Stepping into my poly tunnel after a week away I was met with an overgrowth of Horsetail. My clean and weeded bed, which I thought would be ready for the tomato plants and cucumbers, had sprouted a great crop of Horsetail.
Horsetail is regarded as a weed - and it can certainly be horrifyingly prolific - BUT, it also has lots of beneficial attributes that we should consider before complaining too much.
Horsetail has an affinity for the urinary system so can benefit people with cystitis, urge incontinence, prostate issues and childhood bed-wetting. This is because Horsetail is very astringent and helps to tone up the whole system from kidneys to bladder to urethra and ureter. The same actions of astringency and tone also help the digestive system, the reproductive system and the respiratory system. In the past, Horsetail was used to support the lungs by TB sufferers who were coughing up blood. Horsetail is also a vulnerary - he stops bleeding - so can be a valuable herb for women with heavy menstrual flow as well as being a wound herb.
I talk about Horsetail in The Weed Handbook Volume 1 Shop and in my Introduction to Herbal Medicine course and Herbal Health for Women course, I refer to many other wild and beneficial medicinal “weeds” herbal medicine
Apart from having health benefits, Horsetail is also good for the garden. Use Horsetail when making a compost tea or make a strong decoction and spray this onto your potatoes and tomatoes to avoid blight. The long roots of Horsetail mean that this plant is helping to bring lots of minerals to the surface which is where you plant your vegetables and flowers. When dried and ground, you can add Horsetail to a homemade toothpaste or tincture it and use a small amount of tincture diluted for a mouthwash.
Whatever happens, enjoy the bright brilliant green of Horsetail and be wowed at the knowledge that Horsetail is one of the earliest and oldest plants on the planet. This plant used to be as tall as trees and created primoridal forests but as CO2 has declined, we now only see Horsetail as a little “weed”.
Happy Easter!
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