Fabric for repressing horse tail under a patio

[bufferchups]

Hello,

I've got a patio that I'm keen to relay but there is a bit of a problem with horsetail weed growing through the current pavers.

I can find info on the internet about Horsetail pushing through many landscaping fabrics so I'm wondering iof there is any sheeting that will stop this weed growing back through.

Also I'm no sure where to put a fabric lay - does it go under the sub base layer?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Andy

[irishpaving]

Andy

Do you have a sand bed under the patio at the moment and what sort of joints and pavers are you using.

[GB_Groundworks]

horse tail or mares tail is a serious weed its a b*tch to get rid of like my ex haha

will force its way through asphalt etc

paste:

Horse or Mares Tail

Horse or Mares Tail, Equisetum Arvense is, in my opinion, public enemy number one. It looks like it belongs in Jurassic Park and, unchecked, spreads like wildfire.

In spring, brown green shoots appear with small cones at the tips that produce spores. (Arghh – millions of ‘em) and it grows away from creeping thin brown roots that you can hardly see as they are soil coloured. Digging out these roots is not feasible – they go down into the soil for up to 1.5 metres – yes, 5 feet.

Later the ‘leaves’ or tails appear. These will die off as autumn turns to winter and the roots sit there waiting for spring. The leaves have a waxy coat, which makes the plant highly resistant to weedkillers.

Crushing the leaves to break up the coating helps weedkiller to penetrate and become absorbed but in large areas it is not so easy to crush all the leaves . However, glyphosate weed killer will have an effect and eventually kill the plant. You will probably need 5 or more applications. Knock it back, it re-grows and you repeat.

I don’t think you can clear this in less than one season.

Ammonium Sulphamate seems to be a far more effective weed killer. It can kill it in one application but may well need two. It used to be available as Amicide but now you need to look for a brushwood killer that incorporates it like Rootout or Deep Root. Just check the packet for ammonium sulphamate.

I’d recommend NOT digging where there is horsetail until it is dead for sure. Otherwise it just starts springing up from the root cuttings. Drying or drowning the roots prior to composting is a must.

I've been contacted by Mr Charles Bailey who points out that Horestail is correctly applied to the weed growing on land whereas Marestail is correctly applied to the weed growing in water.

He also puts forth an organic control method, which he says is effective.

Without resorting to chemicals you can control/irradicate horse tail by digging/forking through the soil when it is in the right condition: ie not too wet and sticky!

Once you have removed as much as possible, any that shoots is easily dealt with. Before it reaches 3 ins/7cm high, hoe off an inch below the surface.

Eventually the food supply in the root is exhausted. Let it get bigger than stated and food begins to be stored in the roots again, and round and round you go ad infinitum.

Never touch Horsetail with a mechanical cultivator. If you do you will understand why it has been around for 60 million years

[bufferchups]

Hello,

What I've got currently is a very badly laid patio that is raised by out half a foot.

My plan is/was to dig it out so when I re-lay the patio it is no longer raised.

I've read quite a lot about horses tail and it appears that it's pretty much imposiible to get rid of completely so my plan was to put some form of weed fabric down before laying the new patio but then reading a few more websites suggests that it is capable of pushing though landscaping fabric so I'll potentially just end up after a lot of work with another patio with weeds growing up through the joints in the pavers.

Apparenlty the roots can go down three meters or more and it's pretter much chemical resistant so I was wondering if there was some form of weed fabric that would contain the evil weed!

Cheers

Andy

[Suggers]

Hello - haven't you read Gile's missive above? -
Here's the definitive reply
Membranes
Jap knotweed & mare's tail have been here for only 30 million years !!
Giles exaggerates. :laugh:

[henpecked]

Break the waxy coating by bruising then glycol phosphate weed killer. Will take a couple of seasons.

Or, dig up totally, then remove growth to stave root's from food.



Hp