Mares’ tail

[alisonsParticipant]

Like another recent poster, I recently took on a lovely allotment and a lot of mares’ tail.

I have covered large parts with Mypex and similar and am going to plant potatoes and squash through the Mypex (have just been reading about people’s experiences of growing spuds through Mypex – blowtorching holes is a very useful idea!), some veg in raised beds with cardboard and compost and uncontaminated soil, but for my peas, amongst others, I need to lift the Mypex and fear for the full-on return of the mares’ tail.

I will try to cover the spaces between the plants with cardboard but I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas for dealing with mares’ tail.

I know it will take time to get anywhere near eradicating it, but I’m a bit disheartened by its extent as it re-emerges with the spring.

Thank you!

[stenatParticipant]

Mares tail appeared in my allotment this year, I now have couch grass, bindweed and this to deal with, couch grass seems childs play next to the other two! It’s just so disheartening. I was looking through other forums and found out that it’s best to just pull mares tail out of the ground or cut at 1″ deep when they’re no taller than 3″ and this can starve and possibly kill the plant over the years. I’ve also found this: https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/76570/mares-tail-how-to-win/p3 with some interesting advice.

[StringfellowParticipant]

Do a search on Charles forum as this has come up a few times. An intelligent plan of attack coupled with unswerving diligence in the delivery of this plan can certainly result in “taming of the beast”. Good luck.

[alisonsParticipant]

Thanks for the ideas. I have searched through the forums and have a lot of ideas. I guess I was just after some success stories.

The mares’ tail is in so much of my plot in such density that I simply can’t diligently cut it all off just below the surface. I would never do anything else.

For people who covered it, with what and for how long? 5 years? Has anyone tried planting something it didn’t like (I’ve heard turnips?)

Thank you!

[StringfellowParticipant]

Try “Horsetail”.

[Author]

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