Ragwort tools

[Gucc]

Has anyone tried this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151302898480
I have a huge ragwort problem this year and need something to help dig the mature plants out before my horses come back for the winter.
Thanks

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Looks too small for mature plants to be honest.
I would throw some salt in the hole to kill off re growth. You can buy 20kG bags which is cheaper than Tesco.

 

[milo'n'molly]

I recently cleared a whole field that had been left for a few years so filled several large barrow loads with it and it only took 2 afternoons.
I used a rag fork, they are amazing and I was just commenting to my mum that years ago it would have taken weeks to clear it with the garden fork like we used to do.

 

[happyclappy]

i tink it looks too light and flimsy. had my fab ragfork for years, but i do know there is a newer tool very similar to the rgfork that is highly rated, just can't recall the make/name. sorry. I do posy rubbish!!!

 

[JPJPJP]

This does the job for me - needs a bit of elbow grease comapred to the thing you linked to, but it gets them up lovely

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321487399940

 

[windand rain]

A ragfork and kilo of salt for big plants a watering can full of broadleaf weedkiller for patches of seedlings been my constant companion for months now in the rested grass

 

[asmp]

I use one of these
http://www.leekes.co.uk/invt/427319...paign=427319&gclid=CPyw_c6TiMACFUjHtAodIVcAcg

Great on the smaller plants and you don't have to touch them, just use the lever thingy to put them in your wheelbarrow.

They've gone down a lot in price since I bought mine.

 

[Gucc]

Thanks all. I probably should have mentioned in the original post that I'm currently only have one good leg as have brace on the other due to ACL injury so was trying to avoid the digging option as even poo picking puts pressure on my good leg and hip

 

[windand rain]

in which case a good barrow and a sprayer and spot spray means you can't graze for 2 weeks but if you have a strip fence and or separate paddocks it would be doable

 

[Gucc]

in which case a good barrow and a sprayer and spot spray means you can't graze for 2 weeks but if you have a strip fence and or separate paddocks it would be doable

Thanks. Can I use sprays at this time of year and get results or is it only spring that they are effective?

 

[autumn7]

Barrier H is the only spray effective at this time of year although if you can bear to wait until the first week of Sept onwards other sprays ( Thrust in my case) will be fine for the Autumn weed kill ( or thereabouts, weeds have to be actively growing). Mid times I use Barrier H and give fields three weeks, then walk about pulling dead foliage IF there's any left from huge rag. plants before grazing again. Thrust and other sprays I give the full recommended six weeks. Barrier H is pricey but if you google and shop around I get it for under £50 which does a couple of acres spot spraying rosettes in between spraying with Thrust twice a year (April and Sept) but we have ALOT of ragwort and always will due to our infested neighbourhood. This process does however keep rag. at bay if routine is stuck to religiously.
All the best with the leg injury. Been incapacitated for nearly a year in the distant past with severe ankle fracture. No fun whatsoever.

Also swear by a Fiskars Fork as I move tape strip grazing. Fork has revolutionised Rag. digging. Far esier than a ragfork (got one of those aswell) as no bending required. ALMOST makes digging fun. (OK, a big 'ALMOST'!!)

 

[happyclappy]

ah...fiskars is the other one.

 

[windand rain]

Barrier H is good but I have just been going round with an agricultural broad leaf weedkiller on a regular basis and it is working really well graze a patch move ponies onto the next one spray the patch they have left and so on round the field each time I move them off the short grass I spray as it takes about a month to get them back to where they started trouble is due to the wonderful weather and the odd showers I now have far too much grass sods law
If you have big flowering ones they pull up quite easily then the salt comes into play just pour it down the hole the plant leaves behind

 

[Gucc]

Thanks I'm currently walking the field and cutting off the flowers to stop the spread of the seeds and then will dig them out over the next month or so at a pace my leg can cope with as there is so much it's a huge job. Horses are not there so I have time to sort before they are due back