Docks!

[GAM]

Never seen Docks come this bad .in my Reseed , I was right not to put clover inView attachment 966255

Looks like it was drilled in!

 

[Cowmansam]

Must have come in the bag have to have a word with your seed rep hahaha

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Looks like it was drilled in!

Field was ploughed and done the old fashioned way

 

[The Ruminant]

What was the careful management that allowed you to achieve that result? Thanks Angus.

Mob grazing! More specifically, allowing everything to grow and flourish then, when the grasses are mature, putting the cattle in to graze at high-ish stocking densities. They graze and smash everything to the ground, trample lots of vegetation into the earth too (which feeds the soil microbes). Then rest the paddock until everything had fully recovered again, and repeat.

The basic thing to remember is that nature is always trying to move from bare soil through to woodland. Every plant, weed, grass, thorn, shrub and tree is a part of this succession. On bare ground you get invasive annuals to start with, then the perennial ‘weeds’, then grasses move in, then thorns and shrubs and finally trees.

As farmers we are trying to arrest this succession at the point where the grasses are dominant. This happens naturally in many parts of the world where there are grazing ruminants - the plains of Africa, the prairies of N America, the steppes of Mongolia etc. Mob grazing is mimicking those herds to recreate those grasslands, albeit on a smaller scale.

If we damage the ground - exposing bare soil by ploughing or poaching - then we set back the successional chain and “weeds” will move in, temporarily. They are doing a job and will, in time, be followed by grasses etc. The challenge, as humans, is allowing the weeds time to ‘do their thing’ without reaching for the topper or the spray can. That’s the hardest part.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Mob grazing! More specifically, allowing everything to grow and flourish then, when the grasses are mature, putting the cattle in to graze at high-ish stocking densities. They graze and smash everything to the ground, trample lots of vegetation into the earth too (which feeds the soil microbes). Then rest the paddock until everything had fully recovered again, and repeat.

The basic thing to remember is that nature is always trying to move from bare soil through to woodland. Every plant, weed, grass, thorn, shrub and tree is a part of this succession. On bare ground you get invasive annuals to start with, then the perennial ‘weeds’, then grasses move in, then thorns and shrubs and finally trees.

As farmers we are trying to arrest this succession at the point where the grasses are dominant. This happens naturally in many parts of the world where there are grazing ruminants - the plains of Africa, the prairies of N America, the steppes of Mongolia etc. Mob grazing is mimicking those herds to recreate those grasslands, albeit on a smaller scale.

If we damage the ground - exposing bare soil by ploughing or poaching - then we set back the successional chain and “weeds” will move in, temporarily. They are doing a job and will, in time, be followed by grasses etc. The challenge, as humans, is allowing the weeds time to ‘do their thing’ without reaching for the topper or the spray can. That’s the hardest part.

What about Docks ? I see you have a few there , if your letting the crop mature you will have seed everywhere , but I must say very interesting, I have a 5 acre field that has not been touched since the 60ts , it is now a mature willow wood apart from a few Brambles.

 

[davidroberts30]

Must have come in the bag have to have a word with your seed rep hahaha

 

[steveR]

Still available from here if their website is correct, but it isn't cheap (but the two bottle variant - not the older version in single bottle:

Pas Tor Twin Pack 1 x 2L + 1 x 2L - Powerful Grassland Weedkiller

PasTor twin pack is the supercharged replacement for Pastor Pro, containing more active ingredients and delivering even better results. Packaged in a handy twin pack PasTor is strong on nettles, docks and thistles plus a wide range of broad leaved and annual weeds. More cost effective per acre...

www.progreen.co.uk

That extra plastic bottle really cranked the price up...! Sneaky really.

 

[steveR]

What about Docks ? I see you have a few there , if your letting the crop mature you will have seed everywhere , but I must say very interesting, I have a 5 acre field that has not been touched since the 60ts , it is now a mature willow wood apart from a few Brambles.

Should have shoved stock in 40 years ago, as the stock will keep willow down in the early stages

I have a willow "Margin" that I flail back to ground level every winter. The CS finishes this Autumn, so it will be an intersting process in reverting it to cropping. The rest of the field is in a herbal ley, so this might follow next spring after flailing off, regrowth, then 6l 480/ha Glyphosate around mid May.

I might have to run the discs through several times, as I suspect the root mass might challenge the Aitchison in DD mode ....!

Hopefully, grazing stock will prevent regrowth....

 

[The Ruminant]

What about Docks ? I see you have a few there , if your letting the crop mature you will have seed everywhere , but I must say very interesting, I have a 5 acre field that has not been touched since the 60ts , it is now a mature willow wood apart from a few Brambles.

This is an old photo of the same field in 2016

I’m slowly getting on top of the weeds

 

[ollie989898]

Never seen Docks come this bad .in my Reseed , I was right not to put clover inView attachment 966255

How did you establish that?

 

[farmerm]

If they were sprayed during the cold weather basically all products were unlikely to work well. It's only become warm enough in the last 10 days or so.

by which time most are probably too big.... though I have tried hit a few today....

 

[ollie989898]

by which time most are probably too big.... though I have tried hit a few today....

Got half a chance now it is warm and they are actively growing.

You will generally find spraying the docks after first cut will sort them out.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

How did you establish that?

Plough ,power harrow then Einbock Seeder
Will Minstrel take them out ?

 

[ollie989898]

Plough ,power harrow then Einbock Seeder

Derrick, it needs half rate polo and a stiff dose of hatchet I would say.

EDIT: Minstrel is flurox from memory? Add in some Polo or similar to curl up the buttercup and dandelion etc.