Getting rid of horsetail

elsien

Next door is rented out. It is a garden that had membrane down with gravel on top and because of neglect by tenants it now has an extensive marestail infestation which has started to spread to mine.
The tenants have said I can go into tackle it - the landlord will not be interested. 

What’s the most effective way to get rid of the stuff that’s not going to break the bank? 

LinLui

You aren't going to like the answer. The stuff is nigh on impoossible to get rid of - even the smallest amount of root left will start over again and the permanently get rid (over a period of time and hard work) is to improve the drainage, raise the pH levels, and increase the soil's fertility. The easiest way to control it in the medium term (not eradicate it) is environmentally unfriendly - take the strongest weedkiller you can find and douse the stuff everywhere! But I regret to say that I do this - it's everywhere behind my home and the only way to deal with it is to go out once a year and kill everything in sight!

elsien

I can’t do anything about the drainage or the pH levels in someone else’s garden unfortunately.   Particularly when it’s covered with a weed suppressant membrane.  Happy to be environmentally unfriendly if that’s what it takes But also wondered if cutting it down at intervals would weaken it at all? 

kempiejon

Yeah, I had it in a plot on an allotment. I don't think you can get rid of it. I tried digging it out, and chased the roots back a spade deep and still going, it'll come back from any shred of root I heard and they fruit early in the season too. You can control it. Put membrane down. Hand weed every sprout you see. You can't beat it but you can compete with it. After 3 years of attrition, picking and digging I had it under control and my plants dominated my beds.
As LinLui discovered even ruthless annual poisoning doesn't get rid of it.

Murphybear

I assume horsetail is the same as marestail.

i agree with the others, it’s a nightmare.  We were renting a nice house in Devon and the gravel plot at the front was riddled with the stuff. Someone pulled it up for us but it grew back.  I did some research on it and found that it is a prehistoric plant with massively long roots.  Sadly getting weedkiller down to the roots is difficult.  Sorry I can’t be more helpful. 

Green_hopeful

I managed with other weeds by putting some tough plastic between me and next door along the fence line to stop new invasions. I think you can reduce it by constantly removing it. I had it in my front garden in my old house but kept it under control by regular mowing. I never took anything from the front to the back garden to keep it away from the back. I did have some respect for a plant as old as the dinosaurs but I understand you not wanting it in your garden. 

littlegreen

Have on allotment and it is awful. But manageable. It only really grows April to August, pull it as soon as you see it and burn it or compost down in a decent compost heap. I also drown mine for about 2 weeks in  a bucket of water before composting. 4 years on it is manageable if a pain

-taff

Only covering or shading it out works. As above, it's impossible to get rid og, bu just cover what you can, shade out what you can't and pull up by hand when you see it and drown before composting. It's silica based so doesn't take up weedkiler particularly well and the roots store carbohydrate so are always ready to shove some more up through the ground. I've removed a covering down the bottom of the garden before, the roots were still trying to find a way through it, I ended up with half a green bin full of roots, so I just covered it again and will never be able to use it for growing.  There's just too much of it. It's manageable in the rest of the garden, I've dug it out and keep pulling it by hand or with trowel. It hasn't spread to the front garden yet, and hopefully won't, fingers crossed.

Paulrn

Sadly every one else is right all you can do is keep on top of it, every time a bit rears its head take it out as best you can, eventually it becomes manageable we still patrol the affected bed 4 times a week.