A couple were left alarmed after discovering a plant in their new Edwardian home just months after moving in. The plant was growing inside the house but it was a sign of a much bigger problem.
Discovery of the Plant
One couple believed they had found their dream home several months ago when they acquired a 1904 Edwardian property. They arranged a survey, which identified a small plant emerging from the skirting board in front of the bay window. They 'didn't think too much of it and thought it managed to seed itself in the slightly loose skirting' but soon realised 'how wrong' they were.
The couple posted on the Reddit forum Gardening UK, with the heading 'my Mahonia nightmare - unwanted indoor plant - how to eradicate?'. They explained: 'In the front garden/drive, there are quite a few Mahonia plants (Oregon Grape, according to the PictureThis app). Very early on, we removed one nearest the house, but we uncovered the true disaster hiding under our floorboards.'
Uncovering the Disaster
'Upon taking the radiator off, we knew something was seriously wrong. After lifting the flooring and floorboards, we uncovered the disaster. Turning to my trusty PictureThis app again, it said we had Swamp Horsetail! Upon much googling, I was truly scared as it is a nightmare to get rid of.'
The couple examined their property and discovered that 'the stems have found their way through the air gaps between the bricks', meaning they 'don't have access to it'. After 'chipping off some of the rendered plinth at the front of the house', they located where the plant was entering and uncovered 'a bright yellow blob with a stem of the same type of the spaghetti inside that was thankfully misidentified as horsetails'.
Seeking Advice
They turned to Reddit for guidance on how to get rid of the invasive plant. Having removed as many stems as they could manage, they reinstalled their flooring, hoping not to have to lift it again 'until necessary'. They added: 'At some point, we're going to insulate the joists and renovate the room at which point we can confirm [the plant] is dead, so we can only access the root/stem from outside, as the main plant has been removed. Do I have to do anything else, or should I use some type of poison? I understand they self-seed, so we will make sure to remove any seedlings.'
Other gardening and horticultural enthusiasts were swift to offer their advice. While several people emphasised the need to apply weed killer and ensure all root material was completely removed, one commenter expressed concern about possible damage to the brickwork. They said: 'The plant has managed to get into the house via loose brickwork in the wall, if that was secure it wouldn't have rooted there. If I'm understanding the image correctly the root is not that big, it obvs had shoots growing in the dark under floor boards, the root in the wall looks relatively small. Next steps would be to contact a builder to assess the wall and how it got in in the first place, and apply some root kill product, I'm not up on what specifically to use.'
