F%%kin docks

[neilo]

What product was used? No need to do anything too clever. They won't cover everything, but should keep some of it at bay long enough for the crop to get going.

It was several years ago, but Butisan iirc. Swedes take forever to get going, which is half the problem. I’ve now given up on them and using Massif maincrop turnips instead, which are more vigorous and a lower seed cost to risk.

I did spray off 5ac of turnips & fathen seedlings the other day, ready to start again. Turnips were left too thin for my liking after hordes of flea beetle came over from neighbouring OSR fields, so made the decision to write off the £50 of seed and restart on that block.

 

[T7.wab]

Sprayed a field for ragwart with chaperone, depitox and thrust wiped out the docks in no time but ragwart still stands

 

[Derrick Hughes]

That’s what I do now (Glastir allows use of Glyphosate pre-drilling). I’ve always found that a stale seedbed is more effective than pre-em sprays anyway, as well as considerably cheaper.

I did not know that ,thanks
A lot of turnips going in on AB 13 countryside stewardship, they cant use it Surley

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Putting brassicas into old pasture you are nearly guaranteed to disturb a seed bank containing something nasty. Just pre-em them and be done with it.

What are the chances of controlling weed better with direct drilling . If you are hitting that top layer and not bringing up weed seed by ploughing all the time ?

 

[neilo]

What are the chances of controlling weed better with direct drilling . If you are hitting that top layer and not bringing up weed seed by ploughing all the time ?

I find it better, but there are still plenty of fathen & dock seedlings in/on the top inch or so. With Glastir unsprayed roots there are two options, one stipulating no direct drilling (& paying more), the other allowing it. The ‘non-DD’ option requires you to cultivate and record doing so, but the ‘cultivation’ can be running through with a low disturbance subsoiler so as to avoid bringing seed up.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I find it better, but there are still plenty of fathen & dock seedlings in/on the top inch or so. With Glastir unsprayed roots there are two options, one stipulating no direct drilling (& paying more), the other allowing it. The ‘non-DD’ option requires you to cultivate and record doing so, but the ‘cultivation’ can be running through with a low disturbance subsoiler so as to avoid bringing seed up.

3 local guys have gone the no direct drill. One has put 100kg of stubble turnip seed in

 

[Gulli]

Sheep?

Goats ? they will eat docks before anything else

 

[ollie989898]

Sprayed a field for ragwart with chaperone, depitox and thrust wiped out the docks in no time but ragwart still stands

Was the ragwort stood up as a stem when you sprayed?

 

[Al R]

Goats ? they will eat docks before anything else

Exlana yearlings and lambs went into a field and went straight for the docks before any grass or clover

 

[ollie989898]

Exlana yearlings and lambs went into a field and went straight for the docks before any grass or clover
View attachment 894709

A field like that wants a crop of wheat in it.

 

[Gulli]

Exlana yearlings and lambs went into a field and went straight for the docks before any grass or clover
View attachment 894709

Close enough to goats ?

 

[Yale]

My conclusions.

Dock sprays tend to weaken not kill the dock roots,year one clean,year 2-3 back with a vengeance.

Reseeds should be sprayed in year one to kill seedling docks which generally will keep a key clean for quite a while.

The more fertiliser or slurry you spread the better the docks will grow.

There is no easy answer.

 

[ollie989898]

My conclusions.

Dock sprays tend to weaken not kill the dock roots,year one clean,year 2-3 back with a vengeance.

Reseeds should be sprayed in year one to kill seedling docks which generally will keep a key clean for quite a while.

The more fertiliser or slurry you spread the better the docks will grow.

There is no easy answer.

Fertiliser and slurry keeps the grass strong. This is part of the way of keeping carp out of the sward.

Docks and other stuff will not grow unless there is space and light for them to do so. Reseeds must be sprayed soon after emergence and sown properly (and at the right rate) to ensure the sward dominates the space available. Achieve this, and you should stay weed free for a good few years.

I still drive by fields I reseeded 7 years ago now. They are on a robot farm so is only on a multicut system and never grazed but those fields are weed free even now.

 

[milkloss]

My conclusions.

Dock sprays tend to weaken not kill the dock roots,year one clean,year 2-3 back with a vengeance.

Reseeds should be sprayed in year one to kill seedling docks which generally will keep a key clean for quite a while.

The more fertiliser or slurry you spread the better the docks will grow.

There is no easy answer.

would tend to agree. I suspect the 2-3 year vengeance thing is more due to the gaps left because of the previous dead dock!
we try and spread fym on an established grass field now and have much less dock trouble. Once we're on top of them better we'll be in a position to cultivate it in a new ley.

 

[Yale]

Weed wiped this cattle grazed pp a few weeks back with glyphosate.

See the difference where father missed a strip.

Going to be a few bald patches.

 

[ollie989898]

Weed wiped this cattle grazed pp a few weeks back with glyphosate.

See the difference where father missed a strip.

Going to be a few bald patches.

View attachment 894715View attachment 894716

I had a client who fastidiously went around spot spraying docks in grassland with round up. The results looked just like that. I told him he was wasting his time, for grasses are way more sensitive to glyphosate than docks and he was killing large patches of grass, which you guessed it, would only allow more carp to turn up and thrive.

Use grazon or something grass friendly, seriously. The individual dose on each dock is far stiffer than a regular tractor sprayer would achieve.

 

[Chae1]

3 local guys have gone the no direct drill. One has put 100kg of stubble turnip seed in

What's a no direct drill?

A plough?

 

[Chae1]

Weed wiped this cattle grazed pp a few weeks back with glyphosate.

See the difference where father missed a strip.

Going to be a few bald patches.

View attachment 894715View attachment 894716

Glyphosate best thing by miles in my experience. Fluoxypyr just burns leaves off for a few weeks and they get growing again.

I've no regrowth on bits I did around dykesides with glyphosate

 

[milkloss]

Anybody tried forefront in a weed wiper. I reckon it would be awesome and not expensive as blanket spraying. Of course it would probably be against the rules......

 

[neilo]

What's a no direct drill?

A plough?

Any cultivation at all. Before I signed up to it, I had it confirmed that once through with a low disturbance subsoiler/swardlifter constituted ‘cultivation’.
No need to spend money trashing the soil structure and make it soft underfoot, all they want is more weeds germinating in order to create habitat/feed the birdies. I am obviously trying to use it to grow a fodder crop, soa balance has to be struck.