The scourge of horse tail

lanod2407

Folks

I've quite a bit of horse-tail weed coming up on the land this year - or Equisetum arvense to give it its correct title. Would like to say that I'm showing off my Latin skills, but it's more like my google skills!!!

Had a bit of it around last year and found that Roundup was useless. Its back this year and is spreading like wildfire - ugly weed that's really taking off. I got Grazon 90 and that's doing some good, but needs at least two doses, and still not sure if I'm killing it off properly.

Found some other stuff online, but appears to be US-oriented. A few people seem to recommend a weedkiller called 2,4D, but again that seems to be a US product that has some level of discussion regarding it's cancer-related side-effects.

Has anyone else experienced this pest? All and any help greatly appreciated.

Horse-tail ......... as if I didn't have enough problems?

vcsggl

2,4D is a very old herbicide - first developed in the 1940's. It has some selctivity for broadleaved plants , i.e. less effective on cereals and grasses. Its real claim to fame is as one of the constituents of Agent Orange - the herbicide and defoliant used by the Americans to wipe out vast areas of jungle cover in the Vietnam war. Exposure of the local people to Agent Orange had terrible and long lasting effects. In fact the worst ingredient wasn't 2,3 4D but another herbicide but nevertheless 2,4D got a very bad reputation.

So far as horsetail is concerned it is notoriously difficult to kill - it has a very resistant silica coating on the leaves and stems that makes it really difficult to get herbicides into the plant. Best results are probably with glyphosate with a bit of extra detergent - like washing up liquid - and some physical damage to the plants first - like a quick going over with a strimmer or flail mower.

There was a time when you could buy a big bucket of sodium chlorate which was cheap and would certainly kill horsetail - and everything else - but thanks to the EU we are no longer allowed to buy sodium chlorate!

George

bob charles

damn to hear you have mares tail aka horse tail or as you rightly say Equisetum as. I presume this is in wetish grassland?

There are only a few chemicals to suppress the bugger namely Glyphosate (round-up etc) applied with a weed wiper, of the chemical 2,4-D. there arent too many choices of straight 2,4-D. Croplink D50 is one of them also Dioweed/D50 by Nufarm, and there are a few others. Im unsure it other chemicals used in conjunction might help but im unsure of other chemicals for mares tail. I would think the addition of a mineral oil might help penetrate the leaf

lanod2407

George, Bob,

Thanks for the updates - where will I get glyphosate? Is it contained within any of the main brand weedkillers available?

Bizzum

lanod2407 wrote: »

George, Bob,

Thanks for the updates - where will I get glyphosate? Is it contained within any of the main brand weedkillers available?

The best selling herbicide in the world, Roundup. Widely available.

lanod2407

Thanks - tbh, I've found that Roundup doesn't really hit them at all.
Then again I didn't try to break the weed with a strimmer first. Grazon 90 really had a big impact a few weeks ago - but there's a lot of it still there.

Bizzum

With us they are growing on a small wet bit that nothing much else grows on, so we don't bother controlling it.
I like to think I'm doing my bit for biodiversity be letting it florish there!

X1R

Glyfosphate is in a number of products and can be got in a cheaper (generic) form then Roundup. Clinic Ace, Gallup, Scutchout 360 are some.
If you don't mind a bare patch, Any Glyfosphate mixed with a simazine type product (hytrol or better again Premazor) and hit it hard, double the rate and you will knock it well back. Our family grave was covered with Mares Tail and I sprayed it last May, there is still nothing growing.
The majority of Agri Suppliers, CoOps should have them. JC.

reilig

We have a similar problem with horsetails. Glyphos spray will stunt them for a week but will not kill them. You have to use a brushwood like Vitax or Hytrol. Putting roundup on is simply a waste of money and time.