Content
- Marsh horsetail can hardly be fought
- Marsh horsetail - a danger to grazing animals
- Perform mechanical control best in the spring
- Chemical agents are effective at short notice
- Tips
Marsh horsetail is not only extremely stubborn, to all its evil it is also poisonous
Marsh horsetail can hardly be fought
Marsh horsetail is one of the most poisonous plants found on marshy pastures. Fighting the marsh horsetail is very difficult and usually short-lived. Most successful is the mechanical removal (undercut) of the herb.
Marsh horsetail - a danger to grazing animals
Marsh horsetail contains alkaloids, which can be very dangerous for grazing animals such as horses, cattle and sheep. Effective and long-lasting control of the herb is very difficult and requires a lot of effort.
Most of the success is short-lived. The best way to combat this would be to dry the meadow. However, this is almost always impossible because affected pastures are often near streams and canals.
Marsh horsetail proliferates over subterranean rhizomes that form broad shoots. Waterlogged and compacted soils do not bother him. Most farmers therefore rely on a mechanical removal of the subterranean foothills. This type of control is also recommended for horsetail in the garden.
Perform mechanical control best in the spring
The best time to combat marsh horsetail is the early spring. The fight takes place by undercutting the willow surface at a depth of 30 to 40 centimeters.
This form of control is very complex and usually only helps for a few weeks. Subsequently, the marsh horsetail drives out again, unless subsequently followed by extensive grazing by cattle and horses.
The animals step down the newly expelling herb, so that poisoning by the marsh horsetail is not to be feared.
Chemical agents are effective at short notice
Various attempts to combat marsh horsetail with chemical agents have proven ineffective in the past.
The subterranean foothills are too deep in the ground so the poison does not reach them. Even an application after an undercut shows only moderate and certainly no lasting success. Meanwhile, the type of control is also prohibited because of the high soil pollution.
Tips
A pasture or meadow infested with marsh horsetail may only be grazed with cattle or horses if the food supply of non-toxic plants is large enough. If enough food is available, the animals avoid poisonous plants like the marsh horsetail by themselves.