Horses tail arghhh!

[42isthemeaning]

After ridiculous quotes, we decided to tidy up our very overgrown garden ourselves. We spent a whole month last summer redoing our back garden. We took up turf, got rid of old gravel, weeded everything by hand and used the weed burner wand on more stubborn parts, then we put down some decent quality fabric and laid new stones. It looked lovely for a few months, but then the horses tail started growing - and growing and growing! We've used weed killer and tried pulling them out, but to no avail. Our lovely gravel is becoming infested again and it looks awful! It's so so disappointing after all the hard work and effort (and money) we put in last summer. Does anyone have any idea how we can get rid of this weed?

I feel your pain. We have the same issue. The only thing that even vaguely works is this, and it's hideous stuff. You have to keep on top of it the WHOLE TIME.

www.chemigro.co.uk/Professional-Use/Strong-Weedkiller/PEARL-For-the-effective-control-of-marestail.aspx

Also, don't pull them out - they have incredibly long roots, and if you break them off, they just regrow.

ARGH! They've stopped making it, but see the link for an alternative.

Thank you! We shall look into that mazyloo. My dh wonders if we should pull up the stones and fabric again () and use weed killer directly onto the ground, then replace the fabric again with something even better?

We also have horsetail weed in our driveway. It has a waxy coating so weedkiller just slides off and yes it has weeds that grow really far down so pulling it up doesn't make a difference.
You have to stab the leaves with a spade or hoe, don't break them off just break through the waxy coating in several places. Then spray with weedkiller. We just use a normal one and this will kill it and it will get into the root. I did this last year. It has come back again this year but there is less of it and i have repeated the treatment. I read online it can take 3 years to properly kill it off.

That sounds like good advice, smartie, thank you. This weed is so stubborn! I managed to keep on top of bindweed much more easily.

My elderly neighbour used to cut off the ends and shove the open ends into jam jars of weedkiller and weigh them down so they stayed in there. Replace every few days. She said this helped the weedkiller to travel back to the roots and kill it at source. She did have a nice garden. She also had no children or pets that could get near her jam jar display!

I have battled with it for 25 years, pulling it whenever I see it, which doesn't have very much impact on it sadly. Checked out mazylou's link, and the alternative treatment - DIAMOND costs £57.50!!! Ithink I'll pass on that....

I know, I know.

I think it might be a little bit pricey. Could it be time to have a chat with some farmer friends, I wonder?

I think I'll try smartie's idea with the normal stuff, but it's comforting to know it's not just me who's battling with this very annoying weed! Thank you everyone for your ideas / advice.

It's got a high silica content so pick it, put it in water and boil it, and strain it out, it makes a nice hair conditioner.

or do the same, and spray it on potatoes as the silica stops the blight spores getting hold.

Mailstail dates back to the Jurassic age and is a really tough one to beat.
The roots can go down several metres so even if you think you have got it all a year or so later it will reappear.
You need a strong systematic weed killer like SBK or kurtail. Don’t try to weed it out as it can make the infestation worse as new plants will grow from any small bit left behind.
Let it grow until the middle of summer then bruise the plant by stamping on it to ensure the weed killer can penetrate the plant. Then spray each plant. After 2 weeks spray again. The tops should start to die off. More will probably appear next year but it should be less and you repeat again. You might have to carry on for several years as there is no instant cure.
Good luck

Kurtail has been discontinued. The best you can hope for with horsetail is that you control it. Regular mowing works if it's in a lawn and when we had it in our last garden the areas where we improved the soil had less of it.

I've got on top of it in my garden (in a small bank and also in the patio and the path on either side of the bank) after about 10 years of pulling it out (with as much root as I can get) as soon as I see it . Problem is that it seems to have a "perception filter" and often inspect and don't see it and then look again and there is a spike 8" tall

This year I've only found two spikes so far (Both 12" tall and had started to unfurl ) But I a m still inspecting regularly.

The other way to deal with it using weed killers is to wear good gloves (iirc not rubber ones, as they would react - think you need silica ones) and immediately after spraying with strong weed killer, crush as many of the plants as you can with your gloved hands so that the weed killer has a chance to get absorbed.

Weedkiller named Icade will kill marestail. To add to the efficacy of any herbicide, use a water conditioner. This promotes better uptake by the plant.

Gloves should be unlined nitrile for chemical use