[Kajazy]

I've just spent the last 5 weeks clearing my newly allocated (weed-infested!) allotment and when I went up today in the glorious sunshine, there was a forest of newly-hatched bindweed and some alien-looking brown spears which gave off spores when I knocked them - having had a depressing search on the internet, it looks like mares tail....

help! What do I do??

 

[Jonajo]

there is something rather freaky about them, isn't there. Not a lot you can do apart from keep digging what you can of it up although I don't think you can eradicate it totally.

 But there is something mildly satisfying when you scoop below the surface, unearth about half a dozen protusions of it from a stem, reach down and grab a chunk of the root. Amazing how it "gives" and "resists" as you pull, Weird...

[Ice]

Dig, dig, dig and dig or crush them and apply Roundup.

[mumofstig]

keep digging and hoeing sorry but it's true.

You could use glyphosate to kill the bind weed, but it's not very effective against mares tail

[Kajazy]

Thank you all - will get to work...at least the sun's supposed to be shining tomorrow...

[rainie]

I havent experienced mares tail myself but think it grows in acid soil and needs lime as it doesnt like it. Regarding a chemical, there are a few if you google 'getting rid of marestail'. (dont know if i can say chemical names on  here). Apparently the root in the ground grows down then across then down then across etc, and it is spread by spores which live in the soil.

[TerryB]

If, when you dug over the plot, you took out all the weed roots you could find I wouldn't bother trying to dig the mares tails roots out, apparently been on the earth longer than man and can go down about 30ft.
Just keep pulling them out as they appear and you will weaken the root but you'll never get rid completely. Took about 2 years on ours but the odd bit still comes up after 4 years.
Think the odd saying goes "never let them see Sunday"
I was told they were brought to this country from China and used to bind the soil along railway tracks.

[Aunt Sally]

Never let it see a Sunday

[Kleftiwallah]

Use mare's tail as you would rhubarb leaves,  M'T'  is good for counteracting  mildew, or so I have been told ! !.   Cheers,   Tony.

[savbo]

I was told they were brought to this country from China and used to bind the soil along railway tracks.

think that story is about Japanese knotweed. Horsetail is very definitely a british native - doesn't stop it being a real pain!

[Ice]

Use mare's tail as you would rhubarb leaves,  M'T'  is good for counteracting  mildew, or so I have been told ! !.   Cheers,   Tony.

Homemade pesticides cannot be condoned by this site.  Please read htis link for more info.  http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=65430.0
Cheers,
Ice.

[iggyboy60]

Mares Tail! Aaarrggghhhh!!!! I hate that stuff, its the baneof my allotment life! Grrrrrrr!!!

[SkipRat]

Mares Tail is the daddy of the weed world. Dig, dig again then dig some more. Use glysophate every time you see it, injecting it directly in to its root is beneficial to the cause.
While it is hard work it can be beaten or at the very least be managable.

[Ice]

Here is a previous thread about this pernicious weed.  As I said, dig, dig and dig or crush and use Roundup.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=55968.0

[Rene]

ive got it on part of my plot which i aquired last june, you just have to keep digging it out but it has beneficial qualities as well, ive made tea from some of mine as it contains silica and is good for conditions such as gout and strengthens conective tissue that hold the organs in place like weak bladder and male problems such as prosate but you would be best to read up on herbal remedies. Believe it or not it is hard to come by if your not amonh the gardening world.