Raising soil pH, increasing fertility and improving drainage removes the acidic, low oxygen and low nutrient conditions horsetail thrives in.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is an herbaceous perennial weed that is extremely difficult to eradicate from your garden, primarily because its roots extend deep into the ground and produce regrowth from just a tiny piece of root. However, with persistence most gardeners can kill horsetail weed using a couple of methods. Herbicides can be effective if applied repeatedly until the roots exhaust themselves, or you can change the soil conditions to make your garden an unappealing place for horsetail weeds to grow.
Chemical Eradication
1
Cut back as much of the weed as you can in early spring, before the pinkish-yellow domes that contain the spores ripen.
2
Work carefully to avoid spreading the spores and place all debris into a sealed plastic bag to dispose of it.
3
Apply an herbicide containing glyphosate directly to the cut weeds. This typically only kills the top portion of the weed and regrowth will occur, so several applications will be necessary to kill the weed.
Cultural Control
1
Fill any depressions in the soil that may hold water to ensure that rainwater drains quickly. You may have to dig a perimeter ditch to direct water away from your garden.
2
Remove mulch and plastic from the soil. Discard or destroy the mulch to avoid spreading any spores or horsetail debris that might be in it to other parts of your garden.
3
Apply dolomite lime to the soil around the horsetail weeds at the rate recommended on the package. Typically, dolomite lime is applied at a rate of 2 pounds per 100 square feet, or 1 pound per 20 to 30 square feet on slightly acidic, sandy soil. For clay soils, apply 2 pounds per 30 square feet.
4
Work the dolomite lime into the top layer of soil with a shovel or a rake, and water the soil thoroughly.
5
Wait a minimum of two weeks, and then apply fertilizer. If you fertilize when you apply the lime, they’ll work to cancel each other out so both will be ineffective. When fertilizing, use either synthetic fertilizers or apply fish, compost or aged manure to the soil in 2-inch layers.
6
Repeat application of lime and fertilizer or mulch every one to two years, until the horsetail weeds are eradicated. The process can take up to five years before your landscape is horsetail free.
Things You Will Need
- Shovel
- Gardening shears
- Plastic bag
- Glyphosate herbicide
- Dolomite lime
- Hose
- Fertilizer
Tip
- Don't pull horsetail weeds from the stems, or dig up the roots. Digging leaves tiny pieces of root that will regrow, and pulling the stems only results in new growth.
- Don’t cover the weeds in plastic or bark mulch to kill it. These materials only create the warm, moist, anaerobic environment that horsetail thrives in.
- Read the label carefully when choosing a lime product. If it doesn’t say calcium, magnesium or some variation of this, then it may not be dolomite. Hydrated lime is not dolomite. It contains no magnesium, and is highly caustic and hazardous to breathe or handle.
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