Mares tail. Nasty, difficult to get rid of it, because it has very deep roots ( several feet), and it has a coating that resists herbicides. I know of 2 methods that worked in my experience. My mum laid the area entirely to lawn, and the constant mowing killed it. New people moved in a few years later, and converted it back to a flower garden, and it still hasn’t come back years after that. I already had a flower garden that I wanted to keep and the mares tail was mixed in with my plants. In that case you have to damage the surface of the weed first to break up the protective coating. I put gardening gloves on and roughed them up, by rubbing them. Then I sprayed where I had no other plants that I wanted to keep, and applied it manually with a brush where it was between plants. It was very hard work, and my knees hated it, but it worked.
Looks like mares tail. Awful bloody things. Pull them up and get rid as soon as you see them. Do not let them get comfortable.
If you want to try any kind of herbicide you’ll want to crush the leaves up a bit first or it won’t be absorbed.
I’ve been battling these little bastards for years.
amcheesegoblin
Good luck
jannw
horsetail, incredibly invasive and difficult to eradicate. Sorry for the bad news.
ozyri
Download PlantNet app on your phone.
DeepStatic
If you bought this “top soil” from a business, I would contact a lawyer.
TinaJewel
This weed predates dinosaurs.
No-Cheesecake2792
I’ve been battling this stuff for years. My garden is surrounded by neighbours who never treat it.
Dig the soil or cultivate and you’ll make it worse. Picking it will only encourage the roots to shoot up elsewhere.
The only way I’ve found that works is SBK or Gallup weedkiller mixed with a drop or two of washing up liquid.
Stand on the plant to crush it slightly then spray and leave. If you really want to get deep into the roots, fill a sealable sandwich bag with the weedkiller. Put as much of the plant into the bag as possible then seal it and leave it there.
I’ve gone from a horsetail jungle to a decent garden now but I have to treat every two weeks in summer.
For lawns use a lawn/ grass friendly weedkiller. That and regular mowing will see it off.
You can get a specialist weedkiller called Kurtail Evo 1 which is a dedicated horsetail killer for lawns and spraying.
TheScrobber
That stuff can punch through tarmac. Best of luck 😞
Goatsandducks
We have it in our garden. It’s really not as bad as people make our PROVIDED you stay on top of it. It will come up through gaps in the patio and in really awkward spots.
Pull it out and put straight it in your council green bin. Don’t put it in your compost or leave it in the sun to dry out.
SheetsTinks
Got a job on your hands. Those roots can go down 4 feet or more. Do not mow !
Extreme-Composer8452
Mares tail. Really annoying, really hard to get rid of. For the past 3 years, this has been popping up in my garden. After a lot of research and trying things. Your goal isn’t really to get rid of it but to make it go dormant. It grows several feet underground. If you try to dig it up, you just split the rhizomes, and it grows more. It also wakes it up again. If it’s on the lawn, you can just keep cutting it, and eventually, it’ll get less and less frequent. Anywhere else, just pick it a it grows. You’ll need to do it weekly until it starts to get less aggressive. If you have it, most likely your neighbours have it. Unless they’re all willing to treat it properly, it’ll just come back. March and August were the worst months for it’s assault on my garden.
Initial-Resort9129
You’re getting some great advice here, and some terrible advice. Let me summarise:
* This is Horsetail. Yes, it’s challenging to get rid of, but no, it’s not going to cause you hundreds of hours or be a forever problem.
* Mowing it will not spread it. Mowing frequently will deplete it’s energy stores.
* It does not spread from it’s green part, only from the root (or when it spores in spring)
To get rid of it, simply:
* Let it grow as long as you have, or a bit shorter in future.
* Buy SBK and a sprayer
* Mix as directed, and add a small amount of fairy liquid or equivalent.
* Go back and forth along the area, standing on each plant to crush it – don’t damage it so much that it breaks off from the root. It won’t look much different when you stand on it – this just creates breaks in it’s coating, so the SBK can soak in.
* As you stand on each one, spray generously.
* Let it continue to grow for 2 weeks
* During that time, it will turn brown and die off. Just let it sit like that – you want the SBK to soak into the root.
* Once it has been dead for a few weeks, mow it.
* Repeat this process with any new green shoots that you see. Though you will see far fewer after even the first application.
Simple. People like to be dramatic about it.
LordOfRuinsOtherSelf
It is a pain, but aparently can’t compete too well, so clear it out and plant over it, looking after the plants. They will out compete. So they say. I get it in open areas of soil. I too should over plant it.
EmuBubbly
I’ve heard that pulling them snaps the root and that this stimulates new growth, so it’s better to cut or mow them. I have them too, and am trying to deal with them without chemicals. So far the best thing for me has been to plant my plants very densely, and sort of shut them out and give them no space to grow. When I see a shoot come up I cut it off at the base.
Gavelkinderegg
They grow in depleted soil so fertiliser is actually more effective than weed killer on these
Boggyprostate
Ohh noooooo! 20 years I was fighting that b*****d. I gave in and moved home, it’s cost me thousands of pounds trying to get rid of it, I tried everything but neighbours had it too, so, no chance, I just walked away and now I just have beautiful bindweed and creeping thistle to deal with.
OutlandishnessHour19
Thoughts and prayers
Zara-Macchiato
I had some success using a weed burner (Amazon £16) on my father-in-laws garden. They do grow back in 6-8 weeks. Satisfyingly they turn black and wither in seconds, hoping it will eventually weaken them.
perishingtardis
I think we need a one-stop FAQ page on horsetail/marestail, and a ban on further posts about it.
Seanacles
Horse tails
marmmalade
That weed will outlive you and your children’s children.
Puzzleheaded_Gold698
Nuke your entire planet from orbit and never look back. It’s the only way.
BIG-D-89
Dig out as much as you can, ideally as deep as you can. If possible cover the area in a thick sheet/tarp to help limit its light as much as possible. And keep an eye daily or at least every few, the second you see a tiny piece break the surface dig it out. Repeat for weeks and you’ll likely be rid of it soon enough. Honestly it’s the best option that’s low cost. Best of luck.
29 Comments
Where did you buy the top soil from?
Horsetail I think
Mares tail. Nasty, difficult to get rid of it, because it has very deep roots ( several feet), and it has a coating that resists herbicides. I know of 2 methods that worked in my experience. My mum laid the area entirely to lawn, and the constant mowing killed it. New people moved in a few years later, and converted it back to a flower garden, and it still hasn’t come back years after that. I already had a flower garden that I wanted to keep and the mares tail was mixed in with my plants. In that case you have to damage the surface of the weed first to break up the protective coating. I put gardening gloves on and roughed them up, by rubbing them. Then I sprayed where I had no other plants that I wanted to keep, and applied it manually with a brush where it was between plants. It was very hard work, and my knees hated it, but it worked.
Horsetail weed (Equisetum arvense)
https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/horsetail.
an ancient plant, incredibly invasive.
“top soil” 🪨🛢️🫙🧱🥽
Looks like mares tail. Awful bloody things. Pull them up and get rid as soon as you see them. Do not let them get comfortable.
If you want to try any kind of herbicide you’ll want to crush the leaves up a bit first or it won’t be absorbed.
I’ve been battling these little bastards for years.
Good luck
horsetail, incredibly invasive and difficult to eradicate. Sorry for the bad news.
Download PlantNet app on your phone.
If you bought this “top soil” from a business, I would contact a lawyer.
This weed predates dinosaurs.
I’ve been battling this stuff for years. My garden is surrounded by neighbours who never treat it.
Dig the soil or cultivate and you’ll make it worse. Picking it will only encourage the roots to shoot up elsewhere.
The only way I’ve found that works is SBK or Gallup weedkiller mixed with a drop or two of washing up liquid.
Stand on the plant to crush it slightly then spray and leave. If you really want to get deep into the roots, fill a sealable sandwich bag with the weedkiller. Put as much of the plant into the bag as possible then seal it and leave it there.
I’ve gone from a horsetail jungle to a decent garden now but I have to treat every two weeks in summer.
For lawns use a lawn/ grass friendly weedkiller. That and regular mowing will see it off.
You can get a specialist weedkiller called Kurtail Evo 1 which is a dedicated horsetail killer for lawns and spraying.
That stuff can punch through tarmac. Best of luck 😞
We have it in our garden. It’s really not as bad as people make our PROVIDED you stay on top of it. It will come up through gaps in the patio and in really awkward spots.
Pull it out and put straight it in your council green bin. Don’t put it in your compost or leave it in the sun to dry out.
Got a job on your hands. Those roots can go down 4 feet or more. Do not mow !
Mares tail. Really annoying, really hard to get rid of. For the past 3 years, this has been popping up in my garden. After a lot of research and trying things. Your goal isn’t really to get rid of it but to make it go dormant. It grows several feet underground. If you try to dig it up, you just split the rhizomes, and it grows more. It also wakes it up again. If it’s on the lawn, you can just keep cutting it, and eventually, it’ll get less and less frequent. Anywhere else, just pick it a it grows. You’ll need to do it weekly until it starts to get less aggressive. If you have it, most likely your neighbours have it. Unless they’re all willing to treat it properly, it’ll just come back. March and August were the worst months for it’s assault on my garden.
You’re getting some great advice here, and some terrible advice. Let me summarise:
* This is Horsetail. Yes, it’s challenging to get rid of, but no, it’s not going to cause you hundreds of hours or be a forever problem.
* Mowing it will not spread it. Mowing frequently will deplete it’s energy stores.
* It does not spread from it’s green part, only from the root (or when it spores in spring)
To get rid of it, simply:
* Let it grow as long as you have, or a bit shorter in future.
* Buy SBK and a sprayer
* Mix as directed, and add a small amount of fairy liquid or equivalent.
* Go back and forth along the area, standing on each plant to crush it – don’t damage it so much that it breaks off from the root. It won’t look much different when you stand on it – this just creates breaks in it’s coating, so the SBK can soak in.
* As you stand on each one, spray generously.
* Let it continue to grow for 2 weeks
* During that time, it will turn brown and die off. Just let it sit like that – you want the SBK to soak into the root.
* Once it has been dead for a few weeks, mow it.
* Repeat this process with any new green shoots that you see. Though you will see far fewer after even the first application.
Simple. People like to be dramatic about it.
It is a pain, but aparently can’t compete too well, so clear it out and plant over it, looking after the plants. They will out compete. So they say. I get it in open areas of soil. I too should over plant it.
I’ve heard that pulling them snaps the root and that this stimulates new growth, so it’s better to cut or mow them. I have them too, and am trying to deal with them without chemicals. So far the best thing for me has been to plant my plants very densely, and sort of shut them out and give them no space to grow. When I see a shoot come up I cut it off at the base.
They grow in depleted soil so fertiliser is actually more effective than weed killer on these
Ohh noooooo! 20 years I was fighting that b*****d. I gave in and moved home, it’s cost me thousands of pounds trying to get rid of it, I tried everything but neighbours had it too, so, no chance, I just walked away and now I just have beautiful bindweed and creeping thistle to deal with.
Thoughts and prayers
I had some success using a weed burner (Amazon £16) on my father-in-laws garden. They do grow back in 6-8 weeks. Satisfyingly they turn black and wither in seconds, hoping it will eventually weaken them.
I think we need a one-stop FAQ page on horsetail/marestail, and a ban on further posts about it.
Horse tails
That weed will outlive you and your children’s children.
Nuke your entire planet from orbit and never look back. It’s the only way.
Dig out as much as you can, ideally as deep as you can. If possible cover the area in a thick sheet/tarp to help limit its light as much as possible. And keep an eye daily or at least every few, the second you see a tiny piece break the surface dig it out. Repeat for weeks and you’ll likely be rid of it soon enough. Honestly it’s the best option that’s low cost. Best of luck.
My condolences brother.