The Rural Voice, 2001-06, Page 52www.Iandmark.on.ca
Field horsetail has many other
names: Equisetum arvense. mare -
tail's. horse -pipes. and joint -grass. It
is related to another plant called
scouring -rush. an Equisetum that has
no branches. and that pioneers used
for scrubbing pots because of the grit
in its tissue.
Field horsetail can compete
strongly with crops and depress
yields. In some crops, it can grow so
thickly that harvest is hampered. As
well. it is poisonous to young horses.
and must be kept out of hay, as the
poison concentrates as the plant
dries.
Field horsetail is an interesting
plant, because it is primitive, with
hollow stems, and never has flowers
or seeds. It does have a reproductive
shoot that emerges in the spring, to
produce spores, which can help the
plant spread. However, most of the
spread of horsetail is by the
underground rhizomes — these can
grow extensively and deeply,
sometimes getting into tile drains —
and are often dragged into new fields
or from field edges with cultivators.
Advice
The fern -like branches emerge
after the spore cones die, and have
six to eight branches at nearly every
node. Both kinds of stems can be
easily pulled apart at the nodes, and
can be fitted back together like
sections of a stovepipe.
Controlling horsetail is very
difficult. and it is rarely eradicated
from a field once it is infested. For
horticultural crops, it is best to target
control efforts in the year before
planting. Your best bet is to rotate to
field corn, where you have a few
choices. Before planting corn,
Amitrol can be applied at 3 L/acre for
a burndown.. Control with Amitrol
can last 2-3 years but you need to
delay planting for 6-10 days after
application. Once corn is emerged. •
MCPA can be used for a burndown
effect but read the label precautions
to prevent injury to the corn. Ultimax
(Ultim plus Striker) is a post -
emergent herbicide for corn that can
give some control of horsetail. For
other field crops, herbicides like
Blazer and Reflex, which burn the
tops down, have given some control.
One of the best opportunities to
control horsetail is to use Amitrol or
MCPA after a cereal crop to suppress
the weed for the next couple seasons.
In horticultural crops, look for
opportunities to burn down the tops
of horsetail. This may be before a
late -planted crop, or after an early
harvested crop.
Avoid dragging horsetail into a
field on tillage equipment or
cultivators. Watch your field edges
for patches that move in from ditches
and roadsides. Target new patches
each year before they get to be a real
problem.0
2001 Ontario Forage
Masters Program
redesigned
By Doug Wagner
O.S.C.I.A., Guelph
The Ontario Forage Masters
program has been redesigned to
create more activity at the local
association level. The 2001 Ontario
i
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48 THE RURAL VOICE