Mistakes Everyone Makes When Trying To Get Rid Of Horsetail Weeds

If you find horsetail (Equisetum) living in your yard or garden, it's important to take care of the problem quickly and correctly to avoid establishment. Since this weed has been around for hundreds of millions of years, it's had lots of time to adapt to horrid growing conditions and become efficient in survival. Worse, the weed doesn't produce seeds but spreads via spores and extensive rhizome systems underground; this quality makes it difficult to eliminate. In their effort to remove horsetail, frustrated gardeners often make mistakes. These include spraying the plant with vinegar or bleach, using a common herbicide like Roundup, pulling the weeds out of the ground by hand, or covering them entirely — none of which are effective against horsetail.

If horsetail has emerged in your yard, avoiding these weeding mistakes is essential if you want to eliminate the plants. First off, forget spraying horsetail with vinegar or bleach. The chemicals might kill what you can see above ground, but they can't address the vast rhizome system that will continue spreading and producing more weed sprouts. And before you reach for your go-to herbicides, think again. Horsetail weeds have a natural resistance that protects them from the typical main ingredient in these sprays — glyphosate.

Since you can't reach for your typical herbicides to eliminate horsetail, you might think pulling the weeds up by hand would make sense. After all, doing so would get the roots. Right? Not really. An excerpt from "Weed Control in Natural Areas in the Western United States" (via the University of California Davis) notes that horsetail rhizome systems can reach depths of up to 5 feet. Even if you get some rhizomes while pulling the weed, you'll likely leave enough underground to continue the spread.

Another mistake many gardeners make is trying to suffocate the weeds with plastic or mulch. But neither one of these solutions will kill horsetail. In fact, the plant will consider it a welcome blanket, since it loves moist, dark, and low-oxygen conditions. In other words, covering horsetail will only encourage the weed to thrive.

At this point, it might seem impossible to deal with the horsetail issue on your property — but don't despair. By creating the right conditions in your soil, you can encourage the plant to eliminate itself over time and thus keep horsetail weeds out of the lawn. Since the plant prefers moist, acidic soil that lacks nutrients, you should increase the soil's nutrient density, raise its alkalinity, improve drainage in problematic areas, and provide airflow by avoiding mulching. Horsetail will find your improved soil inhospitable and should eventually disappear. At the same time, prepping your soil for successful planting will create the perfect environment for your chosen plants to flourish.