[Asherweef]

Hi all,

Just got our first plot today which hasn’t been used for about 4 years I’m told. There is horsetail everywhere so I’m keen to have some good news stories about getting rid of it, if anyone has any. I’m not looking for how to’s just experience of how it all turned out alright in the end!

[Mr Dog]

My old plot had areas riddled with it. TBH I just hoed it off as often as possible. It's roots are very deep so it tends not to rob stuff you want of nutrients so I never found it to be a real problem, just a minor, mainly visual, inconvenience.

[Yorkie]

Congrats on your new plot 

I think a realistic expectation is to weaken it and learn to live with it. 

Chemical weedkillers won't work on it unless you bruise the foliage physically first, as it has a silica coating on its leaves which means the product runs straight off without being absorbed.

It has very deep roots and it is a prehistoric plant, which gives you some idea of its persistence!

But dig it out, and then keep regularly (e.g. weekly) hoeing, pulling or digging it out, which will weaken it over time.

It can be gardened alongside with success, I'm told.

[Aunt Sally]

If you have horsetail, you will always have horsetail.  It was around at the time of the dinosaurs an it’s not giving up.

There is some good news though:

It doesn’t really compete with your crops as it draws its nutrients from very deep down. 
It doesn’t like well cultivated, fertile ground.
And it gives great pleasure to gently pull it up an see how long a piece you can pull up.

Never let it see a Sunday is what all the old gardeners say.  Which means ... keep hoeing.

[mikem]

I would take the opportunity to dig as much of it out as your physical ability can cope with and forget about planting anything this year. Whilst some of the roots do go down a long way many do not and the roots are easy to spot. So in my opinion dig initially and whenever you see new growth in the next weeks then dig each one out as deep as you can go rather than hoe it off - save hoeing for when there are crops in the allotment next year. I had a similar plot and apart from where the grass paths are, that I didn't remove at the time, I hardly get anything now.

[snowdrops]

If you have horsetail, you will always have horsetail.  It was around at the time of the dinosaurs an it’s not giving up.

There is some good news though:

It doesn’t really compete with your crops as it draws its nutrients from very deep down. 
It doesn’t like well cultivated, fertile ground.
And it gives great pleasure to gently pull it up an see how long a piece you can pull up.

Never let it see a Sunday is what all the old gardeners say.  Which means ... keep hoeing.

Wot she said lol. My plot was riddled with it but not now, I got uptight about it at first but having read up on it, I read advice to leave it to grow between 7 & 10 centimetres & then gently pull or trowel it outuntil you hear it snap, apparently this weakens it as it expands lots of energy to get to that stage, so this is what I do & it seems to have worked for me.

[grinling]

Horsetail likes wet soil and roots grow like couch grass to find moist soil.
Never compost as like bindweed, small bits regrow.
It also spreads via the roots, but also spores in early March, which is very hard to spot.
All the plots will have it, so impossible to eradicate