Website design By BotEap.comGiven the nature of this plant; If left unchecked in your garden and in the extreme, it will destroy your house.

Website design By BotEap.comAs I write this, it is early March and Horse Tail is deep in the earth waiting for its moment to erupt and haunt you once more.

Website design By BotEap.comHorsetail common name: Equisetum

Website design By BotEap.comDescription: Perennial plant with hollow, jointed green stems and small, scale-like leaves.

Website design By BotEap.comIt looks like a small Christmas tree, four to eight inches tall.

Website design By BotEap.comHistory:

Website design By BotEap.comYou will not find anything in your garden that has more history than the Horsetail.

Website design By BotEap.comFrom what we can tell, these early Horsetails were 30 meters tall and covered the earth for 100 million years. Horsetail was part of the Paleozoic forests about 542 million years ago.

Website design By BotEap.comThe Equisetum family group is perceived as a “living fossil” as they are the only living examples of living fossils.

Website design By BotEap.comSo how come Horsetail has gone from 30 meters tall to 20-40 cm tall?

Website design By BotEap.comThe time of the great trees ended with an era known as the Permian-Triassic extinction incident. A crisis known as the “Great Death”. This was the largest mass annihilation in Earth’s history.

Website design By BotEap.comThe event took place 252 million years ago and wiped out 90% of the species of the time. But no, however, the ponytail, which continues to stomp.

Website design By BotEap.comSoil type:

Website design By BotEap.comI first put this plant on a tennis court where I watched it grow through the asphalt. This will tell you that HorseTail will grow in a wide variety of soils and non-soils, indeed. The plant prefers mostly moist soil.

Website design By BotEap.comThe black stems of the plants descend several meters and crawl in all directions underground. The plant is what is called a gymnosperm, which means that it does not flower. It spreads by emitting spores that grow in spring.

Website design By BotEap.comLet me tell you a story:

Website design By BotEap.comMy neighbor here in Oxford wanted to add to his house. He couldn’t go up, because of the height restriction here in the city and he couldn’t go sideways because his house covered all the ground he had to.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, not to be left behind; she decided to go down.

Website design By BotEap.comSo he dug under his house about 15 feet. She then stopped and waited almost a month to decide how to proceed.

Website design By BotEap.comIt was the beginning of summer and when he went back down to his “basement” he saw a small green sprout growing on the ground.

Website design By BotEap.comHe called me to identify it and sure enough, it was horsetail, waiting for its chance to grow. He has been waiting all those years in the back of his house!

Website design By BotEap.comdisease:

Website design By BotEap.comThere are none that I know of. In hot/dry/ice/flood conditions, this plant continues to function.

Website design By BotEap.comAnd the reason why you are reading this is: how to kill him.

Website design By BotEap.comBottom line: You can’t kill Horsetail. However, do not despair because you can control it or at least keep it under control.

Website design By BotEap.comWhat you need is a plan and a lot of patients.

Website design By BotEap.comBefore you start on a plan, you need to understand the composition of the plant.

Website design By BotEap.comThe horsetail has survived so long because of its structure. It has a silica-rich coating and very small leaf-like needles.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is how the plant protects itself from external elements. There is no spray that kills it well.

Website design By BotEap.comHorsetail has also become poisonous if eaten raw, so grazing animals will avoid it.

Website design By BotEap.comThe plant has a very deep and multiple root system, making cultural control methods negligible.

Website design By BotEap.comIn other words, you can’t dig it up because it’s too deep and the smallest root fragment left will grow into a new plant. So any tillage method will multiply your problem.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you want to use chemicals, there is a product called “Kurtail”. It is sold by a company found on the web: http://www.progreen.co UK phone number 0800 032 6262

Website design By BotEap.comThere is no chemical or lasting effect on the soil due to the treatment. A liter of Kurtail was £20 plus delivery.

Website design By BotEap.comI have seen this used and it took three days to destroy the plant. However, the horsetail came back the following spring, when you’ll have to spray it again.

Website design By BotEap.comDon’t waste your money on any other chemical products. None of them work, and that rules out “rounding”.

Website design By BotEap.comThe best time to spray Kurtail is when the plant is actively growing (April-October)

Website design By BotEap.comManual control

Website design By BotEap.comHere’s my killer organic recipe: I fill an oil can with undiluted vinegar and spray the vinegar into the bottom of the plant, just where it goes into the soil, so the plant will drink well.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter two days the plant is dead.

Website design By BotEap.comI’ve been doing this on my plot for seven years and find I can control it. I walk the plot every Friday looking for new growth.

Website design By BotEap.comIt gets less and less each year.

Website design By BotEap.comIt is the acid content that makes vinegar useful as a herbicide. Vinegar is a non-selective liquid that can kill any plant it comes in contact with, so be careful which plant you come in contact with.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you want to use it on other weeds, do so because it works great, however, the earlier in spring you do it, the better.

Website design By BotEap.comDo not think; once is enough. Keep it every week to ten days.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen vinegar is used, the plant consumes it through the leaves and draws it into its roots before it attacks the core of the weed and kills it.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen I make a mix to spray on weeds: I use the strongest vinegar I can find and add a pinch of fairy liquid. I put this in a spray bottle and apply it to the blades of grass.

Website design By BotEap.comHow to use the ponytail

Website design By BotEap.comFirst of all, keep in mind that if eaten raw, horsetail is poisonous. If you consume a lot of this plant, it can cause a loss of the vitamin B complex, making it quite toxic. The reason is that horsetail contains an enzyme called thiaminase, which can cause serious health problems.

Website design By BotEap.comThat being said: horsetail (being an herb) is used quite a bit as a medical aid.

Website design By BotEap.comYou can make a tea with it, and that will help:

painful swelling

inflammation

arthritis

taste

Urinary infections

kidney cleanse

Website design By BotEap.comIf you have lung problems such as:

Website design By BotEap.comrespiratory problems

bronchitis

tuberculosis

asthma

cleaning debris that can accumulate in the lungs

Website design By BotEap.comDrinking the tea also helps if you suffer from things like: osteoporosis or weak bones.

Website design By BotEap.comThe list is endless. Also talk to your doctor before you start drinking horsetail tea.

Website design By BotEap.comYou don’t have to make your own. You can buy this tea at: http://www.buddhaTeas.com

Website design By BotEap.comMy own experience using Horses Tail is:

Website design By BotEap.comI suffer from bronchitis (a result of working for years on farms and breathing in hay spores)

Website design By BotEap.comKnowing the benefits of Horsetail, I went to a herbalist and he made me a mixture that I drink daily. (5 ml three times a day) I have been doing this since 2010.

Website design By BotEap.comI can breathe easily and it is certainly better than what the doctor would give me; an antibiotic.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you want to get rich slowly

Website design By BotEap.comHorse Tail has very deep roots and feeds on minerals that are not available to other plants.

Website design By BotEap.comOne of these minerals is gold. However, no one has found enough to make it worthwhile.