Horsetail in the garden, how to get rid of the weed. War on weeds: how to get rid of horsetail in the garden

Also called tin grass, cat's eye grass, mop grass, broom grass, ponytail grass. It is the basis for the manufacture of medicines that are effective in the fight against cholelithiasis, diarrhea, eczema, dermatitis, lichen and other diseases. But such on the positive side this herb is sharply contrasted with its very big drawback- horsetail is a garden plant, which is sometimes very difficult to get rid of.

Description of the plant

This is a perennial spore grass that reaches a height of 40-50 cm. It has a long creeping rhizome, on which small tuberous shoots are formed, with the help of which vegetative propagation of the grass occurs. Aboveground shoots are dimorphic, that is, they can be generative and vegetative.

Generative ones are presented in a brownish or pink color, have brown leaf teeth in the shape of a triangle; vegetative - green, erect, empty, have a pointed apex. Reproduction occurs by spores, after which they ripen and die completely. But after a few weeks the bushes become green again. Then the formation of lateral branches occurs, which are practically indistinguishable in appearance from the appearance of vegetative processes.

Did you know? Horsetail is one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet, its age is approximately 400 million years, it is even older than dinosaurs.

Horsetail grows in the subarctic, temperate and tropical climates of Eurasia, throughout North America. Ideal conditions for him are sandy moistened ones. Widespread in non-traditional.

Why is horsetail dangerous?

In addition to the fact that this grass is annoying and poisons the lives of all gardeners, it should be remembered that it poisonous. Horsetail spreads very quickly in the soil; all it takes is a few spores to get into the soil, and expect abundant growth next year. At the same time, it is difficult to eradicate; even the most proven and popular remedies do not always help with this problem. All you need is a systematic approach and use complex methods fight this unwanted inhabitant of yours.

Vegetation control methods

As you dig up yours every year, you may find it difficult to spot signs of this weed. Its root shoots are located at a depth of 40-60 cm, where it is difficult to reach with an ordinary shovel. As a result, horsetail lives and grows in your garden. Only timely and systematic application effective methods combating it will help prevent its active spread. Let's consider several ways.

Reduced acidity

Everyone knows that horsetail grows in soils with increased acidity. Therefore, to get rid of it, this indicator must be gradually reduced. Remember that the reduction process is very long and can last from 5-6 months to a couple of years.

To do this, apply to the soil, slaked lime or . Such components will help solve the problem. The main thing is to calculate the dosage correctly: 2-3 kg of limestone per 1 square meter in the first year and 500 g in the second or third year. If you combine the procedure with regular weeding, then in a few years this problem will disappear forever.

Did you know?In Japan, horsetail stems are boiled in a special way and used for polishing. wooden items applied arts, which gives them a refined and unusual shine.

Chemicals

Horsetail belongs to the class that does not have flowers and reproduces by spores. In order to completely get rid of it in the garden, use ones that kill various types of weeds. Most of their varieties belong to class IV in terms of hazardous substances and are harmless to beneficial insects such as. These types of drugs block the synthesis of aromatic amino acids that occurs in this herb. As a result, the weed gradually dies and dies.

Carry out herbicide treatment in the evening. Especially good condition there will be calm weather without wind and precipitation.

Important!You can get rid of this grass using potent herbicides (Glyphos or) with increased content chemical (about 10 liters per hectare). But this increases the likelihood that harmful substances will end up both in and in the harvest itself.

Biological methods

If you are thinking about how to get rid of horsetail in the garden, then the family will come to your aid Cruciferous plants. Its representatives are the worst enemies for the horsetail; it cannot stand being near them.
If you notice the prerequisites for the appearance of a weed on own garden, then next season be sure to plant the seeds of Cruciferous plants. This is due to the fact that they have special secretions from the rhizomes that can suppress weeds. This method will lead to the almost complete disappearance of the annoying horsetail.

It is worth trying another method of dealing with the plant - or covering the places where it grows with black polyethylene. In this case, organic and inert substances can be used. Drain areas of the soil where moisture levels are higher than normal.

A little about the beneficial properties

Horsetail has become famous as a real “healer” thanks to its unique medicinal properties.
The herb is widely used as an anti-inflammatory and diuretic for pain in the bladder and kidneys, and has a cardiotonic and restorative effect. Infusions from such a plant, firstly, improve metabolic processes, and secondly, rid the body of excess fluid, thereby reducing swelling of the body and internal organs.

Cat's eye, mop grass, broom, tin grass, horse tail... All these wonderful and very extraordinary names belong to such a plant as horsetail. Medications, produced on the basis of tin herb, can effectively combat diseases such as cholelithiasis, diarrhea, eczema, dermatitis, trophic ulcers, lichen and other ailments. However, there is another side to this herbaceous plant. Horsetail is a garden weed, and difficult to remove.

Horsetail can get into the garden along with the applied soil. For example, this plant loves to settle on developed peatlands, from where soil is often brought for garden plantings. Before adding soil to your plot, you need to make sure that horsetail rhizomes are not “hidden” in it. Calculating them is not so easy; to do this, you need to carefully sort through most of the soil.

It can be quite difficult to find signs of horsetail during the annual digging of the site (both spring and autumn). The fact is that the root system of this plant can lie at a depth of forty to sixty centimeters. Unfortunately, with the help of a shovel, it is simply impossible to reach the rhizomes, so this weed continues to live and develop quietly in the garden plot. To avoid its spread, you need to learn how to properly, and most importantly, deal with this plant in a timely and effective manner.

Methods for controlling horsetail

1. Chemicals

Horsetail is a herbaceous plant that does not have flowers but reproduces by spores. To destroy it, drugs such as Glyphos are suitable. This aqueous solution is used to destroy annual and perennial weeds. Belonging to class IV hazardous substances, Glyphos is not harmful beneficial insects(such as bees). The action of the drug is aimed at blocking the synthesis of aromatic amino acids occurring in horsetail. The consequence of this is the gradual death and then death of the plant.

It is preferable to apply glyphos and other herbicides in the evening. It will be simply wonderful if the weather on this day is calm and windless. During processing, the gardener should protect his hands with rubber gloves. Do not spray during or after rain, or during periods of drought.

2. Undesirable neighborhood

There are plants that horsetail I can't stand it. These include almost all representatives of the Cruciferous family: oilseed radish, winter rape, white mustard and others. In those places personal plot where the appearance of horsetail was noticed, next year you need to plant any of the cruciferous plants. The fact is that the root secretions of radish, rapeseed and other crops can suppress weeds. Such a neighborhood will lead to almost one hundred percent death of horsetail.

3. Reducing soil acidity

As you know, horsetail prefers to grow in soils with high acidity. Therefore, this indicator needs to be gradually reduced. By the way, the process of reducing acidity is a long one, it can take from six months to several years. In order not to act blindly, it is preferable to initially calculate the general acidity of the soils on the site. Lime should be added to the soil over several years. Calculation: two - three kilograms of lime per square meter in the first year and five hundred grams in the second - third year. If the procedure for reducing acidity is combined with regular weeding, then in a couple of years there will be no trace of horsetail in the garden.

In the fight against a weed such as horsetail, the main thing is to carry out work on an ongoing basis. Under no circumstances should you leave your garden unprepared after harvesting. The soil should be carefully dug up, and when the first shoots of horsetail appear, they should be destroyed immediately. Comprehensive measures will allow the gardener to forget about the weed plant for a long time!

Horsetail is a malicious weed that most often comes to us with imported soil from developed peat bogs, where this plant loves to settle.

Horsetail is a very harmful weed that produces spore-bearing shoots in various parts of the garden, starting in mid-May. The plant is dangerous because its growing rhizomes draw all the moisture from the ground and deplete the soil, preventing cultivated plants from developing normally.

When digging (both spring and autumn), horsetail roots are hardly noticeable, so it is difficult to select them. Meanwhile, they can go into the soil to a depth of 40-60 cm or even 1 m. It is very difficult to dig up the ground to such a depth. Thus, the shovel does not reach the rhizomes of the weed, and it quietly reproduces, populating new territories. Therefore, there are several rules for preparing the soil on the site, following which you can protect the site from horsetail.

Principles of soil preparation

1. When using imported soil, make sure that it does not contain inconspicuous blackish horsetail rhizomes. Otherwise, the plant will settle on your site, and it will be difficult to get rid of it.

2. Lime the soil to create unfavourable conditions for horsetail growth. Usually calcium-containing preparations (lime, chalk, ash, dolomite flour) are used for this purpose.

If horsetail grows on the site, it means the soil is acidic

The most popular and most convenient remedy is dolomite flour. Indeed, in addition to reducing acidity, it also improves the structure of the soil and enriches it with magnesium. And, unlike lime, dolomite flour can be added at any time of the year.

The table shows approximate application doses dolomite flour during liming different types soil.

3. Be consistent. In the first year, apply the full dose of liming materials, and in the next 2-3 years - no more than half. It is preferable to do this in the spring. If you alternate this activity with weeding out the green stems of horsetail, then after 3-4 years you can get rid of this insidious weed completely.

What medications will get rid of horsetail?

Since horsetail is a spore plant and not a flowering plant, the use of Tornado or Roundup is ineffective. Horsetail can only be destroyed by using a large dose (4 ml/10 sq.m.) of a more powerful herbicide, such as Glyphos. But in this case there is a high probability of dangerous chemical substances not only into the soil, but also into vegetables and fruits.

Horsetail does not get along with plants of the Cruciferous family: winter rapeseed, oilseed radish, white mustard. Therefore, in order to protect the site from weeds, after harvesting, these plants can be sown in empty beds. Winter rye has the same property.

Medicinal properties of horsetail

On the one hand, horsetail is a malicious weed that takes nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus from the soil and accumulates them in its nodules.

On the other hand, it is unique treatment plant, which contains a large amount of valuable substances, as well as silicic acid, which is greatly needed human body. It is necessary for the construction of the skeleton, the functioning of mucous membranes, the healing of wounds and damage to the walls of blood vessels. Silicon compounds contained in horsetail prevent the formation of kidney stones. It is especially effective for diseases of the urinary tract.

For cooking medicinal tea from horsetail 1-2 tsp. dried chopped herbs pour 250 ml hot water, leave for 30 minutes and filter. It is recommended to drink up to 3 cups of this drug per day.

Of course, for an ordinary summer resident, horsetail is a weed that harms plantings. Therefore, carefully check the brought soil, monitor the acidity of the soil and promptly get rid of “accidental” weeds before they have time to fill the entire area.

In its ability to take nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the ground, horsetail is noticeably superior to other weeds.

We are used to seeing these fir trees, but in early spring the horsetail may not be recognizable. Juicy brownish-pink “candles” appear in damp meadows and wastelands, in ravines and abandoned beds. These first spore-bearing shoots are replaced by green, hard, thin branches at the beginning of summer.

The summer herb horsetail has long been used in folk medicine as a hemostatic, diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent.

Why is he dangerous?

And yet, despite these advantages, horsetail has a reputation as a nasty weed. In appearance it is inconspicuous and even boring: it has neither flowers nor spreading leaves. Loves high humidity, prefers light soils. However, he is ready to adapt to a variety of conditions.

Like most weeds, horsetail is stubborn and resilient. Where the ground has not been disturbed for years by a plow or shovel, it does not send its black-and-white rhizome further than 40-50 cm. In crops, it sometimes goes 1.5 m deep into the soil. Imperceptibly, but very persistently, the weed depletes the bed, accumulating in the rhizome with small nodules located on it, there are reserves of sugars and starch.

Horsetail is especially successful in making its preparations on fallow lands or in a potato field, where it takes a hefty portion of mineral nutrition from the cultivated host.

If you decide to get rid of this green “predator”, do not hope to defeat it simply by weeding. Most likely, in a couple of weeks you will be disappointed to discover that there is even more horsetail in the area than there was before.

And this is not surprising: the rhizome nodules remaining in the ground are organs vegetative propagation. By destroying the above-ground part of the plant, you have only forced it to vigorously fight for survival. That's when the weed needed nodules with a supply of nutrients.

How to get rid of horsetail

How to deal with this harmful plant?

Among other things, the presence of this weed is considered one of the signs increased acidity soil. It can be reduced by adding dolomite flour or crushed slaked lime under digging.

On a note

The herbicide Glyphos can be used against horsetail. It blocks the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants, as a result of which the weed gradually dies. It is practically safe for bees, but it limits their flight from 6 to 12 hours.

Biological method of controlling horsetail

Horsetail does not tolerate proximity to cabbage crops (formerly called cruciferous crops). Their root secretions are capable of suppressing weeds. Therefore, in places where the appearance of horsetail has been noticed, radishes, radishes, daikon, rapeseed or mustard should be planted next year.

Horsetail - traditional medicine recipes

In winter, you can prepare an infusion of horsetail to boost your immunity.

Its use will help resist viral infections. 1 tbsp. l. dry herbs, pour a glass of boiling water, leave for 1 hour, strain. Drink this amount of infusion in 3-4 doses throughout the day.

For exacerbation of cystitis, horsetail decoction is used. 2 tbsp. l. dried herb, pour 1 liter of water, boil for 10 minutes, let it brew in a warm place for 20 minutes, strain. Take 150-200 ml 2-3 times a day. Do not throw away the squeezed grass, but place it in a gauze bag and apply it warm to the lower abdomen.

Viktor Anatolyevich Krylov

Horsetail is an intrusive weed, very tenacious, loves to grow in acidic and clay soils. Its summer shoots are very similar to young Christmas trees. In spring, the plant produces spore-bearing shoots of a pinkish color, very juicy and not branched.

Horsetail is a root-sprouting weed that reproduces through its rhizome. They have a thin and durable root, black or dark brown. The root system lies at a depth of sixty centimeters.

How to get rid of horsetail in the garden

Prepare a respirator and gloves gardening tools, lime fertilizers, chemicals and cruciferous seeds. Now let's get started.

1. According to agronomists, fields and vegetable gardens become more and more clogged every year. Horsetail is rightfully considered the most intrusive weed, which loves to clog crops. Its thickets actively deplete and dry out the soil, which makes it difficult to care for crops and reduces the yield of gardens and fields.

2. The roots of the horsetail break through to a fairly large depth, and the shoots are very large, so a special approach to them is needed. How to get rid of horsetail in the garden? There are special ways to combat this weed that work well.

You can stop at mechanical method- weeding, digging, loosening. Of course, this method is very labor-intensive, but the most reliable. Weeding is done carefully; all weeds should be removed from the garden, otherwise they will sprout again. The roots, as mentioned above, penetrate very deeply, so it will not be possible to completely pull out the plant. The remains will give rise to new shoots very quickly.

3. It is worth taking advantage of horsetail’s love for acidic soils. It is necessary to introduce limestone, calcite, slaked lime, dolomite, and sugar production waste into the ground. This helps reduce the acidity of the earth. But not acidic soils does not like horsetail. It may not be possible to get rid of it this way right away, but it will work. This method reduces the concentration of nutrients in the soil, so you should carefully read the instructions on the packaging of the chemical materials used.

4. How to get rid of horsetail in the garden with the least effort? You can populate the area with cruciferous plants, such as white mustard, arugula or winter rape. This will greatly darken the existence of horsetail.

5. You can plant seeds of winter rye, which acts as a kind of orderly on the site. But the fastest and, perhaps, the most in an effective way It is still considered chemical. In specialized stores, buy fertilizers that destroy weeds but do not harm crop plants.

6. Another method for getting rid of horsetail in the garden is to prevent its spores from ripening, as a result of which the plant gradually dries out. To do this, from the beginning of spring, every twelve days you should simply mow down the weed and weed the rows. However, you should monitor the growth of horsetail, because in rainy weather its sprouts appear and grow much faster. Good luck!

Horsetail - perennial herbaceous plant from the Horsetail family, which numbers about thirty various types and is one of the oldest plant crops on our planet. This aggressive and at the same time useful weed consists of a long (about 100 cm) creeping branched rhizome and succulent erect shoots - “fir trees” (30 to 50 cm long) with a spike-shaped inflorescence at the top. This unpretentious and tenacious plant easily tolerates frosty winters and high summer temperatures; it is not afraid of even forest fires. Grass grows on any soil, but feels more favorable on moist soils. forest areas, as well as in meadows, along roads and in vegetable gardens.

Description

Horsetail in the country house, garden or garden is serious problem and cause for concern. The weed reproduces by spores and rhizomes, so it spreads easily and very quickly over a vast area and significantly reduces the quantity and quality of the expected harvest. Its main nutrition is such useful components as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Root system weed absorbs all these useful material from the soil, leaving garden crops without feeding. Vegetable plants stop their full development and growth.

Popular species in our country are “Meadow” and “Bolotny” horsetail, and in the dachas of the Moscow region you can most often find “Polevoy” (or “Ordinary”) horsetail. There are many people different names this weed- swamp column, cat's tail, pusher, earthen cone, field tree, ponytail, panicle and many others.

The main feature of horsetail is the ability of its reproductive organs long time maintain their vitality and survivability due to their deep burial in the soil. When adjacent to other weeds (for example, fescue and wheatgrass), horsetail can form real dense thickets that are not afraid of drought or excess moisture, sun or shade. To get rid of this culture completely will require a lot of effort and patience, as well as a comprehensive, timely and systematic approach.

Ways to control weeds

Since the weed culture feels more favorable on wet soils, then one of the measures to combat it is to drain the waterlogged area.

Covering areas with horsetail thickets and row spacing with dense, light-proof material (for example, plastic film black or pieces of plywood) also leads to good results. Herbaceous crops do not have access to light, heat under cover it simply burns them out - all this ultimately leads to the death of most of the weeds.

Mulching beds performs two functions at once - it protects against weeds and feeds the soil. It is recommended to use crushed tree bark or shavings, spruce or pine needles, small tree branches, dry grass, straw and even small river pebbles as mulch. First you need to lay out geotextiles or spunbond, and on top of it a layer of 5 - 7 cm of mulch. Such an obstacle is too tough for the horsetail.

After harvesting vegetables, you can prepare the area for the next season by sowing it with any plants from the Cruciferous family. The roots of crops such as mustard, radish or rapeseed secrete substances that many weeds, including horsetail, do not like. In such a neighborhood weeds don't grow.

There is another simple, proven method. Need to dig deep land plot, simultaneously carefully selecting all the roots perennial plants, and then add a large amount to the soil wood ash. You can replace deep tillage with soil deoxidation by adding slaked lime or dolomite flour.

Tillage of soil with weeds gives good efficiency chemicals"Zenkor", "Agrokiller", "Prima", "Hurricane", "Roundup" and "Glyphos".

Special tools will help reduce the amount of horsetail in your dacha or garden many times over. preventive actions for weed control. The most popular are repeated liming of the soil (over 2–3 years) and maintaining a stable level of soil acidity. For every square meter of land you will need from 500g to 2kg of lime. If you add regular weeding to this, then gradually their number will become minimal.

Is there any benefit from it?

Horsetail is used in official and folk medicine in dry and fresh, in tinctures and ointments, decoctions and teas, in the form of compresses and powders, lotions and baths.

The herb is used in cooking, cosmetology and as a “medicine” in floriculture.

This is a perennial herbaceous spore plant. Horsetails are the remnants and “successors” of an ancient group of plants that reached their maximum diversity during the Carboniferous period.

The tree-like relatives of horsetails - calamites - were more than 10 m high with a trunk diameter of up to 0.5 m.

Modern horsetails look much more modest; they are all herbaceous plants with relatively thin stems.

However, horsetail is difficult to confuse with any other plant. Horsetail has tough, ribbed stems rich in silica, and the leaves are small and fused together.

In many species, side branches diverge from the main stem, giving the plants a resemblance to a small Christmas tree.

How Slavic name“horsetail” and the Latin equisetum (equus - horse; seta, setae - bristles, coarse hair) reflect the similarity of horsetail shoots with the tail of an animal.

Recognizing a weed by sight

One of common species horsetail is well known to many owners personal plots- This is horsetail.

It is widespread in all regions of Ukraine.

As a rule, it grows along roads, on embankments, in floodplain forests and meadows, among bushes, as well as in fields and vegetable gardens, preferring rich nutrients moist soils with an acidic reaction.

Horsetail is one of the indicators of acidic soil. Often forms large thickets.

Horsetail's ability to reproduce quickly is largely due to the formation of long underground rhizomes capable of short terms give rise to many ground shoots.

The root system in the form of a thin jointed rhizome penetrates the soil to a depth of 30-50 cm to 100 cm.

The bulk of the rhizomes are concentrated at a depth of 30-60 cm. Small nodules are formed at the nodes of the rhizomes, which contain reserves of nutrients.

Growth and development of horsetail

Horsetail is characterized by pronounced shoot dimorphism. In early spring Brownish or reddish juicy, unbranched, erect, thick shoots develop, 7-25 cm high, 3-5 mm in diameter, bearing one spore-bearing spikelet at the top.

After ripening and shedding of spores, these shoots die and instead of them, sterile summer shoots grow from the same rhizome. vegetative shoots 10-50 cm high - much tougher, green, with whorled lateral branches.

The whole plant is hard and rough, as it is saturated with silicic acid.

Horsetail reproduces both vegetatively and by spores. Shoots from spores and shoots from underground buds appear with the onset of stable warm weather. Rhizome segments and nodules, having high viability, can grow from a depth of up to 60 cm.

Thanks to these biological characteristics, horsetail has high competitive abilities in relation to cultivated and weed plants and becomes a harmful weed on acidic soils.

The economic threshold of harmfulness, that is, the number of weeds that significantly affects the yield, is 2-5 pieces per 1 square meter. meter.

How to deal with horsetail?

The main measures to combat this annoying weed are agrotechnical. Considering biological features horsetail and its ecological characteristics, you need to act in two directions:

• Firstly, this plant prefers acidic soils, so first you need to reduce the acidity.
• Secondly, since horsetail has a deep, branched root system through which it spreads, control measures are used to deplete it. This includes regular weeding with careful selection of roots (along with root nodules), as well as deep pruning of the root system using moldless implements.

How to reduce soil acidity?

The acidity of the soil can be reduced by adding lime. Doing so better in autumn. The dose of lime applied depends on the pH value, mechanical composition soil, its humus content and the quality of lime material.

Our advice:

Before adding lime, it is necessary to grind it well, since particles larger than 1 mm no longer have a neutralizing effect. Lime is spread evenly over the soil surface, after which the area is dug to a depth of at least 20 cm. Thorough and uniform mixing of lime with soil increases the efficiency of liming.

If lime is applied unevenly, in places where there was an excess of it (for example, a lump got in), oppression of plants and even their death is possible.

It should be noted that the application rates of lime fertilizers depend on the acidity of the soil, its granulometry, composition (at heavy soils lime rates are increased). They should be sufficient to maintain slightly acidic or close to neutral soil reaction (pH 5.5-6.0).

If lime is not available, it can be replaced with wood ash, dolomite flour or chalk. Chalk is taken at 10-20 kg per hundred square meters if the soils are light, and 15-20 kg if the soils are heavy.

In this case, it is better to apply 2/3 of the dose before digging or plowing (in the fall), and 1/3 later (in the spring) and harrow or rake. Liming is repeated after 5-6 years.

You can also add chalk annually to the rows before sowing or planting vegetable plants, together with peat, humus or just soil in a 1:2 ratio. In this case, the dose is reduced to 2-3 kg. If wood ash is added, then spruce ash is taken twice as much as lime or chalk, and birch and pine - one and a half times.

When lime is added, the acidity does not change immediately. Depending on the dose applied, a slightly acidic or neutral reaction is established after 1-2 or even 3 years.

Lime improves soil properties over several years. When adding 300-400 g of lime per 1 sq. meter, its effect can last 5-7 years, and with large doses (600-800 g) - 12-15 years.

Our advice:

On soils of light mechanical composition (sandy and sandy loam), lime is applied in smaller doses, but treatments are carried out more often (when applying 100-200 g per 1 square meter, its effect lasts about 2 years). On these soils, especially good results are obtained by adding dolomite flour or dolomitized limestone, which, in addition to calcium, contain a lot of magnesium and not only neutralize the acidity of the soil, but also enrich it with magnesium.

Liming will significantly reduce the number of horsetail, because the conditions for its growth will no longer be so favorable. And after several deep weedings, the horsetail will disappear completely.

Today there are no herbicides that effectively destroy horsetail.

Since rhizomes are one of the reproductive organs of horsetail, chemicals will be effective only if the drugs penetrate the root system.

Igor Shevchuk, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Horticulture UAAS
© Ogorodnik magazine
Photo: depositphotos.com

Horsetail is a perennial herbaceous plant from the Equisetaceae family, which has about thirty different species and is one of the oldest plant crops on our planet. This aggressive and at the same time useful weed consists of a long (about 100 cm) creeping branched rhizome and succulent erect shoots - “fir trees” (30 to 50 cm long) with a spike-shaped inflorescence at the top. This unpretentious and tenacious plant easily tolerates frosty winters and high summer temperatures; it is not afraid of even forest fires. Grass grows on any soil, but feels more favorable in moist forest areas, as well as in meadows, along roads and in vegetable gardens.

Horsetail in a country house, garden or garden is a serious problem and a cause for concern. The weed reproduces by spores and rhizomes, so it spreads easily and very quickly over a vast area and significantly reduces the quantity and quality of the expected harvest. Its main nutrition is such useful components as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. The root system of weeds absorbs all these beneficial substances from the soil, leaving garden crops without fertilizing. Vegetable plants stop their full development and growth.

Popular species in our country are “Meadow” and “Bolotny” horsetail, and in the dachas of the Moscow region you can most often find “Polevoy” (or “Ordinary”) horsetail. People have many different names for this weed plant - swamp column, cat's tail, pusher, earthen cone, field spruce, ponytail, panicle and many others.

The main feature of horsetail is the ability of its reproductive organs to maintain their vitality and survival for a long time, due to their deep location in the soil. When adjacent to other weeds (for example, fescue and wheatgrass), horsetail can form real dense thickets that are not afraid of drought or excess moisture, sun or shade. To get rid of this culture completely will require a lot of effort and patience, as well as a comprehensive, timely and systematic approach.

Ways to control weeds

Since the weed culture feels more favorable on moist soils, one of the measures to combat it is to drain the waterlogged area.

Covering areas with horsetail thickets and row spacing with dense, light-proof material (for example, black plastic film or pieces of plywood) also leads to good results. Herbaceous crops do not have access to light; the high temperature under the cover simply burns them out - all this ultimately leads to the death of most of the weeds.

Mulching beds performs two functions at once - it protects against weeds and feeds the soil. It is recommended to use crushed tree bark or shavings, spruce or pine needles, small tree branches, dry grass, straw and even small river pebbles as mulch. First you need to lay out geotextiles or spunbond, and on top of it a layer of 5 - 7 cm of mulch. Such an obstacle is too tough for the horsetail.

After harvesting vegetables, you can prepare the area for the next season by sowing it with any plants from the Cruciferous family. The roots of crops such as mustard, radish or rapeseed secrete substances that many weeds, including horsetail, do not like. Weeds do not grow in such a neighborhood.

There is another simple, proven method. It is necessary to deeply dig up the land, carefully selecting all the roots of perennial plants along the way, and then add a large amount of wood ash to the soil. You can replace deep tillage with soil deoxidation by adding slaked lime or dolomite flour.

Treatment of soil with weeds with chemical preparations “Zenkor”, “Agrokiller”, “Prima”, “Hurricane”, “Roundup” and “Glyphos” gives good efficiency.

Special preventive measures to combat weeds will help to reduce the amount of horsetail in the country house or garden many times over. The most popular are repeated liming of the soil (over 2–3 years) and maintaining a stable level of soil acidity. For every square meter of land you will need from 500g to 2kg of lime. If you add regular weeding to this, then gradually their number will become minimal.

Is there any benefit from it?

Horsetail is used in official and folk medicine in dry and fresh form, in tinctures and ointments, decoctions and teas, in the form of compresses and powders, lotions and baths.

The herb is used in cooking, cosmetology and as a “medicine” in floriculture.