Help! Weeds, Herbicide Help Needed!

[Tarandes Bear]

Currently at livery and I'm pulling my hair out with sheer frustration at my YO. I'm a very fussy individual and do my very best for my horses but of late I am really struggling to communicate with YO. I have a field of approx 2.5/3.00 acres and have invested a lot of time and money in fencing out 5 paddocks. 2 of the paddocks are an absolute disgrace and are infested with docks, thistles, buttercups, nettles etc. I have to plead with them for any field maintenance and I'm begining to feel like I'm making my self a nuisance. I have a trickle of a stream that runs through the middle of the field and I'm told they will not spray or chemically treat my field because of the waterway. Constant 'topping' of this area (when they can be bothered to it) is just encouraging more growth. I'm at my wits end with what to do and I'm annoyed because in effect I'm loosing the grazing of 2 paddocks. In their defence they have purchased a knapsack, sprayer and generic roundup weedkiller and told me to spray it myself..... This I feel is laughable. I can spray it myself but for a tractor and sprayer to come in and do it is a no-no? Please can any of you shed any light on what is permissable with a waterway running through your field? I feel I am being fobbed off and they are not prepared to spend any money on pasture management. I'd love to hear your own personal experiences and how you manage with weed infestation. Many thanks

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

You can use something like Headland Polo [MCPA and 2-4D], main problem is that the weeds are best killed when at the three leaf [immature] stage, not now, when in full growth.

Re water course you have to use common sense, only spray when windless and no heavy rain forecast and not too near the stream.

Management is the main thing, is there a shortage of grass or is it that you don't like weeds like dock and buttercups which are not good for horse pastures. Has it been overgrazed and is horse sick. Would they consider lime, assuming soil is acid [buttercups often indicate this]

Roundup is not really suitable as it will kill green grass very easily and weeds not so easily.
You know that RAGWORT is a killer to horses esp when dead as it is very "sugary" at that stage.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I think I would concentrate on one small area, keep horses out of it for four to six weeks and spray it now. Nettles are indicative of patches of very rich soil, I would probably leave them alone, for the sake of using less weedkiller also my horse always liked a few thistle heads for appetiser!
So that leaves docks and buttercups to spray.
If you want a trial you can buy a litre of Verdone which I use to kill weeds in lawns, it is available on Amazon. Read the instructions on any weedkiller and make sure you do not overdose.
Lime has to be washed in to the soil, so again you can't do this and graze the grass.

 

[Rob Lakeside]

Still the best product on the market and available from the garden centre is SBK it is a brushwood killer that is safe in grass.
If you search buttercups on H&H forum you will find a few more idears

 

[honetpot]

http://www.progreen.co.uk/weed-kill...in-grass/weedkillers-for-paddocks/cat_28.html
To be fair on the YO I own my own land and would happily pay someone to spray but can I get anyone to come, no. This is the second year I have tried to get someone and had no luck, they have to have the right equipment and the sprayer training. I have a ditch/drain along side one of my fields so they can not spray up the ditch so I ended up with a band of weed along the field anyway. So today I spent the morning spot spraying with a knapsack sprayer, I have bought a bigger sprayer but I am not completely sure how it works but there was no wind so I thought I better make a start. I would divide your paddock into sections and start with the worst bits. I now have to invest in two sheep.

 

[Abby-Lou]

I would take the lead and get cracked on with the napsack sprayer ! it doesn't take long and least you get your field back!
I completed spraying two fields 6 acres a fortnight ago so just letting the horses back on to the grass today hooray !

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I would take the lead and get cracked on with the napsack sprayer ! it doesn't take long and least you get your field back!
I completed spraying two fields 6 acres a fortnight ago so just letting the horses back on to the grass today hooray !

Not if she sprays with Roundup, there won t be anything left at all.............

 

[Abby-Lou]

Not if she sprays with Roundup, there won t be anything left at all.............

Ha Ha - But Depitox would be fine !

 

[Tarandes Bear]

Haha, that made me laugh too! Can Depitox and Headland Polo both be used in Knapsacks?

 

[Tarandes Bear]

I completed spraying two fields 6 acres a fortnight ago so just letting the horses back on to the grass today hooray ![/QUOTE]

What herbicide did you use?

 

[whiteflower]

interested in this am im still looking for something to do my fields with. you now need a spraying certificate to be able to apply certain weedkillers (depitox and headland polo included) so im looking for something i can use myself without having to get a contractor in.

 

[Tarandes Bear]

Thanks to you all who have replied. I guess it's too late in the season to spray now anyway. We'll have to keep on topping for now and assess the situaiton at an earlier flowering stage next spring.

 

[whiteflower]

Still the best product on the market and available from the garden centre is SBK it is a brushwood killer that is safe in grass.
If you search buttercups on H&H forum you will find a few more idears

i take it as this can be brought in the garden centre it is ok for anyone to apply ?

 

[Tarandes Bear]

interested in this am im still looking for something to do my fields with. you now need a spraying certificate to be able to apply certain weedkillers (depitox and headland polo included) so im looking for something i can use myself without having to get a contractor in.

I'll remain silent about certificates etc. My YO will not get contractors in to spray. We need to do it ourselves. What are you proposing to use, and what weed problem are you having? Yes, an annoying problem but interesting thread to read !!!

 

[Fii]

Thanks to you all who have replied. I guess it's too late in the season to spray now anyway. We'll have to keep on topping for now and assess the situaiton at an earlier flowering stage next spring.

No its not to late, if you top now and then spray the regrowth!
Re buttercup i agree with whoever said top dress with lime! The trouble with buttercup (creeping) is it smothers everything else and there wont be much under it if you spray it off, and it will only come back next year anyway.The goodthing is it will die back soon anyway!

 

[whiteflower]

we have mainly docks, and a few buttercups. not sure what im going to use as im not sure anything i can now use legally will be strong enough. going to look into sbk which rob lakeside has suggested above as it must be ok for anyone to use if you can buy it at the garden centre.

if not looks like ill have to get a contractor in which will work out expensive as the fields will probably need to be done twice a year for the next few years to sort them out.

 

[honetpot]

interested in this am im still looking for something to do my fields with. you now need a spraying certificate to be able to apply certain weedkillers (depitox and headland polo included) so im looking for something i can use myself without having to get a contractor in.

http://www.progreen.co.uk/Pr0gr33n/images/uploads/Certificate-of-competence.pdf
If you are doing your own land and are over a certain age no,

 

[whiteflower]

http://www.progreen.co.uk/Pr0gr33n/images/uploads/Certificate-of-competence.pdf
If you are doing your own land and are over a certain age no,

yep, sadly anyone born after 1964, which includes me ! needs a certificate to spray certain products even if its your own land :-(

 

[honetpot]

Get your 'dad' to do it

 

[Abby-Lou]

yep, sadly anyone born after 1964, which includes me ! needs a certificate to spray certain products even if its your own land :-(

I have never been asked for a proof of certificate when buying depitox online ? I was really suprised by this ? I have got fantastic results using this spray we had a sea of buttercups last year and this year reduced to small patches.

 

[Loftyrules]

Grandfather spraying rights are due to end, and rightly so http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/guidan...-Updates-2013/June/Grandfather-rights-changes

Pesticides can have a devastating affect on the environment if used incorrectly. Plants can also build up resistance to certain active ingredients if the dose rate is incorrect.
It costs about £400 to take your PA1 and then PA6 or PA2 depending on whether you use a knapsack or boom sprayer.
It's certainly a lot cheaper than a fine from the EA when your chemical gets into a watercourse and they trace it back to your application.

 

[Smogul]

2 of the paddocks are an absolute disgrace and are infested with docks, thistles, buttercups, nettles etc.

I found this slightly odd. We are constantly told that current monoculture grass constitutes poor grazing for horses but as soon as anything else raises its head, you are inundated with advice on how to kill it off. I agree that buttercups are a nightmare but any horse I have owned has enjoyed docks, thistles and nettles. At a previous yard YM used to adjust electric fencing periodically so that horses had access to "untidy" areas. Horses spent a happy couple of days consuming all the different "weeds". I can't remember how the buttercups were disposed of.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Grandfather spraying rights are due to end, and rightly so http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/guidan...-Updates-2013/June/Grandfather-rights-changes

Pesticides can have a devastating affect on the environment if used incorrectly. Plants can also build up resistance to certain active ingredients if the dose rate is incorrect.
It costs about £400 to take your PA1 and then PA6 or PA2 depending on whether you use a knapsack or boom sprayer.
It's certainly a lot cheaper than a fine from the EA when your chemical gets into a watercourse and they trace it back to your application.

A bit of common sense needed here ..........

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I found this slightly odd. We are constantly told that current monoculture grass constitutes poor grazing for horses but as soon as anything else raises its head, you are inundated with advice on how to kill it off. I agree that buttercups are a nightmare but any horse I have owned has enjoyed docks, thistles and nettles. At a previous yard YM used to adjust electric fencing periodically so that horses had access to "untidy" areas. Horses spent a happy couple of days consuming all the different "weeds". I can't remember how the buttercups were disposed of.

Buttercups are indicative of poor management, assuming we want to manage for horses and not for buttercups.

As an agricultural advisor [retired], I see too many city horses standing on a green tablecloth with only weeds growing over ten inches, often Ragwort.

Horses are selective grazers and will make the field horse sick if there are too many of them. Sheep will balance the grazing and can reduce worms.

A farmer who wants to produce a high yield of milk per acre likes monoculture ........ ryegrass ryegrass, ryegrass.

An organic farmer will want a mix of grass and clover, clover assists in grass production.

Horse owners often seem to think a field needs to be green, they have not much understanding beyond that.

agrostis repens
poa annua
perennial ryegrass
annual ryegrass
wild white clover
red clover
and some others
http://www.greencast.co.uk/media/111154/grass id guide.pdf