One of the most loathed garden weeds in this region. Not sure you really want it.

Come get mine! I pick the damn things all spring summer fall. Partial swamp here, impossible to get rid of them. Neighbors let them grow unabated so that feeds the root system even tho I pluck mine.

Mine are robust and persistent, come n get 'em!

Likes damp and poor soil. Carbon Age relict that grows among arsenic-laced smelting waste near Tacoma, where no other plants have managed to live. Smelter or volcano, same difference I guess. Best prevented from making large ugly patches in the garden by crowding it out with taller trees, shrubs and ground-covers.

You can tell when farm fields on bottomland near here have been getting doused with glyphosate, because the elimination of the other, susceptible weeds results in an explosion of chemical-resistant field horsetail.

who would really want this stuff? i actually laughed aloud when i read the topic....

Yuck. I hate that stuff. My wife & I call it The Devil Weed. Before I knew more about it, we had tried to eliminate by digging down more than 3' and carefully sifting out the roots. Didn't hardly phase it. In a year it was back as strong as ever. Every tiny piece of root can create a new plant, just like those brooms in the Mickey Mouse wizard's apprentice cartoon.
You might not get any takers this time of year because it's all dormant around here. We don't really see a stich of it right now, and nobody wants to to go digging in frozen ground for some whimpy-looking pathetic root pieces of a dirty, rotten, nasty, low-down, evil, spawn of the Devil. #$^&*%$#^%$%$^&$%*......
Sorry for the rant, I hope you find it. :)
- Tom

This is a devil weed but ... it works fine for preventing powdery mildew, rust and blackspots. In summer I bring a lot of horsetail from the green zone that is not far from our house and use it to mulch containers with begonia and roses. My plantss stay fine till time when i dig them for winter storage.

Another usage of Devil Weed is for treatment of nail fungus.
Not so bad for devil weed.

forestelves, I can ship it to you, but not now when soil is frozen. What about spring?

You might be mulching with giant horsetail, a different species.

Equisetum arvense grows "naturally" across much of the US. And is considered an unpleasant, troublesome or even noxious weed pretty much universally :-) If seriously desired (and I can't imagine why), I'd look for it locally first before requesting it be shipped across country. Personally, I'd have a very hard time knowingly dispersing this plant elsewhere. It is also quite toxic to livestock, which is another good reason NOT to encourage its distribution to areas that are heavily agricultural.

FWIW, there is nothing in the literature to support the notion that horsetails possess any disease suppressing characteristics other than some anecdotal biodynamic comments. If it really did possess these attributes, someone could make a fortune harvesting it and selling it for mulch!

Here is a link that might be useful: Equisetum arvense profile

Well, horsetail is known to contain a lot of silica as well as some other minerals. Silica is known to increase disease resistance in number of plants (google can return a number of links to the information about this).
I know people who actually made a fortune selling dried horsetail with instruction how to use it to kill nail fungus. It actually works (tested by me as well).

bboy: i checked differences between two species of horsetail and see that i collected both of them and both of them contain silica. So both will work.

I'm having a hard time seeing how a mulch of any kind can suppress mildew on the leaves.

Well in just about every garden book published that adresses mildew, they all say how important it is to clean up dead leaves on the ground that had mildew, So I wonder if there must be some clear ability for soil-borne or soil-surface fungal diseases to spread and affect the plant above, and therefore that soil protection is also leaf protection?

Watering and rains release some minerals (including silica) from mulch into soil and make them available for the plants.
A number of studies (info can be found by googling) found that plants that grow in soil enriched with silica develop natural resistance to some diseases.

Many people with ponds grow equisetum as a potted ornamental. :)

In most cases that would be scouring rush and not field horsetail or even giant horsetail.

Briergardener  thatÂs not (Horsetail) Equisetum arvense, thatÂs a weed. Oh, the devil weed would be Castor bean or Cats Claw. You can pickle and eat Cats Claw unripe fruit but you have to cook it just right to make it safe to eat.

I see that none of you know itÂs an herb that is a good nail, hair, and skin tonic that replaces nutrition lost from once diet and oxygen contact. It can be drunk but it was not recommend useless it was drunk in small amounts and wait every 4-12 mouths until the next glass. Do to the silica it contains itÂs not recommend to drink. Also caraway seeds have the same properties as horsetail except that they contain no silica so itÂs safe to make tea from them, but you need more caraway seeds than of dried horsetail. So please, only the people who are willing to give me some horsetail next spring/summer please post here.

Field horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is the herb that I was told to use but I think I can use any of the Equisetum species. I don't want any hybrid plants thanks. NO HYBRIDS.
If you don't know how to ship live plants look here http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/explant/con0416594023581.html.

NO MORE I HATE THIS PLANT, because itÂs a weed because IÂm mad donÂt know how to use it for herbal purposes or I guess as a garden herbicide that I just learned from Gardengal48 and Briergardener.

Be careful! Or you'll end up with a garden like this...

That is amazing, like a scene from prehistory.

So ian_wa do you have horsetail to trade because your post nothing that will help me.
Plus I have been wanting this herb for 8 years now with no one willing to give any away.
So please no crap on this post. THANK YOU

Plus, the Post says Want: Equisetum arvense (Horsetail), and because I can't paste a Want add on Pacific Northwestern Exchange page because only people from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia can past on that page which is the only page that has discrimination of all other states, because I can post a WANT add on any other State forms expect there.

So please no crap on this post. THANK YOU

Are they all as nice as you in Kansas? :)

If you get me an E. giganteum (pictured), I'll get you an E. arvense.

Maybe you should try Craigslist?

http://portland.craigslist.org/

Free.

forestelves, as i told before i can send you horsetail in spring.

Back in grad school in medical anthropology I worked with a Swedish midwife who had her clients use "shave grass tea" which turned out to be Horsetail, for bladder and kidney problems, it acted as a diuretic also.

Always understood it was good to use the juice inside topically to treat the rash and pain of stinging nettles.

Here is a link that might be useful: medline

forestelves,

Given your lack of manners, I can see why you have been waiting 8 years.

Cathy

Forestelves has the same nasty disposition on all his/her posts.

And according to Gardenweb s(he) has vanished into the forest: "Sorry.... The person you were looking for doesn't exist."

Probably preparing to send up spore-bearing shoots.

*snork*

It was the frustration of 8 years waiting for that herb!

Based on false notions, which is what is so often seen here: somebody comes on with an artificial issue, then gets crabby when given the tools to solve it - instead of achieving clarity.

Thankfulness and grace? Forget it.

How does one post pictures? I have a picture of a nice display of horsetail in a garden (seen on a garden tour) that I'd like to post.

Site has directions if you look in the right spot. Try clicking around a little.

Click on this.

Here is a link that might be useful: How do I include images my messages?

Jitterbug, I save the pic to Photobucket, then click "Share This", then the tab "Get link code", then I copy the code under HTML clickable thumbnail, and include it here. :)