Ragwort & getting rid of it

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LHIS

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Afternoon all!
I'm heavily involved in the land management at the yard and have waged a one woman war on ragwort. I removed all the blasted things about 5 weeks ago and have spotted a lot of small plants now appearing again, so I will be having another assault on them this weekend.
My question is, so I know for next year, is there a best time of year to get rid of them to make my life a little easier? YO isn't as concerned about it as I am, says horses won't eat it when it's still in the ground, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if one of them ate some.
So, tips and hints much appreciated please.
 
A ragfork means you can get them at rosette stage, and avoiding the possibility of flowers blowing and spread.

Without, you end up waiting until the plants are quite big before they are strong enough to pull...

Fiona
 
At my previous yard, we had an issue with ragwort. I spent way to many summers pulling it up by hand. If you miss just one small bit it just comes back. The only effective way to get rid, is to get a professional in and get it sprayed.

Perhaps get some literature on ragwort and highlight the YO responsibility to sort it out. ( I assume from your post you are on a livery yard )
 
I use a Ragfork and wait until we have had a good rainfall so the ground is soft. If you leave any root in the ground then it will regenerate as a flipping plant.

I just keep digging it out and burning it. Make sure you pick up all the pieces as horses will eat dead bits of ragwort.

Usually as long as there is enough to eat a horse won't touch a growing plant and even if they do they have to consume more than just a plant or two to cause a problem.
 
on a sunny day, especially, the barrier H spray is very effective if you just want a small volume for spot spraying -you just need to make sure the horses don't have access to the area while the plant is dying/rotting.

Also another vote for ragfork, it takes the hard work out of it.
 
Barrier H at the rosette stage. Wonderful stuff, goes to work in minutes (I love walking back across the field and seeing all the plants turn black). Ragfork for larger plants but only when the ground is damp or it's flipping hard work.
 
Either spray with a selective weedkiller when the plants are just rosettes, in June (and keep horses off until they have all degraded) or dig with a ragfork - and then tip salt in the hole. That will stop the roots regenerating.
 
JillA said:
Either spray with a selective weedkiller when the plants are just rosettes, in June (and keep horses off until they have all degraded) or dig with a ragfork - and then tip salt in the hole. That will stop the roots regenerating.
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Tipping salt is a great idea, I've done that for weeds in concrete but never thought of doing it in the field :)

Unfortunately we've just dug our half dozen or so plants, but I'll remember for next time :)

Fiona
 
I've been religiously digging our summer field with a rag fork over the last couple of years and each year it is getting worse. Plus, we are now left with little indents in the ground that the plants are growing in where they have been dug so many times. So this year now that the horses have moved off it I've sprayed by hand with a weedkiller. I'm not sure if it will work as i think these things work better in the spring, but I figured worth a go. I tested it on the verge at the front of my house on some rag and it certainly killed it. Ours will be off this field for months so i dont have to worry about them eating the dead plants.
 
For those of you that are spraying what are you using and where did you buy
I have new grazing and one of the fields I dug out all the small plants in April and now for the last 1.5 months I have been digging out bucket loads of the stuff...you can often see me on my hands and knees with a garden weeder digging.
I am worried it could be worse next year? I have never seen so much? And I am trying my best to get all the roots out!
 
We have an upwind neighbour who appears to cultivate the vile stuff!
We keep on top of the resulting seedlings by burning the rosettes with a weed wand. If one escapes a ragfork does the trick on bigger plants.
Putting salt into the hole isn't s good idea as it will stop any grass growing around it too. Burning the small plants is very effective.


s
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We have an upwind neighbour who appears to cultivate the vile stuff!
We keep on top of the resulting seedlings by burning the rosettes with a weed wand. If one escapes a ragfork does the trick on bigger plants.
Putting salt into the hole isn't s good idea as it will stop any grass growing around it too. Burning the small plants is very effective.
Click to expand...

Put salt inside the hole, it won't affect the neighbouring grass - done it for years. If your neighbour has allowed it to spread, report him to Natural England, it is an offence.
I spray with either RelayP or Spear, anything with MCPA in it will work if there is enough leaf area (absorbed through the leaves when the plant is growing strongly). I'm not sure whether you can still get Spear as a lot are now restricted but some of the garden ones contain MCPA - ask at your local agricultural suppliers.
 
I used to use a ragfork but this year I had the fields sprayed and it has made a big difference, the horses had to stay off for at least 12 weeks. I will do it again next year and hopefully that will deal with it. My fields are next to a road and the verges have ragwork in them but the council only cuts it twice a year so that does not help
 
I spray Ragwort with Barrier H, then leave fit or a week and spray again. The secret is to ensure it has completely died off down to the roots. Once it has died remove it straight in to a plastic bag so that the seeds don't fall on the ground (in the event of it having flowered) and burn the Ragwort.
Pulling it up will not get rid of it as if you leave the smallest root filament in the ground it will regenerate. (Always wear gloves when handling it).
Your Yard Owner is wrong as horses will eat Ragwort.
 
Thanks all. I had planned to start my cull on the ragwort this morning but my pony had other plans (I'll be starting a thread shortly after yet more advice!). We have a ragwort fork so I'll find that and use that. My plan was to take a green wheelie bin and take that round with me and deposit it straight in there and then put it out (taped down just in case).
 
Hi we also had a problem with rag wort! We found on our yard that if we let it grow and then pulled / dug it out to the roots and then within hours of pulling it out burnt it all, it stopped the seeds re spreading as they very quickly reseed 😬
 
tessah said:
For those of you that are spraying what are you using and where did you buy
I have new grazing and one of the fields I dug out all the small plants in April and now for the last 1.5 months I have been digging out bucket loads of the stuff...you can often see me on my hands and knees with a garden weeder digging.
I am worried it could be worse next year? I have never seen so much? And I am trying my best to get all the roots out!
Click to expand...

I sprayed mine by hand with Roundup, wouldn't be practical for large areas as you have to spray each individual plant, but it defo worked on the verge outside my house. I guess time will tell if it comes back in the spring but certainly removed all trace of it this summer.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We have an upwind neighbour who appears to cultivate the vile stuff!
We keep on top of the resulting seedlings by burning the rosettes with a weed wand. If one escapes a ragfork does the trick on bigger plants.
Putting salt into the hole isn't s good idea as it will stop any grass growing around it too. Burning the small plants is very effective.


s
Click to expand...

Hi. What do you do after burning it? Do you still have to dig each plant out?
Aldi had weed wands on offer last year and I was tempted but didn't know anyone else who used one 😬
 
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