How to Grow and Care for Field horsetail

Field horsetail, also known as Common horsetail, Mare's tail, Scouring rush, Snake grass, Jointed rush

Field horsetail is a hardy perennial that requires minimal maintenance, making their care relatively straightforward. Key care points include ensuring consistent moisture as field horsetail thrives in damp conditions, and managing their spread, as they can be invasive. Control their growth by planting in containers or designated areas to prevent them from overtaking other plants.

Watering schedule: Twice per week

Sunlight Requirements: Full sun

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Planting and Growing Field horsetail

Care Difficulty	Easy
Lifespan	Perennial
Watering Schedule	Twice per week
Sunlight Requirements	Full sun
Soil pH	6-7.5
Planting Time	Summer
Hardiness Zones	2-8

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Field horsetail features dense vegetation with coarse, erect, unbranched stems that can grow up to 2 feet (60 cm) tall, resembling the tail of a horse. The stems are marked by a distinctive series of ridges and joints. It produces two types of shoots: early spring brings non-photosynthetic, spore-bearing stems topped with light-brown cones, followed by the emergence of green, photosynthetic sterile shoots that last through the summer until autumn frost. These green shoots have whorls of tiny, scale-like leaves, and the plant disseminates via spores that react to moisture by curling or uncurling, assisting in their movement into the soil.

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