[Trillium]

Mares tail and horse tail closely resemble each other but aren't the same thing. Mares tail flowers and spreads via seeds and underground runners. Horse tail is related to the fern family so it doesn't flower but does spread by spores as well as underground runners, just like ferms, but worse. Even if you grow some in pots the spores will quickly bless you with ground crops which you'll never get rid of as they spread exponentially - get rid of one root and 2 quickly sprout to take its place. I haven't met anyone who's been able to totally rid their ground of either.

are we getting some confusion over transatlantic names? The problem plant - -Equisetum - is called by botanists horsetail but by many marestail. What botanists call marestail in the UK is an aquatic plant - Hippuris - which is not a problem for anyone! Is there a different plant called marestail in north america?

I'm also intrigued by luftmenschen saying they buy and use horsetail - what for? I suspect this may be yet another plant sharing the name!

M

No confusion at all over 'transatlantic names'. As we're predominantly dryland over here, we don't know anything commonly called marestail. Horsetail grows worldwide except in Australia and Antarctica.  Horsetail, depending on the species, will prefer marshland right up to dry fields (equisetum arvense). Hippuris - marestail - , the fern relative, prefers wet marshy ground. The only confusion I see is when I read non-botanist UK folk mistakenly call horsetail as marestail. Personally, I go along with the confusion so I don't add to it but when asked for the difference, I clarify.

As for uses for horsetail, yes, there are many uses. I used to buy a wonderful liquid cleaning soap made primarily of horsetail. It was organic, worked well, and didn't interfere with the septic system in any way. Horsetail contains silica and is often used in osteoporsis and diuretic remedies in commercial applications.

[savbo]

Sorry Trillium if my post was read as in any way critical - it certainly wasn't meant to be...I thought I had detected a suggestion in your post that marestail was a problem plant to some extent, which lead me to wonder if we were talking about different plants - clearly I was wrong, so sorry again.

I know many people complain about the use of 'latin names' but without them it would have been difficult to sort this one out!

M

[stentman]

To my eternal pleasure I am spared the stuff but my dear old dad battled it for decades on his patch. The roots go deeper than a coal mine, the merest sliver will regenerate, the runners drop down many feet with the sole purpose of reappearing in the worst place. This stuff will spear through tarmac, flagstones and concrete are just toys to be messed with. As a boy I helped in the endless battle against the weed, dad never won on his clay soil but he never gave up the fight. Mares tails laughs in the face of normal spray weed killers even systemics are shrugged off with minimum fuss. I'm sure if this thing was planted on a steel works slag heap and watered only with sulphuric acid it would thrive. Those with it have my sympathy.

[BostonInbred]

I think you'll find that the two terms are used interchangeably, although botanically there probably are differences.

Kelvin, re glyphosate, it's best to apply it to the leaves rather than the roots of a plant.  This is because it is a systemic herbicide - i.e. it needs to be absorbed into the system of the plant, through the leaves, and then taken down into the roots through the internal system.  Other herbicides work on contact.

Glyphosate molecules instantly disintegrate on contact with soil, so you have to bruise the plant and spray it to get it to work on mares tales.

[fatbelly]

One thing that Mares tail needs is sunlight so if you hoe it whenever it appears you will win in the end.

[gypsy]

Do the bits that you chop off with the hoe not root and make even more little darling plants?

[Jonajo]

last year i picked out carefully any of the stuff I saw but otherwise, as with general weeding, I just did a quick hoe around the plot - or rather the areas needed-  2-3 times a week when it was dry and all weeds were under control. And left them on top to dry out.

Only takes about 20mins to speed-hoe the plot (abt 8 rods) ; I dont hang about with it. Quite a painless job, quick enough to not be tedious and it is also curiously satisfying. And things didnt come back too much at all - nothing more than general growth. I know the marestail is never going to go away but hey I can live with that.

I am more careful when hoeing between plants, though, of course but again, that doesnt take too long

[DD.]

Do the bits that you chop off with the hoe not root and make even more little darling plants?

I find that it's one thing it doesn't do!

[gypsy]

Do the bits that you chop off with the hoe not root and make even more little darling plants?

I find that it's one thing it doesn't do!

It is not as clever as I thought it was then  thanks for reply

[monsta]

i got rid of mine (in my back garden! not allotment!) by digging down to the clay then dosing the lot with a mix of creasote and diesel! its never been back!  (wouldn't advise this for allotment use! 

[penance]

i got rid of mine (in my back garden! not allotment!) by digging down to the clay then dosing the lot with a mix of creasote and diesel! its never been back!  (wouldn't advise this for allotment use! 

Wopuldnt advise that at all. Apart from being illegal, the potential pollution to the water course could be devastating to wildlife.

Did you seriously do that without considering the implications?

[Gwiz]

i got rid of mine (in my back garden! not allotment!) by digging down to the clay then dosing the lot with a mix of creasote and diesel! its never been back!  (wouldn't advise this for allotment use! 

I can't even begin to tell you how much I hope you're joking. :blink:

[monsta]

  ofcourse i didn't but its crossed my mind a few times as all other methods have failed! 

[penance]

I think you did, why say it otherwise.

No good back tracking once you realise what a foolish thing you did.

[Aidy]

I am with Aunty on this, "Never let it see Sunday" On my old plot I was blessed with it, one bed was really bad, for one season I kept that bed clear of veg and used the tiller, then forked through to clear as much as poss of the root ( yes I know you chop the roots up) but believe me, by doing this regular it cleared the bed in one season to a point that hardly any showed up the next. Then I moved to my new site where there is non  I do see my old plot neighbour and often ask about my old plot and he says he still can't believe the one area we did compared to the others I did not get to. Its pretty logical, starve it of light, keep breaking it up and removing bit by bit and it will clear.