Mare's tail

[dandel10ns]

We've suddenly got mare's tail in our garden, along the boundary with next door - any tips on how to get rid permanently? And are we fighting a losing battle if the neighbours on the other side of the (flimsy wooden) fence are happy to let theirs grow into some kind of hideous mare's tail-ey feature?

Also - can anyone reassure me that this isn't something that needs declaring if we put our house on the market in the same way as eg Japanese knotweed? MIL seems to think it is 😭

I assume you mean horsetail (equisetum and often called mare's tail). Dinosaurs ate the stuff. It has been around rather a long time, and is well nigh impossible to eradicate altogether.

rhs.org.uk/weeds/horsetail

Yup, that's the one. Can't mow it as per the RHS website as it's growing along one part of the boundary, popping up through a concrete "patio" that I assume has been there since the 1940s.

We have it. Basically if we knew this when buying the house, we wouldn't of got it put it that way, it was never declared. You can't rid of it. There are products that slow it down but if someone reads this and disagrees with me and had a solution, please let me know 🥴 also if you pull it out apparently it worsens it as it spreads the spores around.. honestly it's a nightmare.

You will never be able to eradicate it permanently, I’m afraid. Especially if the neighbours ignore it. All you can do is constantly pull it up, but that won’t get rid of it.
I am plagued with it in my garden (been here 30 years), and it’s a constant battle.

Thanks for your replies but nooooooo!

Do we have to declare it on a property info form if we sell?

you need to learn to live with it.
drown it out with your own planting.
apart from mowing you could improve drainage as it's a plant that thrives in boggy conditions.

you don't have to declare it.
it doesn't destroy foundations or brickwork and it's not an invasive species.

I've posted this before, we have horsetail on out allotments which have been in use since the 40s with 100s of allotmenteers trying to get rid of it. You can only hope to control it as it's like playing wack-a-mole, it disappears for a while in one bit only to crop up worse somewhere else.

Apparently if you dig up the ground down to a couple of metres and remove all roots you may get rid, something which we just can't do.

It's not just the allotments, people with gardens 100 metres or so away, separated by roads, also have it growing.

It is definitely invasive, but it spreads underground which is why it is so difficult to get rid of. You have to dig up every scrap.

I have it. Apparently it moves dark, dunk conditions so putting down plastic ( which is what the previous owners did) is ideal for it. I did dig down, received every root by hand, but it didn’t work, so save yourself the time. I planted lavender everywhere , exposed it to sunshine and it was much less prevalent. I do also rip it out if I see it. But I see it often on forest walks etc.

Listen to everyone here and give in now as it will save you a lot of wasted time and effort, I know I wish I had!

After years wasted trying to get rid of it, have now given up and have been planting lots of tough, fast growing plants to drown it out and it’s beginning to work.

After years wasted trying to get rid of it, have now given up and have been planting lots of tough, fast growing plants to drown it out and it’s beginning to work

My neighbours allotment was left alone last year due to ill-health. Grass grew to over 5 foot high, but I could not see any horsetail, presumably because it was smothered by other vegetation

I think Pets at Home had an offer on dinosaurs at Easter. There might be one left?

Noted 😅

Nope, you're stuck with it. It is all over our village, in the fields, and has marched along the lanes to our garden. My neighbour also doesn't attempt to control it. I asked the guy at Beechgrove what to do, he said just keep pulling it up. The roots go down metres, it has been found in coal mines! Bastard plant.

Move house. It's the only solution.

Its very difficult to eradicate, but its NOT reportable nor does it damage buildings.

Its a water plant really and prefers damp conditions so tends to grow by water courses and ponds.

If its not controlled next door then you haven't much hope of eradicating it in your garden, just pull it out and plant tightly around it.

It has a silicon type coating which means weedkillers run off etc although there is a product called K plus which you can add to make weedkiller more effective.

Gently removing the spore heads in March/April is always a good idea but they are pesky things that pop up in hours so its like the Forth Bridge.

We’ve got loads, along with ground elder. I dig it up when I see it but it’s not a problem.

I live next door to a house that never even opens their back door, let alone go into the garden, and back into a woodland so no matter what I do it’ll come back.

Coming into this thread as our boarder is full of this and I don't know wwht to do!

If I get shrubs in will that crowd it out??

Help!

@GeneralMusings , I’m afraid not, it will simply pop up in the middle of a shrub, which makes it even more difficult to deal with!

It's a native pain in the arse plant so it's not reportable. It seems to have been crowded out by the three corned leek in part of my garden. It once grew up through the drainage hole of a tall pot and popped up amongst the other plants at the top!

I'm trying to learn to love it 😡

I can't love it it's everywhere 😭.

I want to plant up the boarder so need to weed them out but online it says don't dig them.

Can I plant stuff? I was going to gradually fill my boarder each month so do I leave it.
Or do I drown the whole lot in weedkiller and try again next year (!?)

I have no idea what I'm doing.

It's fine to pull it out but you'll never get all of the roots out so it will come back. You can plant up your border regardless and just pull it when you see it. It won't do any harm to the other plants. I find that it thrives most where there's no competition from other plants so plant up your border and don't worry about it!

Thankyou. That feels slightly less gloom and doom than I was feeling!

It laughs at weed killer, as the waxy cuticle prevents weed killer from being absorbed. It sometimes succumbs if you bruise the stems to break the cuticle, but that’s difficult to do in a flower bed.

It really is a bastard!