8 acre field ragwort spray control Assington, near Sudbury

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
I have a field that is part of HLS grazing and is heavily infested with ragwort. The field has been heavily grazed with sheep over winter to allow good exposure of the rosettes in the spring

Please call Jeremy on 01904 232888 to discuss or PM here

Thanks
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Because in the spring the plants won't be tall enough? A weed wiper on mature plants would still leave dead but poisonous plants. All parts of ragwort are poisonous, even when dead. Spraying at the floret stage, spring and autumn, is pretty effective.
This is what I've been told. Last year I tried pulling it with a couple of helpers but it was like a rape field. Does this mean I need to catch it when the rosette leaves are broadest and for 2 years on the trot?
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
This is what I've been told. Last year I tried pulling it with a couple of helpers but it was like a rape field. Does this mean I need to catch it when the rosette leaves are broadest and for 2 years on the trot?

Apart from being poisonous, the biggest problem is getting rid of ragwort! There will be seeds in the ground and it establishes on any bare bit of soil like rabbit scrapings, mole hills, poaching by stock, etc. There was a serious infestation locally but they sprayed it and it was gone the next year. Now it is beginning to creep back. Each flowering plant produces a lot of seeds so you need to keep on top of it. If you can kill it at the floret stage and pull any that survive before they seed, you should make progress.
 

bartz

Member
Location
suffolk
don't pull ragwort as it will actually make the problem worse.as tap roots left will re grow..when ragort goes to seed that plant dies so the only way it can survive is if the seeds have bare soil to establish in, creating a new plant .
spot spray at floret stage with headland polo ( not technically allowed on hls ) or bit labour intensive. I know some one who dipped a gloved hand with glysophate and applied to weeds that way .not technical spraying.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
don't pull ragwort as it will actually make the problem worse.as tap roots left will re grow..when ragort goes to seed that plant dies so the only way it can survive is if the seeds have bare soil to establish in, creating a new plant .
spot spray at floret stage with headland polo ( not technically allowed on hls ) or bit labour intensive. I know some one who dipped a gloved hand with glysophate and applied to weeds that way .not technical spraying.
Thanks @bartz . I think the scale of the issue will mean NE will have to give some sort of derogation to deal with this. My landlady had spot sprayed from a quad bike with lance in previous years but not cured. I was told you could boom spray something to get the floret stage but I don't know what that is?
 

bartz

Member
Location
suffolk
weeds have a stage of growth where herbicide works best at killing them rather than checking them back this is whats known as rosette stage .spring is the best time when the plant is not to big but actively growing.
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
I don't have enough sheep TBH and I really could do with that field as one of 4 for rotating my young stock around
You don't need many. I have quoted before the example of a dozen yearlings on 30 acres keeping it completely clear whereas the year before the graziers had baled 50 small bales of ragwort stems off it.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
You don't need many. I have quoted before the example of a dozen yearlings on 30 acres keeping it completely clear whereas the year before the graziers had baled 50 small bales of ragwort stems off it.
Hmm. Surely sheep get a build up of toxins in the end? It's a dry field making it very attractive to extend the back end grazing for yearling cattle. So could I really keep it bitten down hard with ewes and shearlings until August, allow a recovery of grass growth and safely graze cattle until Christmas?
 

bartz

Member
Location
suffolk
sheep are more tolerant to ragwort poisoning.dont bite it down to hard and make bare patches you want to keep a good covering of grass as this will smoother weeds
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
sheep are more tolerant to ragwort poisoning.dont bite it down to hard and make bare patches you want to keep a good covering of grass as this will smoother weeds
You may be able to picture which field it is (certainly you'll see it from the Sudbury to Hadleigh road if the sheep don't keep it down!!!). Half the field is puffy sand which the rabbits lay bare but even the rest is light and therefore grass gets stressed and thin in the summer. I just wish I had something chemical early on in the season which could yield me that late summer / autumn bite for the cattle
 

bartz

Member
Location
suffolk
your fighting a loosing battle on that land.perfect conditions for ragwort to flourish.sounds. like the grass is past its best as soil is probably depleted of nitrogen/pk getting rid of rabbits would help
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Thanks @bartz . I think the scale of the issue will mean NE will have to give some sort of derogation to deal with this. My landlady had spot sprayed from a quad bike with lance in previous years but not cured. I was told you could boom spray something to get the floret stage but I don't know what that is?

I do, roundup . if it's really bad it wants nuking and re seeding .
 

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