I think my mistake was spending 3 hours trying to pull it all up a couple months back. We’ll see what SBK weed killer can do.
Icy_Collection_8676
How do you keep it in such good condition?
Dunning-Kruger-
Have you got weed-matting under that gravel by any chance?
Express_Selection345
Mares tail is a prehistoric plant, its roots are among the deepest in the world of plants ex: once saw them 20m down during a tourist tour in a coal mine. They “pop up” when all competitors above them are exhausted. As a professional in the green industry, I’ve seen them hit the hardest on terrains/gardens that were hit first with the most concentrated of pro weed killer. A landscape architect/colleague, once said he had found the perfect combo to kill them off, the only draw back was that you couldn’t expect anything to grow in the soil for 5 years afterwards. The essence of ecology is knowledge ( and a bit of patience ) Just my 2 cents.
atribecalledstretch
Looks like it’s slowly consuming a minion at the back there too
Longshot318
That looks like my drive. I hadn’t considered cultivating it into a full on ground cover but I’ll give it some thought now.
Inevitable-Pea-6262
Incredible work on the prehistoric rewilding. Just need to reintroduce some herbivore dinosaurs now to get the healthy ecosystem flourishing.
“Horticultural and agricultural In horticulture and agriculture, an aqueous extract of E. arvense has been approved for use as a fungicide in the European Union and the United Kingdom (since Brexit).[17] Horsetail extract can be used to fungal pathogens on crops including:[18]
Damping off (Pythium) and powdery mildew on cucumbers. Various fungal diseases of fruit trees, including scab (Venturia inaequalis), mildew, and peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans). Both downy and powdery mildew on grapevines. Early blight (Alternaria solani) and Septoria blight (Septoria lycopersici) on tomatoes. Grey mould, powdery mildew, red core, and anthracnose fruit rot (Colletotrichum acutatum) in strawberries. Early blight, late blight, and powdery mildew on potatoes. Equisetum is used in biodynamic farming (preparation BD 508) in particular to reduce the effects of excessive water around plants (such as fungal growth). The high silica content of the plant reduces the impact of moisture.[19]”
Use it.
BlackShieldCharm
Honestly, it looks quite nice. Once you get the bare patches to fill in, you’ll be set!
Anthony-Roberts
That should be good for at least another 50 million years.
Bicolore
Finally someone who has a problem comparable to my own!
Loads of options to tackle it, yours is in a good place because its in gravel so you can use some of the nastier options without worrying so much about your other plants.
You’ll never defeat this but you’ll be able to get it to an “annoyance” level and you can hold it there with fairly minimal effort
IIgardener1II
I have marestail and the best control I’ve found is to turf the area and regular mowing. With a driveway you could have concrete strips to drive and park on, and grass the rest. No need for chemical remedy, which isn’t always effective.
perishingtardis
Truly beautiful.
Being serious though, at least with horsetail it all dies back completely naturally in winter. With many other weeds that isn’t the case.
I have used Kurtail Evo (specifically designed for it) and it really does work. After spraying for three years I had virtually no regrowth this year. However it’s expensive, and regular Gallup + some Fairy liquid might work just as well for all I know.
13 Comments
I think my mistake was spending 3 hours trying to pull it all up a couple months back. We’ll see what SBK weed killer can do.
How do you keep it in such good condition?
Have you got weed-matting under that gravel by any chance?
Mares tail is a prehistoric plant, its roots are among the deepest in the world of plants ex: once saw them 20m down during a tourist tour in a coal mine. They “pop up” when all competitors above them are exhausted. As a professional in the green industry, I’ve seen them hit the hardest on terrains/gardens that were hit first with the most concentrated of pro weed killer. A landscape architect/colleague, once said he had found the perfect combo to kill them off, the only draw back was that you couldn’t expect anything to grow in the soil for 5 years afterwards. The essence of ecology is knowledge ( and a bit of patience ) Just my 2 cents.
Looks like it’s slowly consuming a minion at the back there too
That looks like my drive. I hadn’t considered cultivating it into a full on ground cover but I’ll give it some thought now.
Incredible work on the prehistoric rewilding. Just need to reintroduce some herbivore dinosaurs now to get the healthy ecosystem flourishing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum_arvense
“Horticultural and agricultural
In horticulture and agriculture, an aqueous extract of E. arvense has been approved for use as a fungicide in the European Union and the United Kingdom (since Brexit).[17] Horsetail extract can be used to fungal pathogens on crops including:[18]
Damping off (Pythium) and powdery mildew on cucumbers.
Various fungal diseases of fruit trees, including scab (Venturia inaequalis), mildew, and peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans).
Both downy and powdery mildew on grapevines.
Early blight (Alternaria solani) and Septoria blight (Septoria lycopersici) on tomatoes.
Grey mould, powdery mildew, red core, and anthracnose fruit rot (Colletotrichum acutatum) in strawberries.
Early blight, late blight, and powdery mildew on potatoes.
Equisetum is used in biodynamic farming (preparation BD 508) in particular to reduce the effects of excessive water around plants (such as fungal growth). The high silica content of the plant reduces the impact of moisture.[19]”
Use it.
Honestly, it looks quite nice. Once you get the bare patches to fill in, you’ll be set!
That should be good for at least another 50 million years.
Finally someone who has a problem comparable to my own!
Loads of options to tackle it, yours is in a good place because its in gravel so you can use some of the nastier options without worrying so much about your other plants.
You’ll never defeat this but you’ll be able to get it to an “annoyance” level and you can hold it there with fairly minimal effort
I have marestail and the best control I’ve found is to turf the area and regular mowing. With a driveway you could have concrete strips to drive and park on, and grass the rest. No need for chemical remedy, which isn’t always effective.
Truly beautiful.
Being serious though, at least with horsetail it all dies back completely naturally in winter. With many other weeds that isn’t the case.
I have used Kurtail Evo (specifically designed for it) and it really does work. After spraying for three years I had virtually no regrowth this year. However it’s expensive, and regular Gallup + some Fairy liquid might work just as well for all I know.