how do i get rid of ragwort!!

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nikki99

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we have recently taken over a yard and one of the back fields is covered in ragwort! i know the best way to get rid of it is to pull it up but this would be impossible as there is so much! we thought about ploughing up the field and starting over but have been told that the roots of the ragwort would still be there and we would still get the same problem. we have been told that spraying it would not work either. has anyone any suggestions on how to get rid of it? we have spent all weekend pulling the damn stuff up but theres still thousands of plants to go, we are going crazy! please help!!
 
Digging it up really is the only way I'm afraid- cutting, ploughing or otherwise treating it will only temporarily solve the problem and may cause extra problems to boot. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but getting familiar with a ragwort fork is really the only option
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If it is really badly infested with rag then i think you should consider spraying it first to try and reduce the amount of plants to a more managable level.Then you will have to pull it up religiously each year .This shouldn't be too much of a chore ,just do it when you poo pick .
If you do spray ,you will not be able to graze untill all the plants have withered and disapeared as any dead plants will be more palatable to horses and thus more dangerous.
 
Goodness marlyclay "shouldn't be too much of a chore" you obviously don't have a ragwort problem. I've been digging it out since April, an hour here, half an hour there and I finished last weekend, with the assitance of a friend. Its horrible stuff, but agree digging is the best option, you can spray but you have to keep spraying for the next 3 years and it's very expensive. Good luck.
 
When I moved into my place nearly 2 years ago, the fields were jam packed with ragwort!

I pulled as much as I could, and then in September sprayed with Forefront. Absolutely fabulous stuff. I have no ragwort this year where I sprayed. It also killed off the spear thistles that I had as well. Brilliant stuff.

You need to spray when you have a dry spell of weather if you can, though. So that the plant takes the liquid spray down to the root.
 
I think Forefront has been banned this year because of resistance as that's what we wanted to use. We used Headland Polo this year, but yet again its only stunted the plants & killed less than 20% I'd say.
I certainly disagree that it 'shouldn't be much of a chore' - its a hell of a chore! I've stopped riding over the last fortnight as I didn't have time to do that, poo-pick & pull the wretched stuff.

Pulling doesn't work that well as any broken roots left behind rejuvinate faster than the broom in the Sorcerer's Apprentice! True, it does get rid of the plant there & then, but it will almost always come back nearby.

The plants that were sprayed were managing to flower & when I dug them up the roots still looked healthy.

Why do you have to spray for 3 years Lordy100? I wish I'd sprayed last September, but farmer (wrongly) said waste of time. We had it sprayed in spring & I'm going to get it done again this Sept, followed by another treatment in Spring 2010. About £300 per time, but I think I'd rather do that than spend half my day pulling it.
 
what you have to do is dig it up, then next year dig up the stuff that comes up again, its biannual, then the year after that, dig it up again, and again, and again, since the bloody stuff is all over the neighbours land, the bridlepaths, the road verges, the motorway verges... we are all fighting a losing battle and its a disgrace
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I do feel its a lost battle & you're right, its a disgrace.

Somebody said to me a couple of weeks ago, that if I had a Ragwort problem now, I'd have it for 20 years
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The seeds can lie dormant for that amount of time, so I see where he was coming from. So depressing though. I'm seriously thinking about getting sheep to clean it up, but not sure if that would help either. You never see it in a sheep field.
 
Spraying it will a specific Ragwort killer is the best option as it will kill the roots as well. I would get a certified spraying contractor in to do it with industrial grade spray. Once it has all died off then you can either pull it up or cut and collect it and then burn it.
 
Ragfork or similar is better than pulling--plant often breaks off when you pull--depending on type of ground.
Take care when you burn--someone posted on here about OH being really ill after breathing smoke from ragwort bonfire.
 
i cant spray, so not an option for me

cattle farmer neighbour doesnt seem to see his fields as a problem. given the state of the rest of the area it probably makes no difference.

all i can do is keep digging...
 
Try waiting for it to rain really hard, then pulling it up cos the roots come out far better. Make sure you wear gloves as otherwise it can get into your bloodstream.

I *think* it says on my bottle of Graze-on 90 that it does ragwort. I only have a very few rosettes but I spray them when I'm doing the nettles & it seems to work.
 
We sprayed in the spring in the boys summer field, and that field was slightly less infested than the mares field which wasn't sprayed! We spent 3 hours on saturday digging it up - agree re those who said make sure you get roots. One of our fields was cleared last year but think someone was only pulling plants off and leaving roots as altho much less in there than the other fields, it was small plants on HUGE roots whih was much more difficult to clear fully.
 
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