horsetail weed fears

I bought a dump truck load of rotted woodchips from an excavator (very reasonably priced) to cover large areas of our woodland that were disrupted by construction. I thought this was the perfect way to help "heal" the land, until I spoke with a nursery person yesterday who had horror stories about horsetail weed being in an unknown source of chips. Should I let the pile sit for a year or two? How long would it take for these seeds to germinate? Teresa

 

At this time of the year you would soon see the telltale foliage coming out of the pile.

 

Horsetail seems to be typical of disturbed sites where soil compaction, poor drainage & low/imbalanced nutrients occur...construction sites, roadsides etc. Following good cultural practices seems to get rid of it over a period of years. It doesn't seem to take-over to form long-term monospecies ground covers/stands as some things do (Worry about Japanese Knotweed or Lamiastrum in the Pacific NW, if you want to lose some sleep). Mowing gets it - but then you will have a grass-lawn. I am not fond of lawns, personally. Cool plant! Will outlast Human Beans as it has so many others things, I expect.

This historical UBC thread explores the issue thoroughly & has helped me:

http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=6795

(including comments from the inimitable & hugely knowledgable ronB)

gb.

 

I WILL stop losing sleep over this potential weed from my wood chip pile...thanks for your attitude adjustment. Teresa

 

Attached picture is Equisetum arvense in the Fraser Valley. Taken last week. Shows a brown fertile frond (about 30cm tall) & a green vegetative frond. This is growing through a layer of cedar chips, which has swamped other vegetation. The Equisetum was already well established alongside a farm-roadway & ditch before the cedar was dumped.

I liked the alien look. Forget the "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". Try Equisetum instead :)

gb

 

Sure that isn't giant horsetail coming out of those cedar chips?

 

I didn't think it had enough "teeth" in the sheath (on the veg. frond) when I took the pic. E. arvense in my guide is described as having 10-12 & E. telmatiea as having 20-30, 2 ribbed teeth. As far as I can tell, this currently has 14-18 teeth - go figure. I will retract ID & say Equisetum sp. If I walk that way again when the fronds are mature, it may be easier to say. I have comparison pics of mature E. telmatiea fronds (with an appropriate number of teeth) from not too far away.

...I still like the pic & Giant Horsetail sounds more dramatic anyway! Thanks for the question, you may well be right.

gb.