can anyone advise

Kathleen116

we have a plant which I have been told is meats tail. we have dug up garden & removed roots, some 3-4feet long, covered with stone chips, with underlay, sprayed with strong weedkiller, vinegar, and covered with deisel but it is growing stronger and chocking everything else. any advice very welcome thanks.

I tried to add a picture but could not

Fairygirl

Diesel?   

Do you mean Mare's Tail? It's been around for millenia. it will outlive everything else on the planet. You 'manage' it rather than get rid of it. Hoe it and pull it. 

Last edited: 19 May 2017 16:46:57

Loxley

Mare's tail / horse tail. Getting rid of it is a very protracted process, there are quite a few threads on the forum about it. Don't be sloshing vinegar and diesel around in your garden; there are some systemic weedkillers you can try but you will have to be patient and cut off the source of the infestation if they are coming through from somewhere else. Have you considered concreting over your garden and having planters?

Kathleen116

Thanks, local Gardner's giving lots of different advice, dug up whole garden and pulled roots, its even growing through underlay below chips

Clarington

Does this plant appear in your neighbours gardens? Unfortunately if you have it locally all you can hope to do is manage it.

Kathleen116

Neighbours garden has tar surface so could be from underneath. Thanks

Dave Hedgehog

They seem to go on a rampage when an area they had free rein to grow is suddenly blocked of light. The rhizomes/roots spread all over the place to seek out light again.

Was the neigbour's garden tarmacked recently? Unless it's a driveway, tarmac is an unusual choice of material for a garden. 

nutcutlet

The diesel should stop everything except the mare's tail. 

Kathleen116

Thanks, it didn't work on it at all

Busy-Lizzie

They had it in the RHS garden Hyde Hall. They sprayed it with glyphosate several times. I've heard that you trample on it first to bruise it.

Kathleen116

Thank you