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 😭

Agree with all of the above, we have it on allotment and just pull it out stretching it to weaken the root system. I dug right down and it's there, surprised me by how bright green it was even underground.
I found some in my shop bought compost so beware..

It's nice! Just learn to like it!

It...<grits teeth>...it's very architectural. It can look quite impressive growing in big drifts on railway embankments.

I don’t mind it. It’s quite attractive. I pull it up if it’s somewhere I don’t want it. It doesn’t seem too bad.

I've got some in my back border but it's not really a problem (touch wood) - lots of competition from other plants. I just pull it out as and when I see it.

That sounds less like it's the end of the world which it appeared from googling and the move house comments...!!

So I can still plant normally flowers and shrubs an it won't mean everything's ruined...

And once it's planted up I'll have less of it anyway.

Its right next to my lawn. Is it going to ruin my lawn???

I had this start to grow after getting some hardcore for landscaping near a border in the front garden. It started popping up in a few places near a gravel grid and the border itself. For 2 years I kept an eye out pulling up stems every other day, whilst letting other plants grow in the same area. Usually this was 5 or 6 stems a day at worst.

This year I've not seen any yet (even on the gravel bit)

If it's coming from a neighbour though this is unlikely to work as it will be getting energy from untended areas so roots will continue to spread

It's all down the path behind our houses 😬😬😬. It didn't used to be. I think the housing association are responsible for it but not sure it's enough of a problem they'd do anything about it.... I can ask!?

There’s several species ranging from water horsetail which lives in ponds, to wood horsetail and field horsetail which grow in much less wet areas.

I'm on acid sand in the driest part of the country and there's loads of it around here (equisetum arvense, field horsetail).

We have it in the front garden/driveway. I have been trying to kill it for 5 or 6 years now. We had a new driveway and they dug down deep and removed a lot of it, but it still pops up through the block paving and in the massive flower bed. We were advised that they would not do tarmac for us as they wouldn't guarantee it as the horsetail would simply grow through and break up the tarmac, so we have block paving.
I literally go out every day and look for tiny new shoots and either stamp on them or bash the shoots with a hoe and then spray weedkiller on it and it does kill it, but you have to damage the shoot for the weedkiller to penetrate it. We still get it but not as much as before. I know we will have to live with it forever so I just have a daily 2 min scout round and attack it and spray it and it is dead the next day.

"but it still pops up through the block paving and in the massive flower bed"

This was my fear. Have you tried using a polyurethane sealant like resiblock? It coats the blocks but also soaks into the sand in the joints making it very hard and difficult for weeds to pop up...

I've never seen any in our lawn, I would think it just gets mown down with the grass and doesn't get too rampant. And probably grass competes well with it anyway.

I've just pulled a few stems out of my shady damp back border, wouldn't have noticed it if I'd not been down on my hands and knees digging out astilbes which are too rampant there.