Ann Tique
TOG
The real Mrs. Bickerdyke
Am I there yet?
Posts: 800
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Post by Ann Tique on May 23, 2009 13:34:39 GMT
Has anyone had any success in getting rid of this invasive weed?
I've searched on the web and some sites say there is no chemical solution, whereas others say Roundup or the like may be effective.
Some say keep pulling it up and it weakens it eventually ... some say move house !!!!
Help !!
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Post by troykerr on May 23, 2009 17:20:34 GMT
Whatever you do don't rotovate it. Make it Den's task to prove his ever loving desire for you. Not being much help am I. My old dad used to smother it with fresh soot from chimneys - it gave up eventually.
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Ann Tique
TOG
The real Mrs. Bickerdyke
Am I there yet?
Posts: 800
|
Post by Ann Tique on May 23, 2009 17:28:34 GMT
Make it Den's task to prove his ever loving desire for you...... ROFL he hates gardening even more than he hates shopping and that's saying something !!!
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Post by Fi on May 25, 2009 12:34:52 GMT
Annie, if it's a relatively small patch, you can dig up all of the soil it's in, deep enough to get out all the roots, let it dry out completely and leave it for several months. Then, to be absolutely sure sterilise the soil using weedkillers (not glycophosphate on it's own - Resolva might work), heat or maybe a strong solution of Jeyes fluid. Alternatively, take the lot down to the local tip. The problem wth weed killers is that horsetails don't have leaves as we know them, so getting glycophosphate into the plants' vascular systems is well nigh impossible. If it's a big patch digging it out regularly should stop the patch getting bigger and may eventually get rid of it completely. Horsetails are relatives of some of the oldest vascularl and plants on earth, having first appeared in the Late Devonian and, in their heyday, growing into tall trees. Although very simple compared with flowering plants, their structure is exceptionally robust and that has led them to survive on all continents apart from Antarctica , Australia and New Zealand until the present day, through all the climate changes and geological upheavals of the last 400 million years or so. If you cen't get rid of it, console youreself with the thought that you've got a living fossil. Grow a Taxodium, acycad, an Auracaria a Gingko and some ferns like Osmundia, with it and you'll be well on your way to a Jurassic forest. *grins*
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