Can Anyone Identify This Please?

Strikor

Hi guys. Ive just movd into a new house and ive notice a few of these in a wood chipped area. Looks like an old vegetable patch... My initial guess is that its a Leylandia of Thuja seedling but im not that up on this stuff...



Any ideas please? Thanks

christy c

Strikor wrote: »

Hi guys. Ive just movd into a new house and ive notice a few of these in a wood chipped area. Looks like an old vegetable patch... My initial guess is that its a Leylandia of Thuja seedling but im not that up on this stuff...



Any ideas please? Thanks

It's Mare's tale I think?

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057738504/1

my3cents

Nice guess but oh so wrong, if only it was a nice conifer instead of a prehistoric weed that grew on the earth when the dinosuars still roamed around. Its Mare's Tail a Equisetum species.

About the hardest weed to get rid of going. Some info to start you off https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=257 and http://www.thegardenshop.ie/mares-tail/ .

Edit> refering to OP not christy c who beat me to it.

A2LUE42

Oh dear. You have trouble. That bloody weed...

Strikor

Thanks guys for the info. Mare's Tail ay? Well it seems to be only in a cordoned off area. Th plan is to plough/rotivate my new acre field to put down a lawn, luckily this blighter is not in the field, just the front garden.



Any non chemical ideas on how to get rid?

Dank Janniels

Thats that blasted Mares Tail. Its an absalute scourge on our gravel driveway.
Sending you thoughts and prayers!

Strikor

Anyone heard of this treatment? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-_GGeH2Z64

Strikor

Seems Mares Tail/Horsetail has some good points too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5JN9UKgeBk

my3cents

Roundup has some effect but can be slow as in take years to kill it but Kurtail as mentioned in my second link is supposed to be good.

wildwillow

As soon as you disturb the soil on the rest of your plot the problem will multiply. Very difficult to eradicate and seems to have appeared just about everywhere lately. I’ve noticed that the roadside is badly affected after road improvement because the roots have been dispersed.

Lumen

I've a load sprouting up. I was going to use painted-on Roundup but I might try using secateurs down to ground level and then into the brown bin.

Although I'm not sure the brown bin is a very good idea for wherever that stuff ends up.

Maybe dry it out on the flat roof of my wood pile.

my3cents

Lumen wrote: »

I've a load sprouting up. I was going to use painted-on Roundup but I might try using secateurs down to ground level and then into the brown bin.

Although I'm not sure the brown bin is a very good idea for wherever that stuff ends up.

Maybe dry it out on the flat roof of my wood pile.

It doesn't grow from cuttings of the green top growth. Don't worry about them, just hoe them off and leave them or cut them and box them off if growing in the grass.

The underground rhizomes are a different matter chop them up and they'll all eventually regrow.

macraignil

Strikor wrote: »

Thanks guys for the info. Mare's Tail ay? Well it seems to be only in a cordoned off area. Th plan is to plough/rotivate my new acre field to put down a lawn, luckily this blighter is not in the field, just the front garden.



Any non chemical ideas on how to get rid?

The Mare's tail likes to grow in moist soil and the green sprouting part in your photo grows from a network of underground growth from which it will resprout after most types of treatment. Had very damp soil in my parent's back garden and was able to reduce the amount of Mare's tail by improving the drainage, planting vigorous fruit shrubs and trees and adding lots of organic material to improve the soil structure to allow in more air. I also found it important to not just take off the green growth you have in the photo but use a trowel or something similar to follow back the underground portion of the Mare's tail and remove as much of the plant each time I'd see one as possible.

Only have a small area in the current garden and by removing as much of it as possible each time I see one it has been kept fairly controlled as the drainage is already good. As with all plants it needs light to get energy so removing the green parts and a bit of underground growth each time I see one insures it does not get enough energy to thrive. The top piece I remove can usually be left to break down on the surface in warm weather and at times may have acted as a good mulch and eventually nutrient source for the other plants.

Shefwedfan

ITs a bastid of a thing.....I found it last year and started off with the same question you asked

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057738504&page=1

I got this stuff last year
https://www.agridirect.ie/product/finale-1-litre

Just kept on spraying it. I would die alright

This year, same place and it is back. Also I have a small stream at side of house and just noticed today that it is actually fun of this stuff. Also up at top of road. Wet spoil is favorite spot for it

It is mixed up in garden but that has dried out this year so it isnt really growing

my3cents

Shefwedfan wrote: »

ITs a bastid of a thing.....I found it last year and started off with the same question you asked

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057738504&page=1

I got this stuff last year
https://www.agridirect.ie/product/finale-1-litre

Just kept on spraying it. I would die alright

This year, same place and it is back. Also I have a small stream at side of house and just noticed today that it is actually fun of this stuff. Also up at top of road. Wet spoil is favorite spot for it

It is mixed up in garden but that has dried out this year so it isnt really growing

Finale - Glufosinate-amonium same active ingredient as Kurtail.

Lumen

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Finale...This year, same place and it is back.

They should rename it semi-finale. :pac:

Mine is right near a stream too, and we've had a really wet winter, so....

standardg60

There are really only two options, leave the area free of planting and give repeated applications of glyphosate until you're sure it's eradicated, which may take years, or just accept that you have it and just pull the shoots whenever they appear.

Shefwedfan

standardg60 wrote: »

There are really only two options, leave the area free of planting and give repeated applications of glyphosate until you're sure it's eradicated, which may take years, or just accept that you have it and just pull the shoots whenever they appear.

Read thread linked above.....

Grab All Association

A lot of this growing on the track beds in Limerick Junction station past few years. Iarnród Éireann regularly weed spray the tracks so proves the posters point here that it is difficult to get rid of.

FREDNISMO

Mortone or Dicophar will kill it

A2LUE42

FREDNISMO wrote: »

Mortone or Dicophar will kill it

Have you actually used these and been successful in killing it?
What way did you apply it and how many doses did it need?

my3cents

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Have you actually used these and been successful in killing it?
What way did you apply it and how many doses did it need?

The active ingredient that counts in both of them is MCPA which can knock Mares Tail back for a full season but in my experience it still comes back again a year later if not before.

Triclopyr in SBK Brushwood Killer is another treatment that will often knock Mares Tail back for a year but again in my experience it comes back again.

Also be aware that afaik none of the above should be used near water, rivers, streams, ponds etc.

Markcheese

First thing is don't panic...
If your going to have most of your acre as lawn you're fine... Almost nothing can compete with mowed grass...
For the cordoned off bark mulch area, you could just pull it up (as was said above) or spot treat individual shoots.. My dad used to wear a rubber glove with a fabric glove with round up on it on top, and then just wipe the persistent weeds he wanted to kill off.. May take a while and a few repeat treatments. don't spill it on you, the ground or other plants... If it's a small area you won't need to spray..