On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:03:43 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

In message , Mike
writes
On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 21:37:28 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

In my youth, I tried for 10 years without success, until I took the bull by
the horns and declared the section of garden which was infested as
temporarily non-gardenable and killed off everything in sight with Sodium
Chlorate.

Franz,

I've decided to gove Sodium Chlorate a go. Do you have any idea
whether I should apply it once the shoots have started to appear or if
perhaps, applying some right now might prevent the shoots appearing at
all?

Are you sure you want to render your soil unusable for a whole season?
I doubt that sodium chlorate on its own will do the job either.

Your best chance with horsetails is to hit it repeatedly as it comes up
with dilute glyphosate after bruising and/or dig it out rigorously. You
need to prevent it from storing any new energy in the extensive root
system.

Moving house is probably easier for a quick fix.

Regards,

Martin,

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.


Mike

In message , Keith Dancey
writes
In article , Jane Ransom
writes:
In article , Keith Dancey
writes

Has anyone any experience of
using sodium chlorate against horsetail? It would help if we could get
some "hands-on" feedback... I have never dared use it.

No, but a few years back someone posted here that he had eradicated his
by continually cutting it back over a period of about 5 years. He was
pretty vicious with it, never letting the foliage see the light of day.


Hmmmm... been cutting mine for over ten years. The thing is, you cannot
cut what you cannot see, and if you cannot see it, it cannot have seen the
light of day.

Judging from the other comments, the patio is more in danger than the
horsetail:-(

Has the OP ever thought of moving:-}

That's what Alan Titchmarsh recommended as the best way of dealing with
horsetails. IIRC he said that shortly before he moved.



--
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author. Will work for money.

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:03:43 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

In message , Mike
writes
On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 21:37:28 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

In my youth, I tried for 10 years without success, until I took the bull by
the horns and declared the section of garden which was infested as
temporarily non-gardenable and killed off everything in sight with Sodium
Chlorate.

Franz,

I've decided to gove Sodium Chlorate a go. Do you have any idea
whether I should apply it once the shoots have started to appear or if
perhaps, applying some right now might prevent the shoots appearing at
all?

Are you sure you want to render your soil unusable for a whole season?
I doubt that sodium chlorate on its own will do the job either.

Your best chance with horsetails is to hit it repeatedly as it comes up
with dilute glyphosate after bruising and/or dig it out rigorously. You
need to prevent it from storing any new energy in the extensive root
system.

Moving house is probably easier for a quick fix.

Regards,

Martin,

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.


Mike

In message , Mike
writes
On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:03:43 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

I've decided to gove Sodium Chlorate a go. Do you have any idea
whether I should apply it once the shoots have started to appear or if
perhaps, applying some right now might prevent the shoots appearing at
all?

Are you sure you want to render your soil unusable for a whole season?
I doubt that sodium chlorate on its own will do the job either.

Moving house is probably easier for a quick fix.

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.

In those specific circumstances it might just work. But it is rather
water soluble and inclined to migrate sideways so be wary near the lawn
edge.

And the coy warning on the package "may promote combustion" needs to be
taken seriously. Do not get it onto wooden fence or decking.

But hitting them regularly with just about any weed killer ought to do
it if they are mostly trapped under concrete paving. You need to lop all
the tops off for a couple of seasons (eg by strimming regularly).

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

The message
from Mike contains these words:

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.

Not a snowball's chance in Hell.

Glyphosate, following the roughing-up instructions is the only way,
unless you want to poison all the soil in the area (not just beneath the
slabs) with something like sodium chlorate.

You never know where it will leach to, and it is unlikely to penetrate
to the deepest roots. The *ONLY* way is with repeated applications of a
systemic weedkiller. And even that is pretty useless in the long term if
you can't attack it on your neighbours' plots.....

--
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 Mike contains these words:

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.

Not a snowball's chance in Hell.

Glyphosate, following the roughing-up instructions is the only way,
unless you want to poison all the soil in the area (not just beneath the
slabs) with something like sodium chlorate.

You never know where it will leach to, and it is unlikely to penetrate
to the deepest roots. The *ONLY* way is with repeated applications of a
systemic weedkiller. And even that is pretty useless in the long term if
you can't attack it on your neighbours' plots.....

--
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 Mike contains these words:

The trouble is this...

The problem patch is under my patio slabs and grows up inbetween them
making access to the roots rather difficult. The bits in the lawn and
in the borders I can live with! I'm only planning on pouring the SC
down the gaps between the slabs, keeping my distance from the lawn of
course.

Not a snowball's chance in Hell.

Glyphosate, following the roughing-up instructions is the only way,
unless you want to poison all the soil in the area (not just beneath the
slabs) with something like sodium chlorate.

You never know where it will leach to, and it is unlikely to penetrate
to the deepest roots. The *ONLY* way is with repeated applications of a
systemic weedkiller. And even that is pretty useless in the long term if
you can't attack it on your neighbours' plots.....

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