Is this horsetail?

[Pinkywoo]

We're buying our first house and have just been to measure up, and this is coming up in the garden. I didn't notice it last time as the grass had just been cut, it's soft and easy to snap off though and I think horsetail is much tougher (I hope!). What do you think?

Looks like mares / horse tail to me, it was rampant in my old house. It’s very easy to snap off at ground level but impossible to remove fully in my experience.

Shit, I was half hoping it was samphire, we saw a house last year where the garden was full of horsetail and it was wiry and tough, like a green bottle brush!

Looks like it. It’ll get mown with the grass no problem though. It’s everywhere in our garden along with brambles Himalayan balaam and bind weed courtesy of an abandoned field next door :-(

Hello Pinkywoo,

Having been in the industry for some years this is one of the most pernicious weed you can get. Have read many articles and questions posed to professionals in the industry no one has come up with a solution to getting rid of it yourself by cutting it back or attempting to dig it out. Near my local station it can be seen growing through the tarmac and it can be found also on both sides of the train tracks quite a distance apart. In short my answers to your question is if you have not bought the house already don’t!!! Horsetail has been around prehistoric times and it is very resistant to chemicals as it contains silica which makes it resistant to treatment.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/horsetail

You could employ a company to treat it however if it has spread into adjoining land it will spread back under your fence/ boundary line.

https://www.taylor-weed-control.co.uk/news/post/professional-horsetail-removal

Happy gardening
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Well thanks for that @thesustainablegardener, nothing like a bit of doom and gloom to reassure me! We have already bought the house, but I'm not convinced it actually is horsetail, unless there are different varieties. Maybe it looks and feels different because they're new shoots?

We have it in the front garden. I just pull it up. It comes back as it breaks off but it'd not the end of the world. I'm sure that's what it is you've got.

Yes it is. The usual advice is to move
It can be a nightmare to get rid of but it will spread if you don't.

We discovered it after we'd moved in (didn't move out!!) and it took years of concerted effort to eradicate. But we did.

The most effective treatment is bruising it then spraying with glyphosate, on repeat.

it's soft and easy to snap off though
I have some at the top of the garden. I try to keep on top of it but it keeps coming back. It keeps coming back as "soft and easy to snap off" and exactly like your photo.
Don't compost the lawn clippings if it's in the grass!

@senua good point about the composting!

That is definitely horsetail but it really isn't as bad as all that especially if it's in lawn. Mowing will keep it under control (as senua says, don't compost the grass cuttings). If it's in planted areas keep pulling it as you see it. What it loves most is a barren unplanted area. You can make a tea with it to use as a plant feed and natural fungicide.

Yeah I agree that's mares tail, we've had it in both houses we've lived in. You definitely can't get rid of it but hey that's life, gardens will have weeds. It's never bothered me overly tbh.

It is horsetail, it just young horsetail. I agree with other posters it is not that bad. We have it in the garden as it spread from a field. I hate it but I also hate the bindweed and thistles - but you can live with them all. Not much choice really!

In addition to making a tea from it plus a fungicide and plant feed you can also get your own back by using the dense strands in the same way as a brillo pad as the foliage contains silica.

My pleasure

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We have a bit of it in our front garden but just pull it up occasionally, and there is no problem unless you have a huge amount of it.

We have it and it is a bit of a pain, but it is easy to pull up. Best advice is to have as much lawn as possible and you will eventually weaken it by cutting.