Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

The only sure way to deal with Equisetum is to dig out and replace 2 feet of
topsoil.

Really!

On 15 Jun 2003 13:03:17 -0700, (Matt & Kim) wrote:

Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

At a local nursery it is coming up through blacktop. Perhaps
concrete?


--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

In article ,
(Matt & Kim) wrote:

Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!


The roots extends for blocks & blocks in all directions -- everywhere you
see it, it's really only one far-ranging plant, hence pretty much
indestructible. If an entire neighborhood spent two to five years
rigorously & religiously poisoning it on a regular basis, there'd be a lot
less of it eventually, but then the ground where it had been would be
polluted by repeat use of chemicals.

The stuff really ain't so bad it's worth poisoning the world over. So hack
it to the ground regularly wherever you seriously can't stand it, &
otherwise learn to appreciate its very real beauty as a garden-worthy
presence.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"Matt & Kim" wrote in message
om...
Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I admired the horsetail in my neighbor's back yard for awhile (this was
before I was seriously the madgardener) and when those owners sold it, and
the new ones bought it, I asked if I could have a piece of it for my
own........I had no idea at the time that it would make itself at home in my
yard there by popping up fifteen feet away. I took my whole yard of
perennials, a few bushes and every clump of bulbs I'd planted from then on
with me to East Tennessee in 1992. I planted the horsetail at the rental
house and for 3 1/2 years it did alright. Then we bought this house in 1995
and I moved all those perennials and then some that I'd accumulated over
those years to the new house including the horsetail (I still didn't know
what I had........) but THIS time I had raised beds with rich worm casting
soil. uh oh.........and to top it off.........I planted the horsetail where
the downspout drained in the back of the bed like a total fool.

I still pull it out. I would say if you see it poking up, (especially after
a good soaking rain) gently pull it and try to get a root. And keep pulling
it up. You will NEVER remove it all, BUT there is hope because after seven
years of deliberately pulling it up, I only have one or three shoots that
pop their heads out of the dense foliage of all the other perennials in
totally whacky areas from where it originally was (which tells me it rooted
to China) and I carefully pull it out. It always has roots on the ends, but
I know I never totally remove it. But at least now after 7 years I'm not
pulling out 100-200 shoots at a time. It's dwindled to 2-3 sometimes 4 at
the most. I figure I'm weakening it by pulling out what pops up. It has to
have chlorophyll to survive healthy enough to make more, I figure somehow in
all the FOLIAGE of my constipated raised beds and given the rich, loose
soil, I miss one or two a year and that's why I pull the ones I find up. If
it weren't such a foliage and perennial jungle, I'd have possibly removed it
by now, maybe. But as long as there's roots to this stuff, yer stuck with
some of it.

It sounds daunting, but my removal has gotten it at least under control. Now
if only I could say the same about my Vinca major and 4
o'clocks...............................
madgardener Zone 7 in Eastern Tennessee who pulled the newest shoot of
horsetail up and potted it up and gave it to Squire for his new
pond/fountain.........at least it's in a POT!!! g

On 15 Jun 2003 13:03:17 -0700, (Matt & Kim) wrote:

Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!


Introduce some grizzly bears they apparently eat the stuff!
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/p...derations.html

"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson



tomj

Greetings matt, kim etc
Glyphosate. paint the green bits with it. keep painting any new shoots. it
won't work overnight, but it will work. make sure you don't accidentally
drip, drop or spray it on a plant you really don't want to lose.
"Matt & Kim" wrote in message
om...
Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Digging it out is the only sure way to get rid of it. It's a primitive plant
and hardy and resistant to most chemicals, but you are killing all the organisms
in the soil, and anything which happens to walk on your poison.


On 15 Jun 2003 13:03:17 -0700, (Matt & Kim) wrote:

Greetings Everybody:

I've been battling horsetail all year in my Seattle garden, and have
done a ton of web and newsgroup research to try and figure out what
approaches would give me a fighting chance. There's a lot of
contradictory advice out there, I've tried many different techniques,
and the only treatment that seems to have had ANY effect is the use of
Casoron after clipping the plants off at ground level.

One question I HAVEN'T seen answered, however, is whether the use of a
professional gardening or landscaping service would make any
difference whatsoever. Do these types of firms have access to any
magic chemicals or secrets that I don't have access to as a novice
gardener? I know a lot of people say to just live with the horsetail,
but it absolutely ruins the appreciation of my yard and it also (I'm
positive) will diminish my home value in the long run if I don't keep
it under control. My neighbors are also starting to give me dirty
looks...

If anybody can tell me whether it's worth calling a professional
service for help with this problem, I'd greatly appreciate it!

These are all great suggestions, which I appreciate, but I still
haven't received an answer to my primary question: "Would a
professional gardening or landscaping service be a smart investment in
dealing with horsetails?"

My wife was told by one service that if they came out in the spring,
and sprayed $500 worth of chemicals, it would eliminate (or severely
improve) or horsetail problem. I tend to believe that we could do the
same thing for a lot less by whacking the weeds and using glyco or
casoron ourselves.

Anybody have any advice on which way to go? Is it worth the money to
hire experts or is this just throwing a lot of money away on the
inevitable?

On 16 Jun 2003 09:25:30 -0700, (Matt & Kim) wrote:

These are all great suggestions, which I appreciate, but I still
haven't received an answer to my primary question: "Would a
professional gardening or landscaping service be a smart investment in
dealing with horsetails?"

no

My wife was told by one service that if they came out in the spring,
and sprayed $500 worth of chemicals, it would eliminate (or severely
improve) or horsetail problem. I tend to believe that we could do the
same thing for a lot less by whacking the weeds and using glyco or
casoron ourselves.

correct, but it kills more than the targeted plant.

Anybody have any advice on which way to go? Is it worth the money to
hire experts or is this just throwing a lot of money away on the
inevitable?

not worth it

On 16 Jun 2003 09:25:30 -0700, (Matt & Kim) wrote:

My wife was told by one service that if they came out in the spring,
and sprayed $500 worth of chemicals, it would eliminate (or severely
improve) or horsetail problem. I tend to believe that we could do the
same thing for a lot less by whacking the weeds and using glyco or
casoron ourselves.

Is Casoron labeled for Horsetail? It has been many years since I used it
but I remember it as a seed pre-emergent.

Anybody have any advice on which way to go? Is it worth the money to
hire experts or is this just throwing a lot of money away on the
inevitable?

I would just start digging it up. A long project but eventually you will
get it under control. Use a spading fork to loosen the soil and
carefully pull as many roots as you can.

Matt & Kim wrote:

These are all great suggestions, which I appreciate, but I still
haven't received an answer to my primary question: "Would a
professional gardening or landscaping service be a smart investment in
dealing with horsetails?"

My wife was told by one service that if they came out in the spring,
and sprayed $500 worth of chemicals, it would eliminate (or severely
improve) or horsetail problem. I tend to believe that we could do the
same thing for a lot less by whacking the weeds and using glyco or
casoron ourselves.

Anybody have any advice on which way to go? Is it worth the money to
hire experts or is this just throwing a lot of money away on the
inevitable?

Your last statement about it sums it up pretty accurately. If it were that
simple to eradicate horsetails, they wouldn't be one of the 10 most common
plants in the world and the bane of virtually all Pacific Northwest
gardeners, not to mention others around the globe.

Hiring a professional spraying service (NOT the same as a professional
gardening or landscaping company) will not achieve any better results than
attempting to control this pest on your own. These services are in the
business to make money and repeated and frequent applications are their
stock in trade - ergo, the elimination of the problem is the end of their
business. Get the picture?

You will likely never be rid of this plant - it is tough, persistant and
can grow in a wide range of conditions and the complexity of its root
system and the viability of its spores requires that all your neighbors
invest in the same sort of regular control measures. But you can keep it
in check. Here are a few of the tried and true methods:

- Manual removal tops the list. This obviously requires the most work on
your part but produces the best results. Repeated removal of any of the
top growth will eventually weaken the underlying root system and the plant
will die out, at least in your immediate vicinity. This requires diligent
attention and repeated pulling or mowing. Removal of the roots is
unnecessary and will not help. Initially it can actually aggravate the
problem, as each remaining portion of root can and will generate a new
plant. Keep pulling, as soon as you see any new growth emerging. This
process should start early in the season as the fertile stems (those that
carry the spores) appear and continue on into summer with the vegetative
or foliar growth. Do NOT allow the fertile stems to mature to dispense the
spores.

- Once the top growth has been removed, horsetails do respond to the
pre-emergent dichlobenil (Casoron), which can be applied to ornamental
beds to help reduce recurrence. Do not apply this product in areas were
edible crops are to be planted and be sure to read and follow label
directions carefully.

- In areas where there are no desireable plants (along driveways, ditches,
etc.), the herbicide triclopyr (Brush-Be-Gone) is registered for use on
horsetails and is quite effective. Again, read and follow label directions
carefully.

- Although not registered for use in this manner, glyphosate painted
directly on newly emerging shoots is effective as well. Use a full
strength or concentrated formulation rather than a RTU spray.

None of these methods are a simple panacea - the control of this problem
weed takes persistance and diligence and time. Allow several seasons of
treatment before you see significant reduction. But you can keep
horsetails in check via this method and save many hundreds of dollars (not
to mention widespread pesticide contamination) by avoiding so-called
professional spraying companies.

pam - gardengal
WA State Certified Professional Horticulturist