Do you wear gloves to pick ragwort?

Having made myself ill pulling ragwort without gloves, I'd be wearing them yes, for the odd plant I might not bother but would wash my hands asap.
 
Rowreach said:
Can you explain your reasons?
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Not really no . :)

Just never have - never had a problem and we dee poo the field so no gloves are on when we do it so you see a plant I just pull it, we do use a rag fork though when we doing a session. Mostly just using the wheel barrows and poo bucket and if I come across I just pull it. As I have never had a problem I can't be bothered to wear hot sweaty gloves in the heat.
 
ILuvCowparsely said:
Not really no . :)

Just never have - never had a problem and we dee poo the field so no gloves are on when we do it so you see a plant I just pull it, we do use a rag fork though when we doing a session. Mostly just using the wheel barrows and poo bucket and if I come across I just pull it. As I have never had a problem I can't be bothered to wear hot sweaty gloves in the heat.
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Does reading the responses of so many on here about the effects of it not make you think you would want to wear gloves in the future though?
 
For just the odd one no, but if going out to specifically pull ragwort then yes.
Had a weird episode last year where I pulled a barrow load without gloves, then had a glass of wine in the evening. It absolutely floored me, I couldn't finish it, my head was spinning so badly, I have never experienced anything like it. Took 24hrs to get over it.
Have just spoken to other half about this to which he replied ' I didn't know it was toxic, I pulled a load on Saturday without gloves'. He has been feeling sick since the weekend and was unable to go into work today. May not be related but certainly food for thought.
 
I pulled a couple without gloves - I did normally wear them - on a very hot day, and without thinking, rubbed the sweat off my face. Within 4 days I was in hospital, looking like a cross between a football and a tomato. Two weeks of intravenous antibiotics and massive quantities of antihistamines. it knocked my immune system and I ended up in and out of hospital for a year. Always wear them now!
 
Use a fork if specifically pulling but don't always wear gloves. I read somewhere that it was only toxic when digested, I'm not eating it and it hasn't had any effect on me yet
 
swilliam said:
I pulled a couple without gloves - I did normally wear them - on a very hot day, and without thinking, rubbed the sweat off my face. Within 4 days I was in hospital, looking like a cross between a football and a tomato. Two weeks of intravenous antibiotics and massive quantities of antihistamines. it knocked my immune system and I ended up in and out of hospital for a year. Always wear them now!
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I never knew they were that poisoness. I thought they had to be ingested to be dangerous. I'll never look at the evil things the same way again!
 
I've been pulling them up now and again for the past couple of weeks, no gloves, trying to get the whole plant up by gathering the leaves around the flower stems and pulling slowly... Sometimes the things break, but at least I've got the flowers before they bloom and then seed. this is just whenever I walk through the garden, for example to take kitchen waste to the compost bin, or when I put out bird food.

I wash my hands afterwards, and I've not noticed any problems whatsoever. It's quite likely that some people are much more sensitive than others.

This document from DEFRA might be of interest.
 
The Wikipedia article states that ragwort can contain:
  • jacobine,
  • jaconine,
  • jacozine,
  • otosenine,
  • retrorsine,
  • seneciphylline,
  • senecionine,
  • senkirkine.

More importantly,

There is a strong variation between plants from the same location in distribution between the possible alkaloids and even the absolute amount of alkaloids varies drastically.
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So in addition to my suggestion that some people are much more sensitive than others, one individual plant may affect a person much more than another plant...

Maybe the ragworts in my garden are particularly inoffensive.

I also wonder if there is sometimes confusion of ragwort with groundsel...
 
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I never used to but I haven't had any in my field for a few years due to having sheep on it during the spring. The sheep no longer come in my field, so this year it is cropping up and I have been pulling half a dozen plants each time I am in the field for the last 10 days or so. Wondering why I was feeling ill, nauseous, headache, lethargy until I thought the only thing I have done differently is pull the plants with no gloves on (and no hand washing either!). Stopped doing it at the weekend and I am starting to feel much more human today... Gloves from now on for me!
 
ycbm said:
Not for the single ones I find. But I did once have a very wierd day after picking a spectacularly iridescent 'mushroom' and bringing it into the house to show the OH.
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Was it spectacularly iridescent before or after you picked it? ;)
 
I Always wear gloves for planed pulling, i will pull the odd one without gloves. I wash hands after this. The smell itself is quiet toxic.

As Horsey people we tend to think the world revolves around us and our horses, ragwort is bad for horses and there is this obsessive hatred of it and the view it needs to be eradicated from everywhere and that people who don't want that are nutters , idiots or whatever . Ragwort is an important wildlife plant and its wholesale destruction has been a disaster for some species, for example , the cinnerbar moth. As Horsey people we need to ensure that our fields are free of the stuff for their health but we can not expect it to be wiped from the face of the earth. I certainly wish the airfield next to me didn't have it but I knew it was there before I moved, so I'm just going to have to put up with it and deal with the result. I do keep a group of flowing plants , fenced off of course. The amount of insects that use it is amazing. I pull it before it seeds. We can not alter the face of the countryside just because we want to.
 
Rowreach said:
Does reading the responses of so many on here about the effects of it not make you think you would want to wear gloves in the future though?
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Most are done with the fork but when dee pooing I don't have gloves but in winter fingerless, I have read replies but never had reaction in 21 years so prob wont rush out and wear gloves. When de pooing you never know when you come across the odd ones, but maybe next time I may use my fingerless ones.
 
No, not unless I've got a fieldfull to do, (which we don't any more because it's been pulled every year for 18 years and there are maybe 6 plants annually now). If I'd ever felt ill then of course I would wear gloves, but I've been doing it for 50+ years and would blame any possible liver damage on the alcohol.....
 
I never forget going to a Derek Knottenbelt lecture on various things including Ragwort poisioning in horses. He had tested himself before and after a session of ragwort pulling and there was signs of the toxins in his blood that could cause liver damage. I never do a planned ragwort pick without gloves now.
 
Laafet said:
I never forget going to a Derek Knottenbelt lecture on various things including Ragwort poisioning in horses. He had tested himself before and after a session of ragwort pulling and there was signs of the toxins in his blood that could cause liver damage. I never do a planned ragwort pick without gloves now.
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This is the article I remember reading about years ago, always wear gloves and if I was pulling a lot a face mask too so I don't breathe it in. Luckily I have only had 6 plants in 2.5 years in my field to deal with.
Oz
 
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