Bracken

[Y Fan Wen]

Latest news from the BCG March 2023:-

Asulam –Application for 2023 – Progress
2.1 CRD has completed the assessment of the Emergency Authorisation application.
Unexpectedly, the application was not referred to the Expert Committee on
Pesticides. The application has / will be passed to the Devolved Administrations
(DAs) with guidance to consider.
2.2 If the application is to be approved, this earlier referral than last year, should allow
any approval documents to be issued in time for full preparations to be made in
advance of the bracken control season.
2.3 This year, it is more likely that different approaches will be adopted in the separate
parts of the UK, or different conditions attached to any approval

Para 2.3 worries me, will WG spend so much time worrying about it we lose another season?

 

[Oat]

I think Para 2.3 will perhaps be a positive. If decisions are made on a more devolved and regional basis, then potentially there may a 'better use' or quicker decision in some areas. There will not be any extension to 120 days (this is the legal limit), but maybe ground based application and/or buffer zones may be adjusted to make them more realistic. Also the period of use may be adjusted to what is most practical and best for each region.

There is of course the potential that a regional decision may be worse than the previous national one

 

[Matheson110]

I am tempted to spray the remaining bracken with seawater. Not sure it'll have the same effect as wind blown salt spray. Has anyone heard of such a thing? The idea being to weaken/knock back the bracken rather than kill it off like a chem would.

Did you ever try this? We've small islands that we use just off the coast and some of them are covered in bracken, but it only seems to be the sheltered sides of the islands and the tops that are full of bracken as the exposed side gets enough salt spray to kill it off. Wouldn't be too difficult to run a pump from the shore to spray some of the areas if that would work, and much much easier than spraying as we'd have to take freshwater out to the islands in 5l drums on small boats clambering over rocks for a sprayer which would be practically impossible as there's no reliable freshwater supply. Alternatively I was thinking of grazing a flock of Hebridean sheep out on the islands as they supposedly will chew the stems so eventually it might clear it up or reduce coverage

 

[JohnGalway]

Did you ever try this? We've small islands that we use just off the coast and some of them are covered in bracken, but it only seems to be the sheltered sides of the islands and the tops that are full of bracken as the exposed side gets enough salt spray to kill it off. Wouldn't be too difficult to run a pump from the shore to spray some of the areas if that would work, and much much easier than spraying as we'd have to take freshwater out to the islands in 5l drums on small boats clambering over rocks for a sprayer which would be practically impossible as there's no reliable freshwater supply. Alternatively I was thinking of grazing a flock of Hebridean sheep out on the islands as they supposedly will chew the stems so eventually it might clear it up or reduce coverage

I never did. IIRC the bracken came back later in the year. Still I can see it being like cutting it at the right time, just using salt water. Less work than cutting it I'd imagine too.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Iirc there was a young Woman who did the weather forecast on Westcountry TV a few yrs ago who was called Bracken.

 

[Matheson110]

I never did. IIRC the bracken came back later in the year. Still I can see it being like cutting it at the right time, just using salt water. Less work than cutting it I'd imagine too.

Aye I'll see what I can do this season, I'll try a few different things with it all. I think trying to use the Hebrideans to eat at the new shoots will probably be my best, cheapest option but I'll see if cutting or spraying with seawater will make any odds. Eventually the sheep anyways should wear it down. It's just going to be a worry gathering them on the wee islands incase they go even more wild than the cheviots and blackies that used to go out there!

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Finis:

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