In article , Rhiannon S
writes
Subject: mares tail
From: Judith Lea
Date: 24/05/2004 14:08 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

Help, I have sprayed twice with Roundup - it is becoming very invasive -
any suggestions?

Move house?

Ok, on a slightly more practical note then, mares tail is almost impossible to
kill and doesn't absorb roundup like most plants (I'm sure someone here will be
able to give the scientific explanation for this).

It (though note I prefer the name horsetail, reserving the name mares
tail for the harmless plant Hippuris vulgaris) has a coating of silica
on its leaves and stems. This needs to be crushed in order for the
roundup to penetrate. If you have considerable areas of it, then
trampling or swiping will break and bruise it sufficiently. If it is
just single stems, perhaps growing among other plants, then don rubber
gloves and rub the stem between your hands and then spray it.

The only way to reduce mares tail is to keep digging it up, you'll never get
rid of it, but if you keep at it, an hour or so a day, you reduce it's
visibility.

I believe roots have been found several (?12) feet down :-(

--
Malcolm