That's bad news. One of our members does recommend a chemical but most people wage continual war by just digging it out whenever you see it. The problem is that the roots go down a very long way so its is very persistant. If you have it in an open space without other plants you can kill it off eventually by excluding all light with a sheet of plastic, and old carpet etc but it will take a long time.

If you do try the chemical route again it will be necessary to thoroughly bruise the stems before application.
Another thing - in spring you will notice tht the first shoots are different from the later ones - they have no leaflets round the stem, which has a dark brown bulbous top. This is where the spores will grow and you must make sure that none of them are allowed to mature.

If you want more information (most of it depressing) try googling Equisetum arvensis.

Hi, first of all, unless it's growing in water, it isn't marestail, which is an aquatic plant, {Hippuris vulgaris}, it is however horsetail, {Equisetum arvense}, and is very difficult to get rid of, the stems have a waxy coating, so the weedkiller just runs off, you have to 'bruise' the stems first, then use a weedkiller containing glyphosate, and keep on doing this until it eventually gives up the ghost, but this may take a long time, also when the shoots first show up, they look different to the shoots you have now, a thicker stalk with whorls of tiny shoots, pull any of these up, because these are what spreads the spores around, you can try digging them out, but the roots are very thin, wiry and brittle, and will regrow from any bits left in the ground, plus the roots go very deep, so really the best you can hope for, is to just stop them taking over, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Derek.

Sorry Steragram, must have posted together, but at leat we're on the same hymn sheet,lol, Derek.

HyabThanks very much for your Answers, i knew they were going to be a Problem Weed, will try what you said, and try and get it under Control, they just seem to be everywhere, Thanks again,