Ragwort control

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
we used a mixture of depitox and think the other was agritox or something like that did the trick last year out of interest how long should you keep cattle out for after spraying?

Yep, good and simple mix. Old fashioned for some, but I still rate it.

Couple of weeks. Problem, cattle will eat sprayed out ragwort if it's advanced. Again, pull or flail after spraying will sort a lot of the problem :)
 
The trouble is that most horsey people don't notice ragwort at easily controlled rosette stage in the early/mid spring, then notice it when it springs up tall and flowers, then expect an instant fix.
Not all horse owners are lazy numpties. I remember one spring spending quite a few evenings and weekend afternoons going over a 14 acre field in a grid pattern with a weed fork, removing barrow-loads of ragwort rosettes. I'd moved to the livery yard in the winter and the ragwort was out of control. The dunce in this case was the yard owner who bollocked me for digging up the primroses.

edited to add: It was most satisfying to hear a couple of years after I'd moved that he got a Defra notice to clear all his land, not just the grazing fields, after complaints from his neighbours. Sucks to be him :D
 
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Agrivator

Member
Thrust - (Dicamba + 24D) - is one of the most effective herbicides.

But if anyone is pulling ragwort, forget about the first-year plants at the rosette stage.

Wear gloves, and concentrate on pulling the second-year plants just as they have come into flower. If soil moisture is just right, roots will easily come up with plant.

Next year, last year's rosettes will have come into flower. Pull them.

The year after, you will have broken the back of the ragwort problem.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Not all horse owners are lazy numpties. I remember one spring spending quite a few evenings and weekend afternoons going over a 14 acre field in a grid pattern with a weed fork, removing barrow-loads of ragwort rosettes. I'd moved to the livery yard in the winter and the ragwort was out of control. The dunce in this case was the yard owner who bollocked me for digging up the primroses.

edited to add: It was most satisfying to hear a couple of years after I'd moved that he got a Defra notice to clear all his land, not just the grazing fields, after complaints from his neighbours. Sucks to be him :D

Poetic justice indeed. Wish DEFRA could me more pro-active, especially against Local Authorities.
 
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Polo is too pish weak for this job, it's the sort of thing I sprayed on young leys. I have never used it on established grassland, even at full rate with an adjuvant, and found it particularly impressive at all. Adding cimarron worked but that isn't effective on all weeds either.

Get out with full rate depitox and full rate agritox and have a crack with that.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Thrust - (Dicamba + 24D) - is one of the most effective herbicides.

But if anyone is pulling ragwort, forget about the first-year plants at the rosette stage.

Wear gloves, and concentrate on pulling the second-year plants just as they have come into flower. If soil moisture is just right, roots will easily come up with plant.

Next year, last year's rosettes will have come into flower. Pull them.

The year after, you will have broken the back of the ragwort problem.

It's perfect here at the moment now we have had some rain. Been doing my small patches recently, a legacy from a now dead neighbour who liked Cinnabar moths I think :mad:
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Polo is too pish weak for this job, it's the sort of thing I sprayed on young leys. I have never used it on established grassland, even at full rate with an adjuvant, and found it particularly impressive at all. Adding cimarron worked but that isn't effective on all weeds either.

Get out with full rate depitox and full rate agritox and have a crack with that.

Cimmaron has gone. No metsulfuron approved for grassland now.
 

Ashtree

Member
I’ve found that 24D will work, provided you use enough of it and you will probably still need to do it twice in 3 weeks to get it all. Forefront is a one off solution that will last.

I know the sort of Breckland soils that Big Mr C is on and Forefront is what I’d definitely want to use there.

Its Roses problem was mentioned on Gardners Question Time and there were licensing issues because of the horse droppings being used in gardens. At one stage, only Devon and Cornwall CC’s were allowed to use it on their roadside verges.

Maybe it’s me being a snowflake, but any spray which is still effective the following year, in muck from stock which have eaten sprayed fodder, just can’t be good!!
Personally I wouldn’t allow Forefront inside my gate. I also think a fair share of non professional sprayers like stock farmers, don’t take due care and attention with this product.?
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Maybe it’s me being a snowflake, but any spray which is still effective the following year, in muck from stock which have eaten sprayed fodder, just can’t be good!!
Personally I wouldn’t allow Forefront inside my gate. I also think a fair share of non professional sprayers like stock farmers, don’t take due care and attention with this product.?
Maybe it's a matter of perspective - v - snowflakiness!
Certainly, there are now restrictions on the use of Forefront for good reasons.
However, ALL sprays will leave residues and those residues have different effects.

IMO opinion, Forefront is the best product to eliminate Ragwort. Forefront's residue effect on Gardens wasn't picked when the product was launched and it was only after they were seen that those restrictions against it being used on grass field used for horse grazing were put into place.

However, I had used it before those restrictions had come into place. But fortunately, none of my horses' droppings were ever used on any gardens.

If you have ever seen what Ragwort poisoning does to a horse and the agony it suffers before ultimate death, your perspective about using Forefront is affected.

Pulling Ragwort isn't fine because horses will not touch it as long as it is growing. However, as soon as you pull it, it starts to become palatable. If you aren't careful enough to absolutely make certain that you got every leaf and absolutely none of it dropped onto the field once pulled, then good-bye horse!
 

Big Mr C

Member
Thanks for all the advise. Just for a bit of clarification. We are quite a large horse breeding enterprise all our muck is taken away we don't sell any in bags from the front gate. Thanks
 

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