mare's-tail

This is a nightmare weed which I hope you're lucky enough not to have ever come across. It has an early Spring form which looks like a delicate slim asparagus and then a later taller grass-like version. But as anyone who has it knows, it spreads like wildfire in damp clayish soil, has black roots which are very brittle, deep and haphazard, and seems resistant to every weedkiller. Digging it up just seems to encourage it!
The only 'help' I've got so far from a gardening expert is to dig up as much as I can and then cover the soil for seven years, (perhaps with a flowery print to make it still look like a garden...) or move house...THAT'S an option...
Could I maybe combine a vicious weedkiller with some grease-based substance and wipe it onto the bruised plants (carefully! - they're SO brittle)? I can understand why there is no suitable proprietary weedkiller sold for this purpose; it would linger and be dangerous for children and pets; but since I don't have these factors to worry about, has anybody made anything up that does the trick? Or do you have any better ideas?
Desperately Seeking Annihilation...

 

Hello Flora, I think you are doomed. Sorry. :eek:

Ive had a look in the pesticide book and cant find anything specifically for mares tail. Have you tried Roundup (Glyphosate)? It is a reasonably safe total weedkiller. Id try some from the garden centre on a small area and if it works get a contractor to come in and spray the lot (they can vary rates etc and being pros should be more able to do things safely)

As you mentioned, this plant really likes wet conditions so is there any chance that you could change the conditions? Improve drainage and you would make it harder for the plant to survive. If this is not an option how about raised beds or large containers?

Hope thats some help

Cloudy

 

I remember watching a garden programme, I think it was 'a year at kew' where they were dealing with mares tail and they stamped up and down on it before spraying with herbicide, to bruise the stems so that the herbicide could penetrate better. The series is being repeated on BBC 1 on fridays at the moment.