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| First sight |
My allotment partner mentioned the word of a strong herbicide today. I was thrilled. Ever since my first sight of Horsetails I have been unable to get the wonderfully ancient living fossil out of my mind. I know all about them , I have taught about them, I have seen them growing and marvelled at them ,but never before actually had them growing on one of my allotments .
This plot is not mine alone as you know. I am not able to decide the fate of the enemy. I have really been lying in bed and wondering how to get rid of Equisetum Arvense the organic way .
Sneaking up between the raspberries at the bottom of the plot there is no way I can dig down a metre and remove the rhizomes. It didn't help me when my neighbour 2 plots south told me that horsetails even appeared underground in Coal Mines. I was not happy that Japanese knotweed had appeared at the end of Queen Street, just below the Fishermans Lookout. I am on Doomwatch with it. But with the seemingly irrepressible Horsetail there are Chemical herbicide solutions. My neighbour 1 plot south said that Creosote was good. I have been through the shed thinking that Elijah Lynn whose chemicals we inherited ,might just of left a little 25yrs ago. Spouse is a careful hoarder of the could be useful. He is also a wise husband and must have listened to me when I suggested we did a massive clear out when we moved from Kiaora. I have been telling myself that Creosote is the best organic solution. I did Organic Chemistry and seem to recall somewhere that it is a coal tar derivative. Its Illegal now. I have been looking it up,online . No wonder Jeyes Fluid is not as good as it was. I have been thinking of people in Filey I know, who might have a little left judiciously in their sheds. I was working up to asking Bob Hall , a 96yr old retired wood work master who I know from Wednesday Morning Prayer at St Oswalds. You see where this is going. I am dreaming of Horsetails and their irradication from my life, from my mind.
Until today that is, when my allotment partner, who is Organic, mentioned the beautiful word GLYPHOSATE.
