Marestail/Horsetail nightmare.

Has anybody else seen a massive increase in the amount of Marestail this year? I've always had a bit, but nothing that couldn't easily be managed by pulling it out whenever I saw it. This year it's everywhere, including growing in the lawn and that's something I've never had a problem with in the past. The really odd thing is though that most 'experts' say that it doesn't cope well with competition and I'm seeing exactly the opposite. My old veg patch which hasn't been cultivated for a few years has them here and there but borders are thick with the stuff.

 

Boiling water kills them or if you use a weed killer bruise the stems first.

 

Yes, ours has been particularly bad this year. Their roots can go very deep and travel a long way so anything you manage to do to the top-growth is unlikely to eradicate it completely. The 'constant attrition' approach is often the only way to manage it.

 

Lime thrown on top of it makes it very unhappy.

 

Horsetail is very common in my street, one front garden is totally full of it with just a path through the thick, knee high growth. It looks rather wonderful

It's a shame the plant is such an unwanted one, I think it's very pretty, always lush and very interesting too when it appears in the spring looking like mushrooms. It is also most satisfying to pull out.

Sadly, I'm now pulling out about a bucketful a week from the inside of my greenhouse and behind any nook and cranny I haven't cleared up yet. We have some sort of balance, it doesn't come up on my planted parts (yet) and I let it be in the corners.

I wonder if it's edible?

 

Not edible, but can be used for a medicinal tea and also as a pan scourer and I would think it would work as an exfoliant as well. The stems contain silica which gives it the abrasive effects.

 

I beieve the black roots were bound into 'brushes' in t'olden days, and used to polish pewter.