Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale), also called rough horsetail or scouring rush, may be a non-flowering evergreen perennial. it’s vertical green stems with horizontal bands, almost like bamboo, but the stems are skinny, like tall grass. Like ferns, horsetail reproduces through spores instead of seeds, also as underground rhizomes. However, horsetail isn’t associated with bamboo or grass or ferns. Its species dates back to Paleozoic times, some 350 million years ago.

Horsetail grows in wet conditions and may even grow in standing water. For this reason, it’s commonly wont to decorate water gardens or swampy areas where few other plants can survive. It’s also commonly grown as an accent along borders or in large patio pots, similarly to how ornamental grasses are used.

Horsetail spreads via rhizomes and spores and is such an aggressive spreader it might likely be considered invasive if it weren’t native to North America (as well as Europe and Asia). it’s more accurate (in a North American context) to explain horsetail plants as very aggressive spreaders. this is often a crucial consideration when planting horsetail anywhere outside of a pot. to stop it from taking up your garden or other planted ground, it’s advisable to use soil barriers or another sort of containment.

Botanists means that scouring rush has tiny leaves fused onto its stems. But the untrained eye notices only the attractive stems, which grow anywhere from 2 to six feet tall, counting on conditions. These stems are dark green sometimes (picking up some bronze color winter) and hollow. Tiny ridges run vertically along the stems and contain silica, giving them the rough feel that earns the plant the common name, scouring rush . Early Americans used this plant for scouring pots and pans.

Horsetail is typically planted in early spring, though it’ll survive planting at almost any time. this is often a particularly fast-growing plant that achieves full height within a matter of weeks. Under ideal circumstances (constantly moist soil), a clump of horsetail can spread quite 100 feet within a year.

Horsetail Care

Far from being fussy plants, often the challenge with horsetails isn’t in growing them but in containing them and keeping them from spreading to places where you don’t want them to grow. they’re born colonizers with a robust tendency to spread and form a monoculture. On the opposite hand, if you’d just like the plants to fill a neighborhood that’s unfavorable to most other plants, like during a swale, the spreading ability of horsetail is desirable.

To contain horsetail planted within the ground, you’ll install plastic barriers within the soil, an equivalent method you’ll use to contain invasive bamboo. an alternative choice is to plant the horsetail during a deep pot buried within the ground. However, because horsetail spreads not only by underground rhizomes but also spores, containment is challenging.

Light

Horsetail is extremely adaptable to varying light levels, growing full sun to part shade, but preferring filtered shade, like found on forest floors beneath tall trees.

Soil

Horsetail prefers poor, sandy, gravel soil that’s frequently wet. The more fertile the soil, the slower it grows. When growing horsetail during a container, consider adding gravel or sand to potting mix to offer it the right medium it enjoys

Water

In terms of moisture level within the soil, horsetail prefers a soil that’s a minimum of moderately wet. It can even grow in standing water up to a depth of about 4 inches. It’s well-suited for rain gardens and other areas which will periodically flood.

Temperature and Humidity

Horsetail plants prefer high humidity for several hours each day and thrives in low light. Winter care isn’t a priority , because it is hardy to USDA zones 3 to 11, although the brilliant green of the stems may fade during cold winters.

Fertilizer

In general, horsetail plants don’t like particularly rich or fertile soil, so fertilizing shouldn’t be necessary.

Is Horsetail Toxic?

Horsetail isn’t toxic to humans; actually, it’s been utilized in a spread of folk remedies and has been studied as a source of recent medicines. However, all varieties of horsetail contain thiaminase, a compound that will break down vitamin B1 and cause convulsions and death in horses and other grazing animals. There are not any reports of this plant causing problems in dogs and cats, however.

Horsetail Varieties

Although there are not any cultivars of Equisetum emails, there are several related species also referred to as horsetail.

• Equisetum arvense is usually referred to as common horsetail or corn horsetail. this is often generally categorized as a weed because it’s equally as aggressive as scouring rush but lacks its redeeming aesthetic qualities. common horsetail can get older to twenty inches tall, but it’s often stunted by the dryness of the world during which it grows, in order that it reaches only about 8 inches tall or less. it’s usually a shade of green lighter than that of E. emails. Many landscapes become overrun with field horsetail; it’ll spread even under dry conditions.
• Giant horsetail (E. giganteum) may be a Central- and South-American native hardy only to zone 8. Grow it full sun to part shade. Its point is that it can become 10 feet tall or more.
• Variegated horsetail (E. variegatum), against this, maybe a shorter (6 to 18 inches), hardier plant, being native mainly to the wetlands of the northern U.S. and Canada. It’s termed “variegated” because its black-and-white sheaths (on otherwise green stems) show up better than those on E. emails. Grow in full sun to part shade.

Propagating Horsetail

It’s rare that a home-owner wants to propagate horsetail, since containing or eradicating this fast-spreading plant is more often the challenge. However, if you are doing want to share plants, it’s a simple interest cut away portions of the rhizomatous root clumps and replant them wherever you would like . Spring is that the best time to perform this action.

Horsetail produces naturally through spores instead of seeds, and therefore the tiny volunteer plants also can be dug up and replanted elsewhere.

Common Pests/ Diseases

As befits a plant with a reputation for invasiveness, horsetail has no serious threats from pests and diseases. the most challenging is to stay this plant in check or eradicated it where it’s not wanted. Horsetail can even extend its roots under sidewalks, garden walls, and driveways, so elimination requires that you simply carefully obtain and take away all root pieces.

It may even be possible to eradicate horsetail gradually by cutting the reed-like stems back to ground level as they seem . this will take several seasons before the plants surrender and die completely.

Finally, you’ll use a systemic herbicide containing triclopyr, which can kill horsetail. It may, however, take multiple applications before you completely eradicate the plant.