Mares Tails

[Primrose]

Does anybody have any suggestions for a weedkiller that will kill off Mares Tails that isn't too toxic, or some other way of getting rid of them. Thankfully not in my garden but a friend with an allotment is being plagued to death with them and losing the battle.

[retropants]

We are also being plagued to death by it, over the last 3 or so years. So I'd be grateful of any advice too. Currently, we are digging it out as much as possible, then where we can't dig, pulling it out from the top.

[robo]

We are the same I cant find anything to rid us of it, funny thing is we did not have a problem with it last year

[Monika]

We had mares tail in a previous allotment and the advice I was given then was: crush the upright growth with your hands to break the hard shell-like outer skin, then drench an old woolly glove with a glyphosate weedkiller (Weedol or something like that), wear that glove OVER a rubber glove and go from plant to plant, rubbing the weedkiller well into crushed plant.

I believe nowadays one can buy glyphosate in jelly form which would probably be even safer and not affect other plants.

We did get rid of most of it though I can't claim it completely disappeared. We moved instead!

[George Gray]

I have lots of mares tales and have had them for several years. Usually indicates wet ground.
I just keep on hoeing them as they come up. At least they are easy to hoe. Give up with the roots.They go down to Australia!!

[Cider Boys]

Mare's Tail (horsetail) is indeed a problem. I would argue it is one of the hardest weeds to control and hopefully then eliminate. Monica's described method is probably the most effective and here again I would reach for the Glyphosate weed killers. It likes wet ground with compacted subsoil. In the village where I live this weed seems to thrive anywhere we don't want it. The allotments, especially the ones at the bottom of a hill's slope suffer badly, it also grows in the meadows where we make hay. My son used to spray the hay meadows each year and that did seem to keep it in check but we could never eradicate it. It is poisonous to livestock and unlike buttercups it stays poisonous when part of a hay crop. Taking the long view improving the drainage (not easy to do here on the Somerset Levels and Moors) and adding compost and manure is the best way to discourage it.

Barney

[robo]

Ive been using Glyphosate all winter, my plot had been a refuse tip prior to us getting it in autumn the year before last, last year we could not control the weeds mainley because we where away for 2 months in summer , this last winter I sprayed with weedkiller regularly this year weeds have not been a problem up to now, apart from marestails ive even used the gel stuff but im still plagued with them I think the next step is make my own out of spray on glyphosate and wall paper paste but I am away till mid july will try when I am back

[Tony Hague]

Spraying all winter is not the best idea; glyphosate needs the crop to be actively growing to act. A good time to use it on perennials - especially Japanese knotweed - is in autumn when it is carried down to the roots as the top growth dies back. Might help with horesetails.

Glyphosate has limited effect; the label of some of the professional products state that it does not achieve satisfactory control. Glufosinate Ammonium is more effective - there is a product called Kurtail that is formulated for horesetails. I think that it may not be available for domestic use though, as it is not as benign as glyphosate.

One of the weedkiller options available in the garden centre still is pelargonic acid. It is not systemic, so I imagine on its own will make little impression on horesetails. But it works by damaging the cuticle of the leaves, causing death by desiccation. This makes me wonder if a treatment with this, followed fairly promptly with a treatment with glyphosate, might have an effect a bit like the "gauntlets of doom" approach described by Monica, but with less work ?