Hi!
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my
friend disagrees - she thinks they'll survive & then be spread when
the compost is put on the ground.
Any advice,please?
TIA, Karin

"Karin" wrote in message
om...
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!

"Karin" wrote in message
om...
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!

"Mel" wrote in message after "Karin" wrote
....
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!


Yes, that is my experience too. So I do not use them and their roots in
compost.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
368 data units completed.

"Mel" wrote in message after "Karin" wrote
....
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!


Yes, that is my experience too. So I do not use them and their roots in
compost.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
368 data units completed.

In article ,
Mel wrote:
"Karin" wrote in message
. com...
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!

Perhaps, but it won't regrow from its stems, and it should be fairly
easy to kill even if the spores (not seeds) germinate. The resistant
parts are its deep roots. I would compost it, just as I do for bindweed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Mel wrote:
"Karin" wrote in message
. com...
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!

Perhaps, but it won't regrow from its stems, and it should be fairly
easy to kill even if the spores (not seeds) germinate. The resistant
parts are its deep roots. I would compost it, just as I do for bindweed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Mel wrote:
"Karin" wrote in message
. com...
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my

Those things will survive a nuclear blast!

Perhaps, but it won't regrow from its stems, and it should be fairly
easy to kill even if the spores (not seeds) germinate. The resistant
parts are its deep roots. I would compost it, just as I do for bindweed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Karin) contains these words:

Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my
friend disagrees - she thinks they'll survive & then be spread when
the compost is put on the ground.
Any advice,please?

Step carefully!

Mare's tail / marestail = Hippuris vulgaris and is a (fairly) stagnant
water plant.

Do you mean marestail or horse tail? (Though the two names overlap in
certain areas of the country, just to confuse things.)

Horse tail = Equistium (various species) allied to ferns. These don't
have seeds, but spores. I believe the spores are borne on special stems
which appear early in the year, before the foliage, and the actual
'bottlebrush' of the normal stems won't have spores.

Personally, I'd burn them, just in case. They can be sprayed with
glyphosate to which some detergent has been added. It works even better
if you have bruised the greenery by walking or stamping on it first.

Several applications will be required as the roots can go down eight
feet. In areas where there is gold, significant quantities can be
recovered by cutting horsetails and burning them, and refining the ash.
I can't remember where I read that - or heard it, but I've never been
able to test the intelligence in the forty or more years I've had it in
the back of my mind. Either there is a plethora of horsetail and a lack
of gold in the area, or a fair amount of dispersed gold, but no sign of
horsetails.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Karin) contains these words:

Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my
friend disagrees - she thinks they'll survive & then be spread when
the compost is put on the ground.
Any advice,please?

Step carefully!

Mare's tail / marestail = Hippuris vulgaris and is a (fairly) stagnant
water plant.

Do you mean marestail or horse tail? (Though the two names overlap in
certain areas of the country, just to confuse things.)

Horse tail = Equistium (various species) allied to ferns. These don't
have seeds, but spores. I believe the spores are borne on special stems
which appear early in the year, before the foliage, and the actual
'bottlebrush' of the normal stems won't have spores.

Personally, I'd burn them, just in case. They can be sprayed with
glyphosate to which some detergent has been added. It works even better
if you have bruised the greenery by walking or stamping on it first.

Several applications will be required as the roots can go down eight
feet. In areas where there is gold, significant quantities can be
recovered by cutting horsetails and burning them, and refining the ash.
I can't remember where I read that - or heard it, but I've never been
able to test the intelligence in the forty or more years I've had it in
the back of my mind. Either there is a plethora of horsetail and a lack
of gold in the area, or a fair amount of dispersed gold, but no sign of
horsetails.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Karin" wrote in message
om...
Hi!
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my
friend disagrees - she thinks they'll survive & then be spread when
the compost is put on the ground.
Any advice,please?

I would be extremely wary of putting marestail in a compost bin. It is just
not worth the risk of reintroducing them into your garden. Burning is the
best way of dealing with it.

Franz

"Karin" wrote in message
om...
Hi!
Is it OK to put Mares Tail on a compost heap? I thought that it would
be OK because the heap would get hot enough to kill the seeds, but my
friend disagrees - she thinks they'll survive & then be spread when
the compost is put on the ground.
Any advice,please?

I would be extremely wary of putting marestail in a compost bin. It is just
not worth the risk of reintroducing them into your garden. Burning is the
best way of dealing with it.

Franz

Well, you're very welcome to come and chop all of ours down and look for gold! Damned stuff, it's deadly to horses and grows better than grass on my land!

Burn it, I've known it happily regrow from little bits that have accidently arrived on our muck heap via the soil picked out of horses hooves. It's the most incredible stuff, you've got to admire it's ability to survive whatever we throw at it - so don't help it at all!

Burn it, I've known it happily regrow from little bits that have
accidently arrived on our muck heap via the soil picked out of horses
hooves. It's the most incredible stuff, you've got to admire it's
ability to survive whatever we throw at it - so don't help it at all!

I think it has a very old genetic make-up, it's related to much larger
plants that flourished in the time of the dinosaurs. I suppose it has been
through some hard times to survive to the present day, which is maybe why it
is so persistent.

Andrew

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote
big snip
.. In areas where there is gold, significant quantities can be
recovered by cutting horsetails and burning them, and refining the ash.
I can't remember where I read that - or heard it, but I've never been
able to test the intelligence in the forty or more years I've had it in
the back of my mind. Either there is a plethora of horsetail and a lack
of gold in the area, or a fair amount of dispersed gold, but no sign of
horsetails.

See http://www.puralibre.com/html/eng_ho...l.html#History which says:

Horsetail absorbs gold dissolved in water better than most plants, as much
as 4 ounces per ton of fresh stalk".


- Tom Bennett