I have an area at the end of my garden that has been covered up with plastic for about 30years, 2 years ago were removed the plastic and put down a mixed wild meadow seed. The first year it looked great, if a bit sparse.

I thought the following year it would start to flourish but a bit of marestail had started to grow, we pulled a load of it out by hand and it the wild flowers (and too much grass) did start to grow again.

This year it’s completely taken over with marestail 🤬 I’m pretty disheartened by the whole thing tbh but would really like to sort it out.

How can I get rid of it?? I could nuke it with chemicals but I don’t really want to do that as obviously it will kill everything. Is this my only realistic choice? Baring in mind it was covered for 30 years and at the first opportunity has spring back in to life it seems pretty resilient.

I can see now why the previous owners chucked the plastic sheet down.

The dream was more something along the lines of this, which I think was the first year.

How can I get rid of it?? I could nuke it with chemicals but I don’t really want to do that as obviously it will kill everything. Is this my only realistic choice?

The good news is there’s no need to nuke with chemicals.
The bad news is this is because they won’t do anything.

The only option is to cut, dig and pull the stuff.
You’re in for the long haul though.
Run your mower* over it. Weekly or more and it’ll slowly diminish enough to let other stuff through.

I’m 5 years into my war of attrition with the stuff, I’ll eventually lose. Grass does a good job of masking but it’s the mowing that controls it.

*be careful using the same mower as elsewhere or it will transplant to the rest of the garden.

You need to move house.

as above, nasty stuff to kill. It has a waxy coating to the surface which stops chemicals penetrating the growth. If you ad a bit of washing up liquid or other surfactant to glyphosate you get a bit of a improved reaction. Pulling works to a point. Be careful of the cuttings as they can still take hold (if your putting them in a compost heap for instance.) Its been around since the dawn of life, and likely to outlive humans…

Dig a 2m deep trench, about 1m wide, around every stalk at an inner circumference of 1m.

Fill the trench with dry straw and pack it down well.

Use some kind of accelerant, petrol is fun but dangerous, to get all the straw burning in a circle around the mare tail.

This should encourage the flames to spin and spiral upwards which looks great and completely bakes the soil in the centre.

Once the ground has cooled, dig the baked soil back in to backfill the trenches.

Repeat this for all the stalks and do it again in the spring when new ones appear.

After a few years you will see the difference*

After about 10 you will be happy**

*The difference is your garden is reduced to a scorched wilderness inhabited by nothing but mares tail

**after 10 years you will be happy just to abandon the house and live under cardboard in a ditch somewhere in Kenya if it means you never see mares tail again.

I have it all over my allotment, as do many other plot holders.

You can’t really get rid of it effectively.
Just pull it out out, going nice and deep.
Keep on top of it is all you can do.

I’ve got bindweed everywhere too.
I don’t even like gardening 😡

I’ve got bindweed everywhere too.
I don’t even like gardening 😡

I think there is an annual competition in my allotment between the mares trail and the bindweed.

Last year the tail won, this year it looks like the bind weed might just mange to suffocate it.

They both killed off the bramble and nettle patches quite successfully a few years ago.

I’d disagree with the above, I sprayed glyphosphate (Gallup 360, but most products have the surfactant in too) on a similar sized patch of it about 6 years ago having failed to get rid of it manually and it’s not come back. It’s still arround but only in individual stalks.

It spreads via the roots so it will always come back eventually unless you can kill it in every one of your neighbours gardens too.

But …… It seems to struggle to outcompete dense grass and wildflower “meadow” style planting. So if that’s your aim, then glyphosphate, wait a week, glyphosphate again, and again, then wait for it to die. Then go back and dig it over (get a tilling machine to make light work of it) and immediately seed it with grass and everything else you want to get growing there.

The areas we still get it are paths and the more sparse bits of borders.

I’m entering my eigtth year of the campaign. Boiling water seems to work immediately but might not be feasible large scale. If you crush them underfoot and apply root killer this seems to work. Also blow torching .
None of these work long term but I’ve heard digging deep down and removing soil might work.

What about cutting it right down(lawn mower etc) then using a powered cultivator to churn and break whats left apart before adding the weedkiller.

Alternatively, just mow it all down short and turn that into your lawn 😆

Old carpet over the affected area and leave for a year or two, pulling up any that emerges from the sides?

I’m wondering if that patch was covered up with plastic for the same reason?

It’s creeping into my garden from my neighbour, who’s garden is overrun with the stuff.
I read somewhere that if you crush or bruise, but not break the plants, weedkiller can be effective, which is what I’ve been doing, though I did notice some new growth prior to the first cut this year.

It would be illegal and ill advised to buy ammonium sulphamate to kill it, but if you happened to be using some as a compost accelerant and accidentally spilled it onto the mares tail having crushed some of the plant, it would likely have the desired result. Don’t do that though.

Old carpet over the affected area and leave for a year or two, pulling up any that emerges from the sides?

It’s rife on our allotment, we renovated the polytunnel last year after about 8 years and removed a bit of damp proof membrane underneath which was a nest of mares tail roots that looked as if they were about to spring back into life.

After spending years of trying to pull it up we gave up and moved over to no-dig gardening.
Dig over ground and remove as many of the roots as you can
cover with a few layers of cardboard
Cover with as much mulch as you can spare
Pull up roots when they start popping through, repeat with cardboard the following year.

For the patch of ground you have, I’d try mowing it regularly to weaken the roots and then look at covering it over.

We didn’t have that kind of density but after four or five years, the thing that seems to be working is to just pull it up as soon as you find it. It’s little effort so you do it often and it never gets going, then the other plants seem to take over. Yours might be a bit more of a job to start though!

I tried the various ‘bruise and weedkill’ type methods the first couple of years but they dont appear to be appreciably more effective and are more effort, so you do them less often.

The stuff in the lawn has either given up or just doesnt get tall enough, even with my fairly relaxed mowing schedule.

I have been using the pull it when i see it technique, but recently have found a flame thrower much more satisfying…

I’ve just been out and started pulling up a load. In places where there is nothing else growing I can just grab handfuls of it and pull it up (obviously leaving the root behind). Where there is plenty of grass it’s much more sparse. There’s actually quite a lot of other things growing in there and it does seem a shame to kill everything off. I might try hand pulling it all out over the course of a week and see what my “meadow” ends up looking like this year.

Old carpet over the affected area and leave for a year or two, pulling up any that emerges from the sides?

The fact it’s re-emerged after 30+ years of being covered means I don’t think this would be successful.

I’m wondering if that patch was covered up with plastic for the same reason?

Yeah it was, according to the neighbours the previous but one owners covered it over when they were selling the house. The people we bought the house off did nothing to the garden in the 25 years they lived here.

We didn’t have that kind of density but after four or five years, the thing that seems to be working is to just pull it up as soon as you find it.

I get so fed up with it that I just leave it and don’t go down the end of the garden but need to try just keeping on top of pulling it up.

It’s quite a big area

Don’t want to turn it in to lawn, I’ve got enough of that already and it’s too lumpy to mow successfully.

The dog is zero help.

WCAs idea sounds good, but I’ve just replaced the fence each side. Don’t want to have to do that again.

BE careful if you do use a tiling machine that anything that cuts up the plant because each of the little sections you see above ground can regrow as a new plant and the same is true of the root sections. Run a rotavator over a small patch one year and grow a massive patch the next.

What WCA said, kill it first before rotovating it if you go down that path. And if you pull any out, either burn it or dispose of via the council’s garden waste, it’s not worth the risk of composting it!

Do not rotovate!
Now if you were to, say, accidentally mix glyphosate and ammonium sulphamate in a sprayer and douse the area, because accidents can happen in modern horticulture, then you might find that the foliage turns a crispy grey colour in not too much time and you will have controlled it for that year. Note how I said controlled , not eradicated.
Apparently exposing the vascular tissue in the stem by giving the stuff a damn good hiding with a whippy stick works to get past the problem of the waxy cuticle protecting the outside of the plant from aforementioned accidental spillage of ammonium sulphamate. Pay attention, not Sulphate, but SulphAMate.
Of course it would be highly irresponsible to recommend a substance not ratified for horticultural use as a weedkiller ( something to do with Irish Beagles, if memory serves), so I wont. Just know that it works.
I accidentally bought some from a company called Mistral , i think, via Amazon, comes in a big silver pouch. Must be more careful in future.

I accidentally mixed a kg per 10 litre in my sprayer, that was a happy accident cos thats the dosage recommended. Bloody stuff accidentally murdered my marestail. Be careful out there.
I may have got the dosage wrong there, i know it dissolves pretty readily. I thi k I accidentally added it until it wouldnt dissolve any more.

Strictly speaking, that’s Horsetail, Marestail is a flowering plant.

It’s been around for 100 million years, even dinosaur-killers couldn’t eradicate it! It’s poisonous to horses, but it does have health benefits.

More info:

Mares Tail, Horsetail or Scouring Rush can poison horses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

This is marestail, it’s a pond plant – looks vaguely similar but not noxious.

Hippuris vulgaris (Marestail)

Glyphosphate harms bees and has been associated with non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma in humans (although the jury is out on this – “the available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate for specific target organ toxicity, or as a carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substance.” ECHA 2022)
Weedkillers will control, but not necessarily destroy, horsetail
Mow it, pull it but don’t rotovate it. Garden roller/trample and weedkiller if you really must

Glyphosate …

“Numerous cities, counties, states and countries throughout the world have taken steps to either restrict or ban glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.

The following countries have issued outright bans on glyphosate, imposed restrictions or have issued statements of intention to ban or restrict glyphosate-based herbicides, including Roundup, over health concerns and the evidence uncovered in the Roundup cancer litigation proving the weed killer’s link to cancer:

Argentina: In 2015, more than 30,000 health care professionals advocated for a glyphosate ban following the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) report on glyphosate, which concluded the chemical is probably carcinogenic to humans. More than 400 towns and cities in Argentina have passed measures restricting glyphosate use.

Australia: Numerous municipalities and school districts throughout the country are currently testing alternative herbicides in an effort to curtail or eliminate glyphosate use. Many use steam technology for weed control on streets and in other public areas.

Following a series of massive jury verdicts in Roundup cancer lawsuits in the United States, the Australian state of Victoria launched its own review of glyphosate. Two councils in Sydney have either banned or are in the process of banning glyphosate use, and eight other councils are reviewing the chemical.

Austria: In June of 2019, Austria announced that it planned to ban glyphosate within the year. Leader of the Social Democrats, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, said she is “pleased” that her party’s long-standing effort to ban glyphosate in Austria would “finally pay off” now that her party’s motion had a majority in the Austrian parliament. The measure to ban glyphosate passed in July of 2019. While the Austria glyphosate ban was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, the country’s caretaker leader announced she would not sign the ban into law, citing a technicality. For now, the ban is tabled

Bahrain: According to Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture, Bahrain and five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have banned glyphosate.

Barbados: The government announced that people will need a license to purchase glyphosate. The new rule was designed to help manage the use of pesticides considered harmful to human health.

Belgium: Banned the individual use of glyphosate. In 2017, Belgium voted against relicensing glyphosate in the EU. The country was also one of six EU member states to sign a letter to the EU Commission calling for “an exit plan for glyphosate…” The city of Brussels banned the use of glyphosate within its territory as part of its “zero pesticides” policy.

Bermuda: Outlawed private and commercial sale of all glyphosate-based herbicides. In 2017, the government relaxed its ban on glyphosate, allowing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to import restricted concentrations of glyphosate for managing roadside weed overgrowth.

Brazil: In August of 2018, a federal judge in Brasilia ruled that new products containing glyphosate could not be registered in the country. Existing regulations concerning glyphosate were also suspended, pending a reevaluation of toxicological data by Anvisa, the country’s health agency.

In September of 2018, a Brazilian court overturned the federal judge’s ruling. September marks Brazil’s first month of soybean planting. The country is the largest exporter of soybeans in the world, and as such, has become heavily reliant on agrochemicals. Anvisa issued a statement following the court’s decision to overturn the ruling, saying it will take necessary legal and technical steps in response.

Further, Brazil’s Solicitor General’s office has said it is preparing an appeal to the court decision with support from the Agriculture Ministry. Brazil’s health agency concluded a re-evaluation of glyphosate in February of 2019. Based on the agency’s findings, a blanket ban of glyphosate in Brazil is unlikely.

Canada: Eight out of the 10 provinces in Canada have some form of restriction on the use of non-essential cosmetic pesticides, including glyphosate. Vancouver has banned private and public use of glyphosate, aside from the treatment of invasive weeds. In June of 2019, New Brunswick officials announced that the province would reduce glyphosate spraying in certain areas with the promise that more regulation will follow. In February of 2022, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeals issued a ruling that Health Canada did not follow its own protocols for regulating herbicides like Roundup (glyphosate). The ruling could impact glyphosate’s status in the country.

Colombia: In 2015, Colombia outlawed the use of glyphosate to destroy illegal plantations of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, out of concern that glyphosate causes cancer. In March of 2019, President Ivan Duque asked for the judicial ban on aerial glyphosate spraying to be lifted. However, in July of 2019, the court maintained the judicial ban on glyphosate, ruling that the government has to prove that glyphosate is not harmful to human health and the environment in order for the ban to be lifted.

Costa Rica: In December of 2019, the country’s National System of Conservation Areas issued a guideline prohibiting the use of glyphosate in Costa Rica’s 11 Protected Wild Areas. The glyphosate restriction also applies to the National System of Conservation Areas’ institutions.

Czech Republic: Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman said the country will limit glyphosate use starting in 2019. Specifically, the Czech Republic will ban glyphosate as a weedkiller and drying agent.

Denmark: The Danish Working Environment Authority declared glyphosate to be carcinogenic and has recommended a change to less toxic chemicals. Aalborg, one of the largest cities in Denmark, issued private-use glyphosate ban in September of 2017. In July of 2018, the Danish government implemented new rules banning the use of glyphosate on all post-emergent crops to avoid residues on foods.

El Salvador: In 2013, the country adapted a law banning glyphosate over links to deadly kidney disease. However, by 2016, the legislation appeared to stall.

Fiji: The government announced in March of 2020 that glyphosate will be banned in the country effective January 2021.

France: French authorities banned the sale, distribution and use of Roundup 360 in early 2019. In May of 2019, French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume announced that France would eliminate the use of glyphosate by 2021 with limited exceptions.

Some 20 mayors throughout the country have banned glyphosate in their municipalities.

President Macron announced in December of 2020 that the government would offer financial aid to farmers who agree to stop using glyphosate. The French president said in an interview with the media that while he still supports banning glyphosate, he recognizes that he will not be able to initiate the ban by 2021.

In December of 2019, France’s ANCES agency decided that 36 glyphosate-based products will be withdrawn from the market and no longer be permitted for use by the end of 2020.

Germany: Germany’s cabinet passed legislation in February of 2021 to ban glyphosate by 2024. German farmers will need to reduce the use of glyphosate until the ban takes effect in 2024. Certain retail stores in Germany have already pulled glyphosate-based herbicides like Roundup from shelves.

Greece: Greece was one of nine EU countries to vote against relicensing glyphosate in November of 2017. The country was also one of six EU member states to sign a 2018 letter to the European Commission calling for “an exit plan for glyphosate…” According to Greek Minister of Agricultural Development Evangelos Apostolou, “t is our duty to push in the direction of risk management, in the interests of consumers, producers and the environment.” In March of 2018, the Greek government approved a five-year license for Monsanto’s Roundup against the wishes of Greek environmentalists.

India: In October of 2018, the government of Punjab banned the sale of glyphosate in the state. “All pesticide manufacturers, marketers and dealers in the State shall not sell glyphosate formulations-concentrations with immediate effect. The licensing authorities have been asked to take necessary steps for removal of entries for glyphosate from the licenses issued by them,” said State Agriculture Secretary K.S. Pannu. In February of 2019, the Indian state of Kerala issued a ban on the sale, distribution and use of glyphosate.

Italy: Italy’s Ministry of Health placed a number of restrictions on glyphosate use. Italian legislators have also raised concerns about glyphosate safety, and have come out against relicensing the herbicide in the European Union. In 2016, the Italian government banned the use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest treatment and placed restrictions on glyphosate use in areas frequented by the public. In November of 2017, Italy was one of seven EU nations to vote against relicensing glyphosate.

Kuwait: According to Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture, Kuwait and five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issued glyphosate bans.

Luxembourg: The country will become the first in the EU to completely ban all products containing glyphosate. The Luxembourg glyphosate ban will take effect in three phases. On Feb. 1, 2020, market authorization was withdrawn. Stocks of glyphosate may be used until June 30, 2020. On Dec. 31, 2020, the total ban on glyphosate will take effect.

Malawi: In April 2019, Malawi’s Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development told the country’s National newspaper that import licenses for glyphosate-based herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup would be suspended immediately.

Malta: In July of 2019, Malta banned the use of glyphosate in public spaces. The spraying of glyphosate will not be allowed on roadsides or near schools, among other places.

Mexico: In June of 2020, Mexico’s Environment Ministry announced that the country will phase out glyphosate by 2024, citing human health and environmental concerns. In April of 2021, a judge ruled in Bayer’s favor in a court challenge of the government’s glyphosate ban proposal. Bayer’s win was temporary because in October of 2021, Mexico’s Supreme Court denied four appeals of the proposed ban from major agrichemical corporations. The ruling affirmed the country’s glyphosate ban.

Netherlands: Banned all non-commercial use of glyphosate.

New Zealand: The cities of Auckland and Christchurch passed resolutions to reduce the usage of chemicals for weed and pest control in public places. The Physicians and Scientists for Global Responsibility, a New Zealand charitable trust, called for a glyphosate ban in 2015.

Oman: Eng Saleh al Abri, director general of agricultural development in Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF), told a reporter that glyphosate “hasn’t been available in Oman since 2016.” Eng Abri added, “This active ingredient has been banned throughout the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) since last year.” In addition to Oman, the GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Portugal: Prohibits the use of glyphosate in all public spaces. The president of the Portuguese Medical Association has also called for a worldwide ban of glyphosate.

Qatar: According to Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture, Qatar and five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have banned glyphosate.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Acting on advice from their Pesticides Board, the Caribbean country placed an immediate suspension on the import of glyphosate-based herbicides.

Saudi Arabia: Issued a glyphosate ban along with five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Scotland: Aberdeen cut back its use of herbicides and Edinburgh’s City Council voted to phase out glyphosate. In November of 2017, five of Scotland’s six EU parliamentarians voted in favor of a motion that would phase out glyphosate by 2022.

Slovenia: Slovenia was one of six EU member states to sign a 2018 letter to the European Commission citing “concerns” about the risks associated with glyphosate. The letter called upon the Commission to introduce “an exit plan for glyphosate…”

Spain: According to Kistiñe Garcia of the Spanish NGO, Ecologistas en Acción, Barcelona, Madrid, Zaragoza and the region of Extremuda have decided to ban glyphosate. The regions of La Rioja (major Spanish wine region) and Aragon have also approved motions against endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which includes glyphosate.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka was the first country to issue a nationwide ban on glyphosate. In 2018, the government decided to lift the ban due to crop losses and overgrowing weeds. However, in November of 2021, the country’s government reinstalled the Roundup ban.

Sweden: Raised concerns about glyphosate safety and has pushed against relicensing the herbicide in the EU. In 2017, the Swedish Chemicals Agency (SCA) announced it was planning to tighten rules on private use of plant protection products. Under the plan, private users would only be allowed to use products containing “low-risk substances.” According to the SCA, glyphosate is an example of an active substance not expected to be included among low-risk substances, meaning in due time, private consumers may not be permitted to use herbicides containing glyphosate.

Switzerland: Concerned about public well-being, the Swiss supermarket chains Migros and Coop removed glyphosate-based products from their shelves due to health risks. In 2017, the Green party put forth a plan to ban glyphosate in Switzerland. The proposed plan was rejected by the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive.

Thailand: In August 2019, Deputy Agriculture Minister Mananya Thaiseth ceased licensing extensions for three hazardous farm chemicals, including glyphosate. Following the announcement, U.S. government officials pressured Thailand to exempt the three chemicals citing a potential threat to the grain trade. But Thailand’s public health minister Anutin Charvinrakul said during a press conference that “our job is to take care of the people’s health.”

The Thailand glyphosate ban was scheduled to take effect in December of 2019. However, after pressure from industry, the ban was reduced to a restriction.

United Arab Emirates: Issued a glyphosate ban along with five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

United Kingdom: Following the landmark $289 million Monsanto Roundup verdict on Aug. 10, 2018, Homebase, one of the UK’s largest DIY retailers, announced that it would review the sale of Roundup and Ranger Pro. However, according to the Sun, Homebase and other major retailers still stock the weed killers for sale. The United Kingdom banned Paraquat, another widely-used herbicide, in 2007.

The following boroughs and townships have issued bans or restrictions on pesticides and herbicides, including glyphosate:

Balerno (Scotland)
Bath
Brighton
Bristol
Bury (ban in children’s play areas)
Cambridge
Chichester
Colchester
Cowes (Isle of Wight)
Croydon
Derry City (Northern Ireland)
Faversham
Folkestone & Hythe
Frensham
Frome
Glastonbury
Guildford
Hackney
Hadleigh
Hammersmith & Fulham
Hexham
Highland (Scotland)
Lambeth
Lewes
London – Greater London Authority
Lyme Regis
Manningtree
Midlothian (Scotland)
North Lanarkshire (Scotland)
North Somerset
Peterlee
Petersfield
Reading
Renfrewshire (Scotland)
Shaftesbury
Shetland (Scotland)
Sunderland
Trafford
Wadebridge
Warminster
Waverley
Wirral

Vietnam: Following the jury verdict in Hardeman v. Monsanto Co., Vietnam announced that it would ban glyphosate imports. According to Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, “the removal of this substance from the list of pesticides allowed to be used in Vietnam will be done in the near future.”

I’ve just dug my front garden up trying to get rid of it! I had read putting weed fabric down creates soil conditions that allow it to thrive! Also adding lime to the soil helps kill it apparently too. I’m gonna put some lime down before I decide what to do with the front now it’s just bare soil!

@reeksy
My link was from the ECHA published yesterday https://echa.europa.eu/-/glyphosate-no-change-proposed-to-hazard-classification
It looks like about a dozen countries within Europe won’t be agreeing with its Chemicals Agency!
Interestingly you missed the US where there are a number of court cases on the go involving Monsanto, which is now owned by the German company Bayer

Ah, yes, the US is a whole separate list -Bayer are stopping selling to the lawn and garden market in 2023 apparently.

Anecdotally, I have a neighbour that has non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and once drenched himself in glyphosate when his backpack sprayer split. A fairly remarkable coincidence i’d say.

Chasing ryzhomes is quite satisfying.

garden fork to loosen the soil find the first node gently pull it to see where it goes and work the soil loose in that direction, no tugging gentle gentle.

do it little and often so its not a chore. ten minutes a day and slowly you’ll get it under control.

Eh i haven’t done horse tail before (mainly ground elder here) but i imagine its the sameish.

Garden in my new house had a Similar sized plot to the OPs.
Fine when we moved in (winter) but realised the problem in summer. Luckily I was going to add land drains and landscape the garden/clay soil lawn anyway. I’ve almost irradiated the MT by removing 12 inch depth of topsoil, adding a layer of new soil on top of a non woven geotextile fabric bonded to oak sleeper boarder sat on 8 inch grano bed and the rest of the patio is on a semi bound mix. I still get the occasional shoot coming through from next door neighbour but I leave that until it’s fully grown/turning brown before I pluck it. Did the same on the front lawn and haven’t had any shoots in about 7years 💪

Had it in the front garden for 15 years (we’ve been here), 10 years of that was under plastic/gravel, it still came thru. I finally turned the front garden into a lawn and am mowing it down… that keeps the maretails down, but it has yet to stop it coming up. Lawn with marestail at least looks better that the gravel with marestail.