Horsetail/Marestail WEED

horsetail has been around since the dinosaurs-we don't stand much chance of getting rid of it. The tudors used it to scour cooking pots.

I must be an exception to the rule I love horsetail, it reminds me of my childhood/teenage years walking down to the beach & it was growing on the sides of the banks of the roads, I had some in my garden some years back but it just vanished. 2 things I have problems with, one bindweed & the other that long sticky weed with little bobbles on that climbs through all the plants & smothers them, if it catches your skin can leave a nasy mark as well, seems the past 3 years it had gone berserk everywhere even on sides of roads, happy gardening

I googled Kurtail...the active ingredient is glufosinate. Came across some information about this chemical on the following link. I wont be using it.

www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/impacts_glufosinate_ammon.pdf

One question, loubieb. Does it kill everything else in the vicinity? There used to be a product that was specific to couch grass (Weedout, I think) but that proved too toxic for the open market so, much to my regret, no longer exists.

No problem - good luck

Thanks for that tip. If Kurtail really works, it'll be a godsend. I will have to leave the problem behind while I go on holiday but will be onto it at once when i come home.

Hi, I had a problem too - I used Kurtail. I didn't get it in a garden centre but but bought it on the internet. It has seems to have worked on it.

That's it; it sticks to one gardening glove so you try to pull it off with the other ad infinitum....[sticky willy ?..oooer...]

Never found anything that would get rid if them except deep digging and pulling up ... for a while. They will even come up through Tarmac.
You're thinking if 'sticky weed' or 'sticky willy' or 'cleavers' Tegan (Gallium aparine) I suspect.

Tegan, Horsetail/Marestail looks like little trees

www.lawnweeds.co.uk/horsetail.html

I know the one you're thinking of Tegan...it almost jumps out at you and sticks to your clothes as you pass! I can't remember its name, but marestail is different.

It's a nightmare isn't it? Its waxy coating makes it resistant to weedkiller unless you 'bruise' the growth first. Even then it's hardly affected by what ever you spray on it.

I've had some sucess with boiling water poured directly over it. Fortunately, mine grows at the front of the house which is mainly gravelled, so boiling water doesn't affect other plants.

Good luck!

Is that the one that sticks to you when you try to pull it up?