Nettles

[frazzled]

Anyone got any good ways of getting rid of nettles, we are overun!

 

[BBH]

SBK is good but if the area is very dense you will have to go over the area every year until all gone as some come back.

 

[billyslad]

spray is best , I have just sprayed my paddocks and needed to keep horses off them for 7 days , spraying them will kill them so they wont come back wheras if you cut them they will continue to grow.
Speak to your local farmer

 

[frazzled]

Sorry to be a numpty but what is SBK?

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Chop them down, dry them for 24 hours and feed to the horses - they love them and also very good for them!!

 

[BBH]

Sorry its a brand of weedkiller. When I bought my land three years ago I had a dense covering of nettles covering an access route. They hadn't been tended before and now they are gone completely and it was SBK that I used.

 

[samstar]

We hack the top off ours and my pony thats in starvation paddock eats them up when wilted, she loves them.

Why kill them when they are good for horses

 

[Slightly Foxed]

Pull them up, they are very short rooted, then, as others have said, let them wilt a bit and feed them to the horses.

 

[loopyloop]

you can borrow my mare, she LOVES them, she has been known to try and eat them straight from the field!

Not sure how she doesn't sting herself?!?

 

[yethersgill]

Yup we chop them down and feed to the ponies too

They have shallow but fibrous roots and leaving a bit will produce new plants though, which can be a pain.

 

[Flyingbuck]

Mine also love them - gives the horse a bit of variety unless you are completely over-run, I would just chop them down.

 

[kellyeaton]

i leave mine and let them wilt then the horses eat them and are very good for them!