is this ragwort?

I actually have no idea if it is or not.
One way to tell for sure though, stick this in a pot at home, then wait and see ;)

Spray/dig up the rest if you don't want it in your pastures, peace of mind then.

Some people do have problems identifying ragwort, especially at this stage though, I put this photo up a year ago and people were falling over themselves to tell me I was infested. Quite right, I am.
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I suggest the doubters read the DEFRA page again. It says, "The leaves of these young plants are extremely variable, either undivided or simply divided into terminal oval and smaller lateral lobes".

If they still have doubts, crush a small piece of the plant between finger and thumb and sniff it. An alternative name for Ragwort is Stinking Willie!:eek:

And a third option is to go onto Google, click on Images, type in Ragwort, and have a look at the pictures.

It's ragwort!:rolleyes:
 
Enfys said:
I actually have no idea if it is or not.
One way to tell for sure though, stick this in a pot at home, then wait and see ;)

Spray/dig up the rest if you don't want it in your pastures, peace of mind then.

Some people do have problems identifying ragwort, especially at this stage though, I put this photo up a year ago and people were falling over themselves to tell me I was infested. Quite right, I am.
09dfc301.jpg
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Wow what's the flower, it looks like the heads are tube shape ?
 
Dee O'Dorant said:
^^^ Now that really is disturbing. May I suggest that you read up on ragwort, your lack of knowledge is scary. Start with "Ragwort is a biennial"! look up "biennial" if you don't know what it means!
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Does you attitude come 'naturally' or do you have to work on being nasty?

You are wrong lady - let's see you eat that young plant if you are so sure!!!! I say that's ragwort - may I suggest you research the variables of the young plants!!!
 
Enfys said:
I actually have no idea if it is or not.
One way to tell for sure though, stick this in a pot at home, then wait and see ;)

Spray/dig up the rest if you don't want it in your pastures, peace of mind then.

Some people do have problems identifying ragwort, especially at this stage though, I put this photo up a year ago and people were falling over themselves to tell me I was infested. Quite right, I am.
09dfc301.jpg
Click to expand...

is that golden rod? I thought that was also toxic to horses.
 
I wouldn't want to say one way or the other. Yellow composites are notoriously hard to tell apart from one another. Even for people who know about them!

My money is on it NOT being ragwort from the picture but that's just my opinion.
 
having dealt with a field that was very bad for ragwort - i'd put money on it being rosette stage ragwort.... however a picture over the internet is a very different matter from seeing in real life ;)
 
SpottedCat said:
OP - upload the picture to this website (think its run by the natural history museum). It's a very accurate way to get an ID.

http://www.ispot.org.uk/
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Second this, it's run by the Open University and has loads of professional and amateur naturalists who should be able to identify it for you fairly quickly.

I'm undecided - mainly as I've not seen the very small rosettes of ragwort with such purple stems before. I have one of two ragwort plants in my garden and let them grow so I can watch the different stages and know what they look like when small (I don't get out much!). I only have one at the moment as dig them out eventually as don't want it spreading but it's contained in my urban garden.
 
Well I wouldn't know. We don't have ragwort anywhere near my field. Never ever found any. Looks pretty though when we come out the country and onto the motorway.
 
kerilli said:
i'd put money on that being ragwort. as said, if in doubt, pull it out.
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This, 100% sure its ragwort, I've spent ALOT of time pulling ragwort at all stages of its blasted life out! Grrr, makes me cross just thinking about the amount of time I've spent on that blasted plant!!
 
There are 4 different types of ragwort in UK

http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Ragwort.html

As this has a purple stem and very similar to any rag plant I have come across (still have blisters on my hands from a long week of rag pulling)

Id say it was a type of rag, even if not common rag,
Wouldnt harm you to pull it.
 
wow this has taken off since i thought it had died when i last replied. im normally a bit of a ragwort-hound and have spent many hours pulling the stuff in our old field. there was just something about this didnt scream ragwort. thankyou all for your replies.i had a closer look around in better light and theres so much of it i may fence the area off and spray. if so which is the best spray to use?
 
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micramadam said:
My motto like many others ' If in doubt, pull it out!' :D
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it's a good motto....and form of birth control:D:D

I would always err on the side of caution with a plant that you think could be ragwort, and to me that looks like raggy, :)
glyphosphate weed killer will get rid of it and is half the price of ragtime!! i use Glyfos as OH has it for work;)
 
I'm resurrecting this old thread with an update, I sectioned a bit off and this is what it grew into. It's def still got the ragwort shaped leaves but the flowers are nothing like the ragwort flowers I've ever pulled up. They're tiny and quite a pale yellow.
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at least with that long tap root it is certain that it isn't ragwort. If it is dogmustard as I think, it isn't harmful.
 
Just been looking it up and from what I can find its still toxic if eaten but mainly causes stomach problems. Says they're unlikely to eat it. Will prob just carry on pulling it up
 
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