Help please with buttercups

[pinkgirl]

can you tell me what is the most effective spray for getting rid of buttercups and when is best time to spray them.
the buttercup leaves are already coming through ground and seem to outweigh my grass content


please help

 

[Smitty]

I used Depitox at a rate of 200ml per 10 litres water.

 

[jrp204]

Get your soil pH tested, buttercups are often a sign of low pH.

 

[pinkgirl]

so is depitox very effective and when do you spray them

 

[classicalfan]

Buttercups love acid conditions. By changing the soil PH you can effectively eeradicate them without having to use chemicals. Ie, lime your pasture.

 

[pinkgirl]

how long do you have to leave ponies of a field if it has been limed then?

 

[flyingfeet]

ph was true, but I've got infestations on Cotswold Limestone brash and dry pasture - so they (the buttercups) have evolved

Best chemical is Headlands Polo as you should only need one pass.

 

[jrp204]

Once the lime has been washed in it should be fine.

 

[ThePony]

V interested in this, we are on livery but last year there was an enormous amount of buttercups that the YM didn't do anything about at all. So bad that OH mare came up in a type of summer mudfever with scabs all over her heels which were due to eating the buttercups.
I v much doubt that YM will be anymore bothered to do something about it this year, so want to look at options (obv will get permission before spraying!).
With the chemicals how long do you have to have the horses off the pasture? We only have one field so the shorter time the better!
(sorry to barge into your thread op, loads of really useful info here!).

 

[joeanne]

Liming is the most effective way to get rid of the buttercups.
We have one here that froths so badly she looks like she has eaten a sherbet dibdab if she goes in a field with buttercups!

 

[ThePony]

Does lime always get rid of it? Would something like this be what you would need to use? http://www.djturfcare.co.uk/products/Bio-Lime-Organic-Fertiliser.html How would you check ph to see if you have acid soil? Prob a stupid question, but how do you get the lime around the field, just chuck it about or is there a bit of kit you need?

 

[joeanne]

You need a certain weight of lime per acre, or its not effective.
If you have buttercups, then you have a high PH level. Liming will help rectify this. It may be that you need to do it on a yearly basis, but its far easier to get someone in to do it for you.

 

[jrp204]

Contact your local Ag. merchants who will have or will recommend an agronomist who will come out and take some soil samples to test pH levels. Some ag. contractors will also offer this service and will spread the lime too. I would get this done before parting with too much hard earned cash on sprays that will probably only knock the bcups (it usually takes more than 1 app to kill them), once the Ph is improved the grass will outcompete the bcups.

 

[alison247]

Thank you to pinkgirl for this useful thread.
I have rented for the last ten years about 1/2 acre from my neighbour. Which we use April to Sept to rest our 2 1/2 acres.
This paddock has always had buttercups in it and although it borders our paddocks fortunatly ours don't have buttercups.
Over the years we have tried killing them with grazeon and mowing them down. Our neighbour likes the pretty little flowers in spring so is not helpful in allowing us to totally eradicate them!!!
However last winter (09/10) they helped out a local farmer by grazing ten pregnant ewes and NO buttercups ever since!!!!!!!!!!!
So maybe the answer is to put sheep on the grass occaisionally?