Horsetail infestation - ready to sow lawn

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After 3 years of housebuilding I'm ready to move on the lawns but over the past 2 months horsetail has taken over the plot, the front, back and sides of the site are covered in it (.85acres of 'lawn')

I didn't know what it was until a landscaper came onsite and told me. I'm guessing it came in with the gravel or topsoil brought to site over the past 3 years. It may have been around in previous seasons but for sure this year it is the dominant weed...

Reading up on it has not been fun. It is not an option to move house so I have to find a way to curtail it and adjust my plans somewhat;

No tarmac for a number of years (if ever?)

No shrub/bed planting (excluding some feature trees?)

I'm guessing the patio will have to wait??

We were planning on using some of the site for growing some vegetables- is this possible?

The site has been sprayed and there's some soil to be levelled which will be done in a week or 2.

I'm worried the actual prep for a lawn will reinvigorate this further when the soil is broken up? But I don't know what other option there is?

I plan to get an automower so at least next spring the shoots won't grow and spore but at this stage the damage is done.

Will grass compete with this and will the consistent mowing with the robot help the situation?

Do I have to wait a significant period after the lawn is sown before I can hit the horsetail again with a suitable weedkiller? (Local garden centre suggesting Dicophar but said I need to wait 1.5years after lawn is sown)

Is there anything else I can do? Or change with the above?

Thanks for any help or condolences

Jim_Hodge

Not easy but look here ...How To Kill Horsetail Weed | Step-By-Step Guide | ProGreen

We have horsetail everywhere around our property. You won’t ever get rid of it, it would probably survive a nuclear apocalypse, but it’s not that bad tbh! It isn’t like knotweed!

Our lawn is mowed regularly and horsetail doesn’t show through. We have a patio, no problem there. We have a veg patch and it does come through but never effects the produce. We have shrubs, no trouble with their growth. It does annoy me in my bedding borders, it does come through but I went for very thick ground cover plants so it’s outcompeted a lot of the time.

We don’t spray as it’s pointless against it, and spraying just isn’t for me personally but I’ve just learnt to live with the darn thing. Makes an excellent free fertiliser!

standardg60

I'd leave sowing the lawn until the Autumn and give it a few whacks with herbicide in the meantime (spraying and re-spraying any regrowth). I've found glyphosate kills it off initially fine.

macraignil

My parent's garden had loads of it being waterlogged clay soil but when I improved the drainage it became much more manageable. When I am back there now I still see the odd bit sprouting up but in planting some fruit producing shrubs and trees in the area I put drains in the competition from the plants I put in seems to put it out of sight most of the time. I used to regularly use a trowel to lever up as much of the root I could get out each time I'd see some and just leave it as a mulch to dry out and improve the soil under the fruit bushes as it broke down. It never really seemed to be a problem in the lawn area where the regular mowing kept it under control. Completely agree with SnowyMuckish and think it is best just to regard it as an excellent free fertiliser as from what I have read conventional chemical warfare against it simply does not work.

Happy gardening!

I think it’s like the terminator of the plant world, spraying won’t make much of a difference. The plant grows extremely deeply so it regenerates easily and not to mention you can’t control beyond your borders. Anyways rant over😂 happy gardening!

The Continental Op

I doubt you'll hardly notice it in a lawn with an automower if it gets plenty of chance to cover all the ground. We have a lawn full of it but you'd hardly notice unless you leave it weeks between cutting. Don't worry too much about the spores, new plants will get killed very quickly with most herbicides its when its established that you have problems. Even then I wouldn't bother spraying a lawn to get rid of it your just wasting your time the mower will keep it at bay.

However it may look like its gone but if you open up the soil for a bed you may soon see it back again in full vigor.

I think its reputation about coming up through tarmac is a bit exaggerated. It will come up through thin drive tarmac and poor concrete, but it has more of a hard time against proper road depth tarmac.

Now I'd take a step back here and think where did it come from? If it came in from outside then in 2 months its not totally out of control, on the other hand if the site has always had Horsetail then you are definitely stuck with it.

So if the Horsetail is new I'd give it a year of regular spraying and see what comes up next year and then take stock again. If its old established Horsetail then seed away and let the mower do the job.