Hedgerow/ditch bank protection

[Badshot]

Obviously cross compliance finished in January, I got very excited about the prospect of not getting fined for being 10cm too close to a hedge/ ditch with cultivator or sprayer.

However some green bodies cottoned on to the fact and lobbied hard, which got the government to reinstate some of the rules, and write them into UK law.

I have read the hedgerow rules, and TBVH nothing has changed really as far as I can see.

I haven't seen anything about ditches though.

Have I missed it?

Does this mean you can now destroy the vegetation on a ditchbank?

It's often full of wild oats, blackgrass, charlock etc and although not a problem on the ditchbank, when they shed seed into the field it spreads that problem and requires a fair bit of expense on a field scale to sort out.

A sterile strip produced with glyphosate round the edge of the crop could ease these issues possibly.

FWIW I am establishing pollen and nectar strips (was to be legume fallow, but thinking of swapping to sfi24 and upgrading them) so it's irrelevant to me, but I do like to understand the rules.

I've read a few glyphosate labels and can't see any restrictions on closeness to a waterbody.

Interested in any responses.

 

[Punch]

I think you’re right.
The old 2m from centre of ditch and 1m from top has gone and not included in hedgerow legislation. Don’t bring their attention to it! There still obsessing with sewage in the rivers.
Glyphosate used to be approved on waterways and I’m think there are products that are still approved.
The only problem is it leaves the sterile strip which then gets reinvaded with all those pernicious weeds. Repeated use & resistance etc. At least if having pollen nectar you’d be able to access and top the bank!

 

[Grass And Grain]

I think you're correct, no longer a buffer for ditches, although Nitrates rules and pesticide labels probably prohibit this anyway.

Doesn't really matter because we've all probably got 1m from top of ditch bank anyway.

Don't think there ever were any rules about flailing ditch banks. Likely end of July before we want to do it, so all good??

 

[Badshot]

I think you're correct, no longer a buffer for ditches, although Nitrates rules and pesticide labels probably prohibit this anyway.

Doesn't really matter because we've all probably got 1m from top of ditch bank anyway.

Don't think there ever were any rules about flailing ditch banks. Likely end of July before we want to do it, so all good??

I think a lot of labels do state a distance from the ditch now.
However not the glyphosate labels I've read.
Nothing about it at all.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

If the label has a dead fish and tree on it doesn’t that mean it is unsuitable for watercourses?
SS

 

[milkloss]

If the label has a dead fish and tree on it doesn’t that mean it is unsuitable for watercourses?
SS

It means ‘hazardous to the environment’ as far as I can remember

 

[DrWazzock]

Here any kind of buffer strip : pollinator, grass buffer strip etc seems to get full of weeds, yet the slopey banks never seem to be as bad. I’ve never really worked out why. Ragwort seems to come into the strips on the flat from nowhere yet is rare on the banks. Is it because animal use flat buffers as pathways and bring seed with them whereas they don’t walk along steep dyke banks?

 

[kp_n_plghng]

Obviously cross compliance finished in January, I got very excited about the prospect of not getting fined for being 10cm too close to a hedge/ ditch with cultivator or sprayer.

However some green bodies cottoned on to the fact and lobbied hard, which got the government to reinstate some of the rules, and write them into UK law.

I have read the hedgerow rules, and TBVH nothing has changed really as far as I can see.

I haven't seen anything about ditches though.

Have I missed it?

Does this mean you can now destroy the vegetation on a ditchbank?

It's often full of wild oats, blackgrass, charlock etc and although not a problem on the ditchbank, when they shed seed into the field it spreads that problem and requires a fair bit of expense on a field scale to sort out.

A sterile strip produced with glyphosate round the edge of the crop could ease these issues possibly.

FWIW I am establishing pollen and nectar strips (was to be legume fallow, but thinking of swapping to sfi24 and upgrading them) so it's irrelevant to me, but I do like to understand the rules.

I've read a few glyphosate labels and can't see any restrictions on closeness to a waterbody.

Interested in any responses.

So funny was only thinking about this today and was going to start a thread. One less thing to worry about!

 

[yellow belly]

I plant cocks foot in my buffer strips under stewardship
the cocks footis very good at competing with the weed
cut it Next to the crop in the summer and all of it in the autumn

all ditches have these strips so avoiding having non sprayed headlands
most of the herbicides that control black grass have a buffer zone requirement

a lot of wild life benefits from this especially the hares and barn owls
rabbits are now quite rare but did see a mix one today