Bracken

[exmoor dave]

So, if some of the commentators on here are right, you could soon have nothing available to you!

No chemicals if glypo were banned.

We'd still have cutting and rolling/crushing.
But I'm uncomfortable with both as to really be effective you need to do either multiple times per growing season..... right when the birds are nesting so another potential own goal.

The other option is pigs to root up the root system, but I very very very much doubt that would be allowed on any SSSI, where much of the bracken grows

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Is that a crash helmet stuck together with gaffer tape in the quad box? ?

It was never the same after I ran over it. Luckily it was empty at the time!!
I've now got an all black one that make me look like a harley rider.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

So what’s the problem with Asulam, and why would helicopter application be better/safer than other methods?

The people that know better would have to answer that one. What I have heard is that it is not possible to remove it from the water if it gets in. Don't know if that's possible with other things tho', urine for instance.

 

[Pond digger]

It was never the same after I ran over it. Luckily it was empty at the time!!
I've now got an all black one that make me look like a harley rider.

If only Haley made a quad...............

 

[pycoed]

It would be noisy, slow & incapable of turning without falling over!

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Asulox has gotten extremely expensive mind, dad said it used to be cheaper than round up!

I am pretty sure that Asulox started out at 8.00 a gallon, a pound a pint. The cheapest glypho I can remember is 3.00 per 5 litre.
It works out today at about 65 per acre which I don't think is particularly expensive. As it produces good grazing land from what is pretty well useless, the way to cost it is if your next door neighbour offered you land on your boundary for the same, would you think, 'hmm, that's a bit dear', or would you bite his hand off?
However, that's all in the past now. I'm still in a state of shock.

 

[Loftyrules]

I have seen bracken bruisers being used and believe they do have some success.....would a flat roller have the same impact?

 

[Y Fan Wen]

I have seen bracken bruisers being used and believe they do have some success.....would a flat roller have the same impact?

No, the bars have to bruise or break the stalks to let the sap leak. A flat would just let it lie down in front of it.
Chain or spike harrow might be better. This mechanical method just keeps it from taking over thus preserving a sward underneath.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Having recovered from the shock of finding it is aerial application only for Asulox this year, I have been considering my options for this season. I have come to the conclusion that my only option is to continue my control attempt using glypho and accept the sward kill, as the only other option is to abandon it and end up with no sward anyway.
One conclusion I have come to is that areas I had not considered wiping, because getting the wiper there would be so difficult, will have to be wiped and the difficulties overcome, new gates in fences and walls and levering of boulders and rocks to get paths possible for quad and wiper.
I have also been out photographing bracken in the last few weeks so I can get an idea of areas which are so dense that there will be no sward kill spraying glypho 'cos there is no sward to kill. It's going to be ugly tho', there are patches I experimented on 5 years ago that are still showing no sward renewal.
I am also going to have to re learn dosage and spray rates for the different chemical. I had got pretty skillful with judging usage using Asulox. Ho hum!!

 

[Breakthru]

Having recovered from the shock of finding it is aerial application only for Asulox this year, I have been considering my options for this season. I have come to the conclusion that my only option is to continue my control attempt using glypho and accept the sward kill, as the only other option is to abandon it and end up with no sward anyway.
One conclusion I have come to is that areas I had not considered wiping, because getting the wiper there would be so difficult, will have to be wiped and the difficulties overcome, new gates in fences and walls and levering of boulders and rocks to get paths possible for quad and wiper.
I have also been out photographing bracken in the last few weeks so I can get an idea of areas which are so dense that there will be no sward kill spraying glypho 'cos there is no sward to kill. It's going to be ugly tho', there are patches I experimented on 5 years ago that are still showing no sward renewal.
I am also going to have to re learn dosage and spray rates for the different chemical. I had got pretty skillful with judging usage using Asulox. Ho hum!!

Buy some old outside cast sows. Let them loose and they will clear it up.
Don't try breeding from them until they have become immune to it or you get mummified piglets. Make money and clear the bracken.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Buy some old outside cast sows. Let them loose and they will clear it up.
Don't try breeding from them until they have become immune to it or you get mummified piglets. Make money and clear the bracken.

At my time of life, I don't think I'm prepared to take on a class of animal of which I have no experience whatsoever. Thank you for the suggestion though, and especially for the warning.

 

[JohnGalway]

We had storm force winds from the South West a few days ago, it blew salt everywhere. One of the effects was to damage the bracken. As well as that I'm also sorta half assed (infrastructure issues) paddock grazing sheep. Ye can see the result from one grazing/trampling plus the salt spray. I'm interested to see how or if the bracken recovers. I hope to do one or two more grazings this year, but differently as I'll be able to strip graze the 0.6ha paddock next time, therefore increasing the animal density & impact. I had 163 ewes & hoggets and 120 odd lambs in there.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

You've done a good job of damaging the bracken there. It will help a lot in maintaining the sward health.
I spoke to next door this week as some of his bracken looked as though it had been sprayed but it turned out to be frost damage. No idea what night that happened 'cos I have seen no sign of frost on any morning.
I've been fettling the rotowiper ready for the season and intend to start the attack in a fortnight or so.
Is Asulox still legal for ground based equipment in Ireland?

 

[JohnGalway]

You've done a good job of damaging the bracken there. It will help a lot in maintaining the sward health.
I spoke to next door this week as some of his bracken looked as though it had been sprayed but it turned out to be frost damage. No idea what night that happened 'cos I have seen no sign of frost on any morning.
I've been fettling the rotowiper ready for the season and intend to start the attack in a fortnight or so.
Is Asulox still legal for ground based equipment in Ireland?

I assume so, a lad I know on Twitter said he bought some this week. Before I started holistic planned grazing I rang a company about it, they said to ring back nearer July to see if they had a license to sell it ?‍

On the next grazing rounds I'll hit it harder. I didn't think the sheep would have the impact they did tbh.

 

[Zippy768]

So just to be clear. Asulox is only approved for aerial application and Not Knapsack?

 

[Danllan]

So just to be clear. Asulox is only approved for aerial application and Not Knapsack?

As things stand...

Bracken Control Group - Asulam

 

[Y Fan Wen]

I assume so, a lad I know on Twitter said he bought some this week. Before I started holistic planned grazing I rang a company about it, they said to ring back nearer July to see if they had a license to sell it ?‍

On the next grazing rounds I'll hit it harder. I didn't think the sheep would have the impact they did tbh.

I have noticed that bracken spreads much quicker and is much stronger on fields which are shut up for hay, as against fields which are grazed all summer. So sheep grazing definitely affects it in a small way. Your mob grazing would probably work much better than set stocking. When I let the flock out back up the mountain from dipping they always go straight for the bracken. I assume its strong taste gets rid of the taste of the dip.

 

[JohnGalway]

I have noticed that bracken spreads much quicker and is much stronger on fields which are shut up for hay, as against fields which are grazed all summer. So sheep grazing definitely affects it in a small way. Your mob grazing would probably work much better than set stocking. When I let the flock out back up the mountain from dipping they always go straight for the bracken. I assume its strong taste gets rid of the taste of the dip.

Set stocking is the reason bracken, rushes, gorse and thistles are there. In holistic management it's called partial rest. Where animals selectively overgraze the species they like, and as a result give increasing space for "weed" species to invade. As you say, the density of the animals, for very short times, leads to feet and bellies trampling and crushing the bracken. I imagine with sheep it'll also work well for species like thistles and docks. For the toughrr stuff like gorse and rushes I reckon I'll need cattle to increase the density weight - can't stack sheep as high ?‍

 

[PhilipB]

.

If I spray this with roundup now will it do anything? It's at chest height.

 

[Danllan]

View attachment 883712.

If I spray this with roundup now will it do anything? It's at chest height.

Roundup or glypho' by any other name will kill the lot quickly and permanently; if there is any wind, just be sure which way so you can allow for drift.


(I didn't, once... )