Bracken

Elpresidente

Member
Location
West Wales
I’ve just been flail topping two small fields for a neighbour today with huge patches of bracken up to the bonnet of the tractor. The aim is to reclaim and reseed these fields. What would people advise I was going to spray regrowth with Glyphosate twice if necessary then hopefully work the ground down with an Amazone Catros Disc to avoid dragging a plough through the horrendous roots.
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Then sow some Westerwolds or Forage Rye before repeating the process for a proper reseed. All thoughts suggestions and information much appreciated.
 

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Elpresidente

Member
Location
West Wales
I’ve just been flail topping two small fields for a neighbour today with huge patches of bracken up to the bonnet of the tractor. The aim is to reclaim and reseed these fields. What would people advise I was going to spray regrowth with Glyphosate twice if necessary then hopefully work the ground down with an Amazone Catros Disc to avoid dragging a plough through the horrendous roots. View attachment 893356View attachment 893356Then sow some Westerwolds or Forage Rye before repeating the process for a proper reseed. All thoughts suggestions and information much appreciated.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
I’ve just been flail topping two small fields for a neighbour today with huge patches of bracken up to the bonnet of the tractor. The aim is to reclaim and reseed these fields. What would people advise I was going to spray regrowth with Glyphosate twice if necessary then hopefully work the ground down with an Amazone Catros Disc to avoid dragging a plough through the horrendous roots. View attachment 893356View attachment 893356Then sow some Westerwolds or Forage Rye before repeating the process for a proper reseed. All thoughts suggestions and information much appreciated.


Hate to say it but that bracken really needed spraying first, then flailing a few weeks or month down the line, there will be some regrowth to spray but unlikely to be enough to kill much of the root system.

You say wanting to avoid ploughing, but that's exactly how much ground has been reclaimed from the bracken, because the plough destroys the root system.

The other way would be stick to the plan, reseed but be prepared to weed wipe the bracken regrowth next year before it smothers the grass
 
How bad are the roots when you plough bracken up?

I agree I would have sprayed off the bracken when it was growing nicely if the intention was to reseed it.

Soil test it, cultivate however will suit, get some westerwolds in and be prepared to spray it all again next year I should think.

Don't worry if the seed bed is trashy so long as there is soil to seed contact. I can imagine there will be some serious fun and games involved but after a few years you should be able to get it down to some decent grass. I used to like a challenge but never really had any issues with bracken in my part of the world.
 

Richard Devon

Member
Mixed Farmer
Anyone tried this?

Bracken Control Newsletter - 10 Jul, 2020
Use of Amidosulfuron - Natural England Position - July 2020

Amidosulfuron products offer a potential alternative to Asulam for bracken control
, but there are concerns about the impact that these products might have if used more extensively. Research is in progress, but while these uncertainties remain, Natural England will "not issue consent on SSSIs for Amidosulfuron use for bracken control except on geological sites where there are no biological features of interest."

I see its a broadleaved weed herbicide for cleavers and the like
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
Anyone tried this?

Bracken Control Newsletter - 10 Jul, 2020
Use of Amidosulfuron - Natural England Position - July 2020

Amidosulfuron products offer a potential alternative to Asulam for bracken control, but there are concerns about the impact that these products might have if used more extensively. Research is in progress, but while these uncertainties remain, Natural England will "not issue consent on SSSIs for Amidosulfuron use for bracken control except on geological sites where there are no biological features of interest."

I see its a broadleaved weed herbicide for cleavers and the like
Just had that email myself. Have to say, I've never heard of it.
Pre Asulox, 2,4,5T was recommended as giving partial control. We did do a test piece and control was quite good. Then Asulox appeared and we never gave it another thought. Asulox at a pound a pint was the thing.
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
Well, that's the 2020 season over. Bit of a struggle with the iffy weather and the early senescence was a disappointment. Last year my last day was 19th Sept as opposed to 31st August this year.
The 90m watercourse requirement has cramped my work a lot in some places, it will have to be glypho now.
Also, as I've been at it seriously for 5 years now the easy access areas have been done so it takes me more time to actually get to sites now. I'm getting older as well!
Don't forget to send your record of usage to the bracken control group;
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Well, that's the 2020 season over. Bit of a struggle with the iffy weather and the early senescence was a disappointment. Last year my last day was 19th Sept as opposed to 31st August this year.
The 90m watercourse requirement has cramped my work a lot in some places, it will have to be glypho now.
Also, as I've been at it seriously for 5 years now the easy access areas have been done so it takes me more time to actually get to sites now. I'm getting older as well!
Don't forget to send your record of usage to the bracken control group;


The south facing slopes all shrivelled up in the heat before I could get to any, but I managed to catch a couple acres on a steep north facing slope, so I went in with the long hoses and sprayed the area out with glypo.
Hopefully caught it just in time
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
We see the same when we clear bracken, funny how those plants have been dormant there under the bracken for so many years
There was a field near here which had been, to my knowledge, pp for 50 years and probably 10 years longer since the war. A new guy took over the farm and ploughed and reseeded with the usual grass mix plus forage rape. The field was yellow like osr with charlock.
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
This has appeared on the BCG webpage;

'On behalf of the Bracken Control Group, the application to permit the use of Asulam for bracken control for the 2021 season was submitted to the Chemicals Registration Division of HSE, on 30 October 2020.
It is likely that a response will be provided in late January or early February; this will depend on the timing of the meeting of the Expert Committee on Pesticides.
To provide background to the application, the BCG submitted Supporting information. The references below are to the Annexes to the application (see below).
Three key issues were highlighted (Annex D):


  • Review of the 90m buffer zone introduced in 2020
  • Review of the one-month exclusion period for livestock
  • Maintenance of ground-based control options

  • The research programme is continuing to develop the evidence base to support the need for bracken control by all means, including chemical control with Asulam and/or other active ingredients (Annex C). '
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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