, kill its grandma
YavinGuitar
Get a bunch of pop bottles and cut the bottoms off so you can slide them over the marestail to spray them with a mix of glyphosphate with washing up liquid. You need the washing up liquid to get passed the wax on the outside of them – the bottles can help so that not everything gets covered. The only way you’ll ever be free of it is spraying as soon as you see the asparagus shoots, and getting the rhizomes up in areas when you can. My old house had it, took me about three years, but I did get it sorted. Make sure if it’s on a boundary, your neighbours are aware and also do something about it as well; as otherwise you’re wasting your time and it’ll come back fro their side as quick as you hit it
MidgarJanitor
The reality is you can’t. If you live on land that has it growing the roots are so deep and widespread that it will always come back.
That being said you can starve it in/around your property so you only get the odd shoot and it doesn’t grow mini forests. My advice is to let it shoot and pull it when it spreads it’s little tips. You can exhaust the root in your area so you go from 100 shoots to the odd one here and there. Starving heavily affected areas of light via membranes and large sheets is also popular although you need to do it for 12 plus months for it to make any noticeable difference.
Also in early spring do not let the spores growths develop and explode all over your land, this will undo all efforts of starving and continue the spread.
YesIBlockedYou
Pluck it as and when you find it. Once you keep on top of it then it’s really not that bad. I just pull them out as I do my watering round every couple of days.
Don’t waste your time digging it up, you’ll be digging to china to find the root ball and just activating hundreds more rhizomes as you do so, it’s completely pointless and backbreaking work.
GrouchyConfusion3406
There’s a patch of my garden that is usually a forest of these horsetail things and even though I’m constantly pulling them out, I had lost the fight with that area. I tried digging and turning the soil, a waste of time and effort as they returned immediately. This year (so far) it’s nowhere near as invasive because I sprinkled a load of wildflower seeds across the area. It’s now covered in forget me nots, tall daisies and these have seemingly dominated things. I’m noticing the horsetails creeping in at the edges so not sure how long this will last but fingers crossed that the wildflowers hold out.
Virtual_Pay_6108
Only way I m afraid is to dig it out by the root and burn or put in your green bin
ninjarockpooler
I agree with other commenters. This plant is very ancient and has not only resisted but thrived in the face of all efforts and all methods to try and eradicate it or even manage it.
The root system is very deep, very hard to see, very brittle. And is unaffected by whatever you do to the visible growth above the surface. It seems to require little or no sunlight capture from above in order to thrive below.
So. You can ignore it or pull out the tops when they emerge every spring. Whatever you do, won’t affect the roots. You can try digging them out, but I and countless others have tried this and failed. It’s up to you.
Chemical warfare won’t work. Nor any other extreme methods
WaterMittGas
Are they that bad? Now I know why there was old membrane over the soil
garlicmilkshake
It has positive uses, you could bottle and sell it?
Also contains nicotine, don’t tell the neighbourhood as they’ll attempt to steal it for their rollies.
Currently battling this bad boy. Just mow often, pull the shoots up and keep on top of it. I pour boiling water between the patio slabs which seems to kill off the stems and give you more time before they shoot up again.
31 Comments
Bad luck dude! My allotment is over run with it as well. Alls I’ve found is you have to just keep digging them out – you can use weed killer but your soil will die with it
Nukes and broken backs are no guarantee of success
Weed burner
If there was a nuclear explosion that stuff would probably be the only stuff still growing.
Ammonium sulfamate. Stuff online about it. One of my customers (I’m a gardener) got rid of a really thick patch of it with just one or two applications
2 years ago I trampled it then sprayed it with weed killer until it all went brown and dead. I went pretty heavy on the weed killer.
Then I dug the beds over. Lots of manure / soil improved etc. Planted things that do a reasonable job of outcompeting it. Sedum has done well.
Following 2 years just pull it up when we see it. It is notably less strong when you pull it up now than it was.
It’s not gone. But it’s nowhere near as bad. You just have to keep at it. And accept that if you stop it’ll probably spool up again.
The stuff has been in existence since the dinosaurs. If that couldn’t kill it off, doubt anything can. Good luck trying.
My garden is made up of 3 lawns.
One is unaffected by the horsetail.
One has a relatively small patch of it and the other was covered with it. My main concern was preventing it spreading from the worst covered lawn to the unaffected lawn.
I decided to give up the lawn and covered it in a combination of stone and bark…but before I did that I let the sun do its work. I covered the whole area in heavy membrane and left it. The guidance I was given was for a full 12 months but due to personal life stuff; it was more like 30 months. The horsetail was not successful in coming thro in that time and the sun beating down on it killed it all off. I covered part of it in Cotswold chippings and the rest in bark…I split the difference simply for aesthetics and the type of pots and beds I’ve built on it. I get the occasional growth in the chippings themselves but it’s easily pulled out because it’s not grown thro the membrane but rather just in the stones. Nothing has ever come back thro the bark.
Ive no doubt that if I pulled up the membrane the stuff would grow back pretty quickly but this way it’s under control and not in my lawn or flower beds.
The third, only partly affected lawn I mow regularly throughout the summer and try to keep it under control.
I know it’s not beaten but it certainly looks better than it did.
>How can I get rid of this without breaking my back or using nukes?
By moving to a place that has no horsetail, and praying that it doesn’t follow you.
It’s a never ending battle for most of us. I wish I could go back to a time in my life when I was unaware of the existence of this mofo.
that’s the fun part, you don’t :’)
Everliving unkillable omnipresent 😂😂😂😂 they were here before the dinosaurs (not joking), one of the oldest known species on the planet. Some pesky humans ain’t shit to them.😂😂
You need ancient incantations.
You can’t. Learn to live with it. Pull it regularly and you can keep it under control.
Almost impossible, have it in my front garden, I just keep pulling it out and accepting it will come back.
My lawn was covered in this stuff. Glysophate works but it kills your lawn and other plants.
The thing that worked for me was Fertilizer. Yup. No weed killer needed. Horsetail love nutrient deficient soils. A good couple rounds of fertilizing and then maintaing regular fertilizing the following years should get rid of it no problem.
Boiling water kills anything
Walked past a house the other day, who had clearly given up and just let it develop a little hedge on the border down the side of their drive. Looked really nice until I got closer and realised what it was.
Learn to love it. Do some research find out how old it is, how it propagates and how many species are based off it. What it likes and what good it does your soil.
You will still want to remove it, but give it some space to live in your gardeb. It has been here a hell of alot longer than humans and will probably out last our race too.
Dinosaurs loved the stuff apparently. Get a really big time machine?
SBK Brushwood weed killer. Trust me. I have it in my front yard and I did a lot of research to find it.
Works a treat for me, doesn’t kill grass and I have never seen collateral damage when spraying horsetail. I use an ever so slightly higher dosage but it does work. Better if you step or take them first but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it work even without doing it.
It still pops up every now and then but so much weaker.
Time Machine to the Jurrasic, kill its grandma
Get a bunch of pop bottles and cut the bottoms off so you can slide them over the marestail to spray them with a mix of glyphosphate with washing up liquid. You need the washing up liquid to get passed the wax on the outside of them – the bottles can help so that not everything gets covered. The only way you’ll ever be free of it is spraying as soon as you see the asparagus shoots, and getting the rhizomes up in areas when you can. My old house had it, took me about three years, but I did get it sorted. Make sure if it’s on a boundary, your neighbours are aware and also do something about it as well; as otherwise you’re wasting your time and it’ll come back fro their side as quick as you hit it
The reality is you can’t. If you live on land that has it growing the roots are so deep and widespread that it will always come back.
That being said you can starve it in/around your property so you only get the odd shoot and it doesn’t grow mini forests. My advice is to let it shoot and pull it when it spreads it’s little tips. You can exhaust the root in your area so you go from 100 shoots to the odd one here and there. Starving heavily affected areas of light via membranes and large sheets is also popular although you need to do it for 12 plus months for it to make any noticeable difference.
Also in early spring do not let the spores growths develop and explode all over your land, this will undo all efforts of starving and continue the spread.
Pluck it as and when you find it. Once you keep on top of it then it’s really not that bad. I just pull them out as I do my watering round every couple of days.
Don’t waste your time digging it up, you’ll be digging to china to find the root ball and just activating hundreds more rhizomes as you do so, it’s completely pointless and backbreaking work.
There’s a patch of my garden that is usually a forest of these horsetail things and even though I’m constantly pulling them out, I had lost the fight with that area. I tried digging and turning the soil, a waste of time and effort as they returned immediately. This year (so far) it’s nowhere near as invasive because I sprinkled a load of wildflower seeds across the area. It’s now covered in forget me nots, tall daisies and these have seemingly dominated things. I’m noticing the horsetails creeping in at the edges so not sure how long this will last but fingers crossed that the wildflowers hold out.
Only way I m afraid is to dig it out by the root and burn or put in your green bin
I agree with other commenters. This plant is very ancient and has not only resisted but thrived in the face of all efforts and all methods to try and eradicate it or even manage it.
The root system is very deep, very hard to see, very brittle. And is unaffected by whatever you do to the visible growth above the surface. It seems to require little or no sunlight capture from above in order to thrive below.
So. You can ignore it or pull out the tops when they emerge every spring. Whatever you do, won’t affect the roots. You can try digging them out, but I and countless others have tried this and failed. It’s up to you.
Chemical warfare won’t work. Nor any other extreme methods
Are they that bad? Now I know why there was old membrane over the soil
It has positive uses, you could bottle and sell it?
Also contains nicotine, don’t tell the neighbourhood as they’ll attempt to steal it for their rollies.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/359649-horsetail-extract-its-benefits-side-effects/
Currently battling this bad boy. Just mow often, pull the shoots up and keep on top of it. I pour boiling water between the patio slabs which seems to kill off the stems and give you more time before they shoot up again.
You live with Horsetail, you don’t kill it.
https://preview.redd.it/nvaf1pjlf31f1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=e33d1df96bbd4804e61ef325af1348738526498e
This kills it