Pasture management and dock plants

[ycbm]

can you do that with the horses still out or do they have to be off the field?

I think you are recommended to remove them but I don't. They follow me around while I spray each individual plant, but they never touch them. Those in the picture are in a pen where they are shut in the barn during the day and that's the only green stuff available for up to 9 hours and they still don't touch them. I wait for a still day to make sure the mist doesn't spread, and spray from very close directly onto the leaves.
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[ycbm]

they eat grass and shit docks

Mine eat grass and shit nettles!
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[suestowford]

Hahahah!!! NOTHING killls these absolute bastards of plants.... harvest with some burrs and make drinks.

Glyphosate, digging, roots out... nothing will kill docks I tell you. If you have horses you will have docks... they eat grass and shit docks. Forevermore.

Just top and carry on.

We think, that if there is a catastrophe, like a nuclear winter or something, the only things left alive after it will be rats, cockroaches and docks.

 

[tallyho!]

We think, that if there is a catastrophe, like a nuclear winter or something, the only things left alive after it will be rats, cockroaches and docks.

Hahahah I concur!

 

[teacups]

Lois Lame - really? I have had couch grass grow through thick antiweed membrane. It seems odd that wet cardboard would stop it.

Someone did once tell me that if you put 5inches of mulch on top of it it would die. I was sceptical but tried it. The couch grass loved it, and came through stronger than ever.

ETA and docks are almost impossible to dig out as their roots are so strong and deep.

 

[ycbm]

I did a rueful smile about mowing to control dock today when I spotted the dock in a piece of grass in the yard that is strimmed or mowed every two weeks or less from early May to late September.
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[Lois Lame]

Lois Lame - really? I have had couch grass grow through thick antiweed membrane. It seems odd that wet cardboard would stop it.

Someone did once tell me that if you put 5inches of mulch on top of it it would die. I was sceptical but tried it. The couch grass loved it, and came through stronger than ever.

ETA and docks are almost impossible to dig out as their roots are so strong and deep.

Weed mat is terrible stuff, it adds to the problem I think. Stuff clings to it.

It's odd about the newspaper - it would seem it could never work. But I read about it online and so I tried it because I was so totally fed up with my couch grass. It was everywhere and I wanted it nowhere.

I collected a LOT of newspaper. And I did a bit at a time, as the mood struck. The mood struck often because sometime I get a bee in my bonnet about something and become a bit obsessive.

I soaked the newspapers in a square wheelbarrow then lay them down. It was fun.

Yes, I know what you mean about friends who tell you what works well. For me it was sheep manure. "Put sheep manure down," said a friend of mine. And I did and the couch grass loved it.

But newspaper, believe it or not, creates a barrier. I know it seems odd. But it really does. It has to be thick enough.

Some people use cardboard but I used only a little bit of cardboard here and there. I found newspapers more pleasing to use.

The thing is, though, that this is a TIME thing. The weeds cannot get light and without light they slowly die. And I do mean 'slowly'. It is not quick. But while this is happening you get on with things and don't worry about what's going on in the garden or the paddock. Just let it happen.

Obviuously, if the only thing blocking light was a pile of mulch, the weeds would just grow through it. But when a thick layer of newspaper is providing a physical barrier, they cannot do so.

 

[tallyho!]

Another rather determined plant is horsetail. That stuff is growing through the tarmac from the cable trenches recently laid by virgin. Terrible that they didn't use horsetail proof tarmac. Tsk.

 

[teacups]

LoisLame, you are so persuasive I might try a test patch! although it sounds as though it would take a lot of time to collect enough newspaper.

Plus the problem with couch grass is that any little bit of root left would just recolonise the vacant area. The weed fabric I use does cut out light btw. It is heavy-duty stuff.

With docks at least if the plant is cut although it regrows it doesn’t spread. Couch grass, bindweed, ground elder and mare”s tail on the other hand...

I don’t like spraying either and so far have managed without, but that does require keeping on top of it by way of regularly hoeing, strimming, pulling up, digging out, etc.

For larger areas that is just hard to do, and you end up strimming just to control it. A weedburner is good for killing top growth too, but it will come back.

 

[dorsetladette]

I've been digging mine up with a ragwort fork. After 3 years we only really have 1 corner to clear which only has juvenile plants in.

 

[Lois Lame]

LoisLame, you are so persuasive I might try a test patch! although it sounds as though it would take a lot of time to collect enough newspaper.

Plus the problem with couch grass is that any little bit of root left would just recolonise the vacant area. The weed fabric I use does cut out light btw. It is heavy-duty stuff.

With docks at least if the plant is cut although it regrows it doesn’t spread. Couch grass, bindweed, ground elder and mare”s tail on the other hand...

I don’t like spraying either and so far have managed without, but that does require keeping on top of it by way of regularly hoeing, strimming, pulling up, digging out, etc.

For larger areas that is just hard to do, and you end up strimming just to control it. A weedburner is good for killing top growth too, but it will come back.

Yes, takes a bit of time to collect a lot of newspaper but I raided my mother's collection for starters (she was a bit of a hoarder), and also leapt into the local recycling depot and snaffled a huge pile. I did this every now and then.

Yes! Couch grass has those determined stolons and rhizomes but that only makes this method more thrilling. There is something exciting about being able to stop the unstoppable. (Over time...)

Another brilliant thing about newspaper is it doesn't stop water. I was very lucky in that, the year I put the newspaper onto the garden, it happened to be a good year. We had a whole winter and spring of English weather as far as rainfall was concerned. It was brilliant. From memory, that was 2011. Weed fabric affects water penetration regardless of what the label or seller says.

Anyhow, good luck with the plan. I think your weeds would be worried if they knew how you are thinking.

 

[SEL]

Another rather determined plant is horsetail. That stuff is growing through the tarmac from the cable trenches recently laid by virgin. Terrible that they didn't use horsetail proof tarmac. Tsk.

That grew through a new tarmac driveway I had down once. I'm going to add bindweed to the PITA list, although I've got a tonne of buttercups this year

 

[tallyho!]

Yep agreed SEL. Clover. Let's add clover.