The Unexpected Way You Can Repurpose The Horsetail Weeds You Pull From Your Yard

If you've ever come across horsetail in your garden, you know what a pain this persistent plant can be. Horsetail is a perennial that grows from underground rootstocks and is native to nearly everywhere except Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. You may also know the plant as field horsetail, common horsetail, and bottlebrush, among other names. The existence of the class of plants that horsetail belongs to dates back to prehistoric times, namely the Devonian Period, which occurred more than 350 million years ago. Therefore, horsetail's adaptability and resiliency may not come as a surprise.

You may be wondering how to keep horsetail weeds off your lawn, but don't be so quick to toss them in your green waste bin when you find them. Instead, try repurposing horsetail weeds as a fertilizer to nourish your other plants.

One of the best ways to transform the horsetail weeds into fertilizer is by making them into a fertilizer tea. As a plant, horsetail contains silicate, potassium, and iron that it extracts from deep within the soil. Its 6-foot-deep root system comes in handy this way. Making the fertilizer tea is easy to do with a few materials. You can then further repurpose your horsetail by applying the fertilizer tea as a fungicide to combat powdery mildew and blight.

Making your horsetail fertilizer tea can be broken down into a few steps. First, remove the horsetail from your soil. Cut off the fronds and stems at the base of the plant. Chop them into pieces using a pair of gardening shears. Throw the chopped pieces into a container to collect the weedy plant. When your container is half full, fill it with non-chlorinated water, though rainwater is ideal. Cover the opening of the bucket with a screen to keep mosquitoes out of the standing water. Stir the mixture daily for up to 2 weeks. 

Alternatively, you may also simmer the horsetail in water on the stove. Put 1.7 to 3.5 ounces of fresh horsetail in a stockpot with 4 to 12 cups of water. Simmer the water for 30 minutes and allow the liquid to cool. In both the non-stovetop and stovetop methods, finish by straining the liquid to remove the solid pieces of horsetail. For the stovetop fertilizer tea, transfer the cooled and strained liquid into a lidded container. 

Apply the fertilizer tea, either diluted or at full strength, to the soil of your established plants. The added minerals from the tea can be especially beneficial to plants in the blossom and fruiting stages. Depending on how your plants react, you can apply the fertilizer every 2 weeks. Other DIY fertilizer teas you can make to nourish your garden include nettle, comfrey, and compost.

Aside from offering nourishment to your plants as a fertilizer tea, horsetail also possesses curative properties as a fungicide. Because of its anti-fungal qualities, horsetail can be used to get rid of powdery mildew and blight. More specifically, it can treat blackspot on roses and rust on mint. To apply horsetail as a fungicide, dilute the fertilizer tea described above at a ratio of 1:5. Stir the liquid for 15 to 20 minutes, creating a whirlpool by stirring clockwise then counterclockwise. This is known as a biodynamic preparation, which mimics the natural stirring rhythms of bodies of water, like streams and rivers, to bring more oxygen to the liquid. 

When that's complete, transfer the liquid to a spray bottle. You may also use a garden sprayer set to a fine mist setting. In both cases, apply the liquid on the upper and lower leaves. Ensure to spray three times every 10 days for active fungal infections. Dilute the spray to a ratio of 1:10 for repeat applications. Ideally, you'll want to spray your plants from sunrise to mid-morning.