mares/horse tail

 


Just taken over an allotment thats is completely choked with the weed...
  My idea is to plant in raised beds which I will dig out to about a
foot deep then put some weed suppressant down then backfill with the riddled
soil that I have dug out...Anyone tell me if this weed suppressant fabric
will keep the mares tail at bay or does it have the power to grow through
--
Regards
  Ted Wager g3tpi
   High Peak UK
    Using Jaunty Ubuntu Linux

 

ted@trufflesdad.plus.com says...

I fear it will laugh in the face of the matting and has little more
trouble with concrete and tarmac, but there are folk on here who have got
rid of it so hopefully you will get some useful advice
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

 



Horsetail - mare's tail is a water plant.


Never tried it. I just bruised the things between my palms with a
rubbing action as they appeared and gave them a strong dose of
glyphosate mixed with lots of Fairy Liquid. (That's the horsetail, not
the palms...)

OK, it took a couple of years, but they died eventually.

Remember, the roots can go down eight feet or so, so it won't be easy to
eradicate. I have a feeling that your raised beds would work for a few
years, but they'd infiltrate it sooner or later, if not by growing
through, then by growing round.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

 

wrote:


One of my neighbours had lots of mares tails growing in a damp patch.
He heaped a load of wood ash on them and they disappeared over the
following few months. The patch has been clear ever since.

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd                  http://www.NPSL1.com

 


"Ted" wrote ...

Couple of things Ted.

Your allotments must be so big and cheap if you can waste so much land with
paths.  :-)
Weed suppressant will not keep Marestail at bay, it will grow through. It
does through tarmac.

We had Marestail on our last allotment and whilst we never eradicated it
constant hoeing did weakened it drastically so it became less of a problem
year on year. It's only unsightly anyway, so unless you intend to go in for
the local "in bloom" competition I would learn to live with it.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden