Getting rid of buttercups for good

[kassieg]

I took over some stables & land this winter. Hadn't been managed great so i knew i needed to do some work. What is the best way to get rid of buttercups permanently? I'd rather do the job properly 1st time of course i realise you can't get 100% gone but I'd rather start as i mean to go on rather than using a quick fix !

Thanks in advance

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?701376-Topping-buttercups-in-field

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

They are a pesky nuisance: we spent a lot of money spraying them here, made not a jot of difference, ditto topping.

They seem to like pasture that is grazed by horses; but not found so easily where sheep are grazed long term - which I guess gives the solution basically, i.e. remove the horses and graze with sheep for about a year!

Appreciate this isn't always possible though - so probably not at all helpful.

Don't know what to suggest, we've spent a helluva lot of time and money trying to get rid of them (and had a useless contractor to boot, who didn't do the relevant things at the correct time).

 

[Bosworth]

the ph balance in our field is not correct. I suspect you need lime on it. Once the pH is correct the buttercups will no longer grow. topping, and weed spraying wont get rid. Best solution is to get a soil sample taken in all your fields, and get an analysis of your soil. THat will tell you whats missing and what you need to treat it with. I limed twice a year the second year I was there, and despite there being a complete yellow carpet the year we moved in, following the liming the buttercups were all but eradicated. and then the 3 rd year when we limed again saw the end of the buttercups. But its not a quick fix, you need to have a long term plan in place to improve the quality of the land. We had to spread well rotted manure once a year, weed spray the docks and nettles, fertilise with a specific mix for our soil results as well as lime. But 3 years in we had superb grazing and were able to turn out 365 days a year, plus produce wonder ful haylage. Not bad considering the land was bare, covered in moss, weeds and buttercups when we move in.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

The acidity test is easily done yourself with a soil testing kit, just make sure you get a representative soil sample, you can't fertilise and lime at the same time, rest and lime is the main priority.
Examine the buttercups carefully, are there quite a few leaves, the spray has to contact the leaves in order to work.
Almost any farmer will spray for buttercups, but liming is more specialist.
The spray is a quick fix and better management is permanent, but you will have to spray initially, maybe twice.
Mixing sheep and horses is the best plan if you can get some, they probably help reduce worm burden as well as improving the grazing.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I used Headland polo in late May in 2013 on 50% of my paddocks - all of which had not been sprayed for a goodly number of years and were a sea of yellow annually.
The 4 paddocks that were done with the contractor using tractor & boom arms had none last year and only a few this year.
The tiny diet paddock which was done with back-pack had about a 50% return last year and around 70% return from 'normal' this year.

The 4 remaining paddocks which were not done have been razed by hand or topper & have been back as usual.

Am planning on doing a'commercial' spray again next year over as much as possible

 

[JillA]

I have limed my land twice in the last 15 years and it hasn't made a bit of difference to the buttercups - might help if they aren't already present, but they have underground rhizomes so keep regenerating. I sprayed with Relay P about 4 years ago, and it did reduce them significantly - I am told you need to do that every 3 years, whether that is indefinitely or gets rid totally over time I don't know. Either way it is expensive, and I am looking at getting tack sheep on some of my land for a while

 

[Dry Rot]

This ^^^^^.

You will get some very misleading advice on a horsey forum! (Sorry, but it is true). You need to go to somewhere like here -- http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php -- where the professionals hang out or speak to your agrichemical supplier.

I have learnt that....

Lime makes little or no difference. There are plenty of buttercups happily growing on chalk (i.e. lime) soil.

Buttercups need to be sprayed when flowering and probably for several (3?) years in succession rather than "every three years". Some weeds need to be sprayed on emergence, some when they are flowering. Buttercups and thistles are two of the latter.

The labels on herbicides can be wrong.

Compaction and poor drainage encourages buttercups, so land grazed by horses suits them as hooves compact the soil and damage rhizomes and both encourage propogation. The seeds will more readily take on bare ground, so ground cut up by hooves.

Cross grazing with sheep may hoover up some of the worm larvae and eggs but it won't do much for buttercups.

Just my conclusions from farming here for over 30 years, from speaking to agrochemical suppliers, and listening to advice from other farmers. Take it or leave it as you will.

 

[oldie48]

We are on clay soil and the creeping buttercup does thrive particularly well on this type of soil and are difficult to eradicate. We use a contractor to spray our 7 acre field, to keep it buttercup free we should do it every year but we do it every 2/3 years as it's quite expensive but very effective in the short term and means we can have good haylage off it. Our smaller paddocks are sprayed using a back pack sprayer, we do them every year and over time we have improved them significantly. We top them to get any we miss and to clean up the areas the horses leave long. I'll also hand cut docks, thistles etc. It's not a bad job to do on a nice day. I think the secret to having good grazing is to keep on top of it and not to over graze it. We've never limed as I don't think it would make any difference to our very heavy clay soil but I'm prepared to be persuaded!

 

[Tiddlypom]

My land has been plagued by buttercups for the last few years. We had it ph tested and limed about 5 years ago. The ph has been tested twice since, and is around 6.0 now, whuch is very slightly acidic but ok. More lime would make the land too alkaline. The chap who did the testing reckons that liming alone will not clear the land of established buttercups.

Got a local contractor in this year who sprayed 5+ acres with Headland Relay using a quad and boom sprayer. Results look very promising, the sprayed acreage is growing hay now and would normally be a sea of yellow, underpinned by clover and plantains. Instead, we have grass!! He charged £80 plus the chemicals, which were another £180. Complete bargain. Only thing it it didn't zap was common hogweed, which I went round later and spot sprayed with Grazon Pro.

We're expecting to spray again sometime after the hay is cut, and also next spring, as my land was so infested that it will take a while to get rid of all weeds. However, it all looks very promising now.

I will be getting some bespoke fertiliser made up to put on the autumn, customised to my land's requirements. The ph and soil testing, plus advice re fertiliser composition, cost £20. Ideally it would have been fertilised in the spring, but I wasn't organised and ran out of time.

 

[kassieg]

Thanks all some good tips here! Going to start with testing my soil then go from there.

Mam is convinced that the only way is to dig them out then over seed where they came from which seems crazy to me !

I am planning on being here for a while so worth doing. 1 field is worse than the other so not too bad but they both need doing.
I'm on well draining soil, will this make a difference?

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Thanks all some good tips here! Going to start with testing my soil then go from there.

Mam is convinced that the only way is to dig them out then over seed where they came from which seems crazy to me !

I am planning on being here for a while so worth doing. 1 field is worse than the other so not too bad but they both need doing.
I'm on well draining soil, will this make a difference?

It might make a difference to the effectiveness of liming which is best on wet acid soils, but not to the spraying.

 

[peanut]

There are plenty of buttercups happily growing on chalk (i.e. lime) soil.

I can definitely vouch for this !

 

[Tnavas]

When someone comes up with a method that works I want to know. My horse is allergic to them, her face swells up like a hamster on a feeding frenzy!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

When someone comes up with a method that works I want to know. My horse is allergic to them, her face swells up like a hamster on a feeding frenzy!

The method that works is to change the grazing pattern, it is usually overgrazed pastures.
Sheep are a good help.
If you cant have more acres then use some fertiliser to boost grass growth.

 

[OliveOyl]

The method that works is to change the grazing pattern, it is usually overgrazed pastures.
Sheep are a good help.
If you cant have more acres then use some fertiliser to boost grass growth.

My field is also covered in buttercups, but it makes no difference whether the fields have been grazed or not, the one's that don't have horses in have just as much yellow in as those that have been grazed. I have also limed in the past and that didn't make any difference either. I am now considering spraying them, but it seems that gives mixed results too . . .

 

[Tiddlypom]

This table is useful when considering which herbicide to use.

ETA The contractor I used recently normally uses Headland Polo. I have a lot of clover to get rid of as well as the buttercups, so went for Relay instead.

 

[JillA]

Thanks for that - useful to see them all compared.