Dovorian
Well-Known Member
Despite the fact that the grass isn't really growing, the ragwort is back again. I've sprayed and pulled frequently but not really beating it. My real problems stems from an 'organic' landowner whose land surrounds my summer fields on 3 sides. He will not spray and says that if he tops the grass that will deal with the ragwort - naturally this makes things worse! I have tried the local council but they just do not want to know. With cutbacks in so many Gvt offices it is getting harder to get any help!
Professor M.J. Crawley FRS, at Imperial College, has studied the population dynamics of Ragwort, He writes this in his book Flora of Berkshire.
Research has shown that most of the commonly-adopted means of ragwort control have exactly the opposite effect to that intended. For example, pulling up ragwort by the roots leaves behind a ring of 4 or 5 broken root fragments, each of which is capable of producing a new rosette in the following year. So, instead of reducing the pest, hand-pulling increases ragwort numbers
4- or 5-fold. Another method beloved of farmers (I suspect because it has such immediate and impressive visual impact) is to mow down the ragwort when it is in flower, in order to prevent it from setting seed. A worthy aim, you might think. But what actually kills ragwort is setting seed, not mowing. If you prevent the plant from filling its seeds, then it retains the reserves in its root stock and, instead of dying, the plant survives to
grow and flower again another year. Herbicides are effective, but they kill all the other grassland herbs as well (the herbicides are not selective)only in the sense that they do not kill pasture grasses); legumes, orchids and other attractive pasture species are lost under this regime. The Silwood research demonstrates that the best way to control ragwort is to fence against rabbits and
then let the plants go to seed. Going to seed will kill the established ragwort plants, and in the absence of soil disturbance and gap-creation by rabbits, the seeds will not produce ragwort plants. The strategy works, because in a well-managed
grassland, recruitment by ragwort is not seed-limited. Recruitment from seed requires competition-free microsites of the kind that are produced by cultivation or by heavy grazing from rabbits (or by over-grazing with domestic stock like sheep or horses)."
Has anyone any other suggestions? We used Barrier H to spray but it seems to be a 'quick fix' and doesn't last.
Professor M.J. Crawley FRS, at Imperial College, has studied the population dynamics of Ragwort, He writes this in his book Flora of Berkshire.
Research has shown that most of the commonly-adopted means of ragwort control have exactly the opposite effect to that intended. For example, pulling up ragwort by the roots leaves behind a ring of 4 or 5 broken root fragments, each of which is capable of producing a new rosette in the following year. So, instead of reducing the pest, hand-pulling increases ragwort numbers
4- or 5-fold. Another method beloved of farmers (I suspect because it has such immediate and impressive visual impact) is to mow down the ragwort when it is in flower, in order to prevent it from setting seed. A worthy aim, you might think. But what actually kills ragwort is setting seed, not mowing. If you prevent the plant from filling its seeds, then it retains the reserves in its root stock and, instead of dying, the plant survives to
grow and flower again another year. Herbicides are effective, but they kill all the other grassland herbs as well (the herbicides are not selective)only in the sense that they do not kill pasture grasses); legumes, orchids and other attractive pasture species are lost under this regime. The Silwood research demonstrates that the best way to control ragwort is to fence against rabbits and
then let the plants go to seed. Going to seed will kill the established ragwort plants, and in the absence of soil disturbance and gap-creation by rabbits, the seeds will not produce ragwort plants. The strategy works, because in a well-managed
grassland, recruitment by ragwort is not seed-limited. Recruitment from seed requires competition-free microsites of the kind that are produced by cultivation or by heavy grazing from rabbits (or by over-grazing with domestic stock like sheep or horses)."
Has anyone any other suggestions? We used Barrier H to spray but it seems to be a 'quick fix' and doesn't last.
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