Help identifying weed and advice on killing please

Hello all,

I'm new here, hope you can help me!

I have a major problem with the following weed coming through my flagstones and in my borders, I've tried spray on "Roundup" and other cheaper weedkillers on it but it doesn't budge.

Could anyone recommend a weedkiller for it please?

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum.

I regret to say I think that's horse's tail - a notorious weed that's very hard to eradicate.

Check out this link:http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Weeds_and_What_to_do.php

 

Thank you, it's good to be here.

Oh my.

Thanks for the prompt response. I'll look for an weedkiller product with ammonium sulphamate as soon as possible then :(

 

I've never seen that one. Whew

 

I thought Round-Up could defeat anything?

 

Evolution in action. They probably spent millions of years selectively breeding having preempted the invention of weedkiller

I'm glad I don't have them.

 

I thought so too whcih is why I spent £30 on a super duper spray bottle of the stuff from Wilkos I have to say it was excellent on everything else though!

I wish I'd have sought advice from people like yourselves sooner, as this weed is everywhere on my flags, a foot high in cases (yes im very embarassed about my garden looking like this) :(

 

Hello and welcome Cable guy.
That's horsetail or marestail - one flowers and the other doesn't - but they're both the same problem.
There's no point in trying to dig it out - the roots go all the way to Australia.
You can poison it with weedkiller but that only keeps it in check.
In my experience it can be kept in check but not got rid of. Try the folloeing.

Cut its head off every tiime it appears.
Don't bother trying to dig it up - waste of time.
In the paths treat it to lots of salt - that worked for me- but you have to be sure the salt is not going where you don't want it.
Spray with glyphosphate weed killer.
Before spraying with weed killer pour over some soapy water - that helps the weedkiller to stick as it is quite waxy and the weedkiller just runs off - you'll see what I mean.
Repeat all of above at regular intervals.
You can keep the stuff under control but sadly not get rid of it. Total menace.
Good luck and hope it works well for you.
Some peeps would just say move house.

 

Thank you very much for the advice.

Can I just clarify a few things please?

Would mowing the flagstones suffice?

I'm a real gardening newbie, would table salt suffice? Also why wouldn't I want salt in other areas is it bad for certain things?

Could you recommend a brand please?

Would a bucket of washing up liquid mixed with hot water suffice?

Thanks so very much for the advice, I am completely at your mercy, I fully confess to knowing nothing whatsoever about gardening. I didn't think i'd get a reply in months let alone 10 reponses to my thread in the same night!! Incidentally, my question on Yahoo Answers hasn't got a single response yet.

 

I have never come across it - so have never tried to get rid of it. However, when if you try to spray difficult weeds with Glyphosphate it might be worth crushing the stems and pushing them into a polythene bag with Glyphosphate in. Tape the bag up and leave for a week or more. The principle is that the crushed stem allows direct access and putting it in a bag prolongs the contact.

 

For the patio, use weed killer, Roundup or if you can find it ammonium sulphamate (sold as root out or stump killer), another option is to regularly scorch the shoots with a flame gun.

For the border, keep the soil regularly hoed ie every few days and pull any shoots you see. You wont get rid completely but you'll bring it down to a manageable and with regular hoeing insignificant problem.

 

No need to resort to chemicals I use a flame gun (works off those butane gas refills) just torch it when it shows this will keep it under and if your persistant you will weaken it until it's no longer a problem.

 

For my patio, I used to boil up the kettle plus several pans of water, then race outside with it before it had chance to cool and pour it over the weeds that were popping up between the bricks. It boiled them alive. It was moderately effective and the results were more or less immediate, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it as it is obviously slightly risky running about while carrying pans of boiling water.

I like the idea of the flame gun. I think Argos do a cheap one called the weed wand or something.