Ragwort woes

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Highmileagecob

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In our locality, the council jumped on the bandwagon of increasing biodiversity and encouraging insects by not mowing the grass verges and seeding them with wild flower mixes. All very commendable. But they have not been managed, not been mown off and raked and are now thick with ragwort. My heart sinks when I look at our almost ragwort free pasture, after fifteen years of diligent control.
 
Here in ireland, ragwort/thistle and dock are considered ‘noxious weeds’ and legally farmers have to ensure control of these species on their lands.
Shame the councils dont follow these laws themselves and control their land/roadsides of these plants, adjoining farmers fields.

Not sure of legislation in the uk - worth checking and writing a stiff email to the local council landscaping department.
 
PurBee said:
Here in ireland, ragwort/thistle and dock are considered ‘noxious weeds’ and legally farmers have to ensure control of these species on their lands.
Shame the councils dont follow these laws themselves and control their land/roadsides of these plants, adjoining farmers fields.

Not sure of legislation in the uk - worth checking and writing a stiff email to the local council landscaping department.[/Q
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You are obliged to stop ragwort spreading onto agricultural land in UK - this includes grazing land. You can report to Natural England if the Ragwort is close enough to be a risk of spreading, (I think it's 50m)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/stop-ra...-harmful-weeds-spreading-to-agricultural-land
 
We spent a lot of time clearing ragwort from our place when we first took it on.

The grass verges were also covered in ragwort. I emailed the highways agency with a map pin pointing the area I was complaining about. While I was away at the Royal Welsh they sent a team out and hand pulled the ragwort along that stretch of road.

There is a FB page run by a man very passionate about ragwort clearing and he helps people get ragwort cleared from land that isn't theirs.
 
I was watching a TV program recently and someone had opened a camp site and had left the field 'natural' i.e uncut. The campers commented on how they liked the privacy of the long grass and the wild flowers at which point the camera cut to a shot of the 'meadow'. All I could see was a field full of ragwort. I would not be able to sleep in a field full of ragwort, it would give me nightmares.
 
Sealine said:
I was watching a TV program recently and someone had opened a camp site and had left the field 'natural' i.e uncut. The campers commented on how they liked the privacy of the long grass and the wild flowers at which point the camera cut to a shot of the 'meadow'. All I could see was a field full of ragwort. I would not be able to sleep in a field full of ragwort, it would give me nightmares.
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Knepp, nr Horsham. It's a blooming travesty as the whole estate is rewilded, ragwort everywhere.
 
As far as I am aware, it is a noxious weed, and steps should be taken to control it and stop it spreading. I have observed our herd immediately moves onto the cleared area to graze, which makes me think there must be a particular smell around ragwort that keeps them away. We have got the weed down to a manageable level on our pasture and it is disheartening to see this yellow explosion everywhere.
 
There was a piece of new road built near me and they planted the verges with poppies and oxeye daisies. It looked lovely the first year but now about 4 years later the verges have been unmanaged and are now a solid mass of thistles and ragwort ?
 
rextherobber said:
You are obliged to stop ragwort spreading onto agricultural land in UK - this includes grazing land. You can report to Natural England if the Ragwort is close enough to be a risk of spreading, (I think it's 50m)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/stop-ra...-harmful-weeds-spreading-to-agricultural-land
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To my knowledge - to date- since they became an entity in 2006 Natural England have not enforced nor prosecuted any land owner, however I am going to ask for a Freedom of Information Request to clarify this.
 
nosila8080 said:
To my knowledge - to date- since they became an entity in 2006 Natural England have not enforced nor prosecuted any land owner, however I am going to ask for a Freedom of Information Request to clarify this.
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The offender always seems to top it here, when they've been reported. Might be coincidence though!
 
This year we appear to have an explosion of the damned stuff. Every time we arrange a weekend ragwort pull, it throws it down and everyone cries off. Think we are going to have to resort to spraying, which we have been reluctant to do in the past as we have an 'old' meadow that hasn't been treated with chemical anything.
 
Highmileagecob said:
This year we appear to have an explosion of the damned stuff. Every time we arrange a weekend ragwort pull, it throws it down and everyone cries off. Think we are going to have to resort to spraying, which we have been reluctant to do in the past as we have an 'old' meadow that hasn't been treated with chemical anything.
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I'd far rather pull Ragwort I the rain with nice soft ground , than in 30° heat with ground like concrete!
 
our summer paddock has exploded with ragwort and foxgloves this year too despite pulling them earlier in the year 🫣 I was out in the rain yesterday … at least it pulled easy! The ragwort is especially sneaky this year, not many flowers & nestled in amongst things like nettles 🕵️‍♀️
 
In east anglia we have lots of ragwort it is everywhere you look and more hemlock then I have seen in years. I’ve lived in this area all my life and have honestly never seen it so bad.
 
Yeah, we pull, cut flower heads off, dig up, take all to the tip for incineration, and still it comes back. Hand on heart we haven't let any seed for over ten years - it's disheartening and overwhelming, especially as our land owner spends his summers abroad and leaves us to it.
 
It does seem to have been a good year for ragwort growing this year. We have had to pull a few plants, after years of not seeing any. We only have 3 sheep this year, maybe that is a contributory factor.
 
Without wanting to sound smug, or send the ragwort demons my way, this has so far been the easiest year for ragwort in my field. I've only pulled 1 feed sack full all year, whereas before it's been at least 3, if not more. To make up for it, we have had buttercups on steroids, an explosion of field bindweed and more red bartsia that I have seen so far. And there are sycamores.
 
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I’ve only had five plants in the middle of the fields which have all gone to ragwort heaven, however there are quite a few along the bank of the stream running down the side of one of the fields. It’s quite a steep slope down to the stream (and currently extremely slippery) so removing those will be a pain … I’m wondering about leaving those or am I storing up trouble for myself next year if I do?
 
Muddy unicorn said:
I’ve only had five plants in the middle of the fields which have all gone to ragwort heaven, however there are quite a few along the bank of the stream running down the side of one of the fields. It’s quite a steep slope down to the stream (and currently extremely slippery) so removing those will be a pain … I’m wondering about leaving those or am I storing up trouble for myself next year if I do?
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Yes you are. I hate the blasted stuff.
 
Muddy unicorn said:
I’ve only had five plants in the middle of the fields which have all gone to ragwort heaven, however there are quite a few along the bank of the stream running down the side of one of the fields. It’s quite a steep slope down to the stream (and currently extremely slippery) so removing those will be a pain … I’m wondering about leaving those or am I storing up trouble for myself next year if I do?
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As an absolute last resort I would cut it so that it doesn’t seed, and spread back into the lovely clear part of the fields.
 
Found my first ever nightshade today - what is going on?! Never ever seen one before in the horses fields or nearby. Does anyone know if lady’s finger (persicaria) is poisonous? That’s also everywhere this year
 
I’ve taken the approach of clearing slowly as we rotate the grazing, so I leave some of the plants on all summer but they are all gone by the time it is late summer. This year I have half the amount that we had when we moved in.

The butterflies, moths and bees love the ragwort so I’ve tried not to wipe it all out in one go.
 
At our yard our horses have individual paddocks, they can socialise & groom over the fences between the paddocks. My wife & I remove any ragwort & St Johns wort from both our paddocks as son as we see it. I was livid at a woman keeping her horse in an adjacent paddock because she was growing ragwort & St Johns wort like a crop. I challenged her about it & despite her having ponies for over 20 years she knew nothing about these toxic weeds. Despite there being numerous rag forks at the yard she went round & pulled up the week by hand & left most of the roots in the ground. Nrrdless to say in a short time & some rain it was all back in the paddock. I'm glad she moved on but we were moved a paddock over & so we had all her weeds to remove.
 
When we arrived to this small farm 22 years ago it was a mass of ragwort, thistles and buttercup. The first few years was major labour of pulling and digging, but over time it has got less and less every year until finally I can say we are ragwort free, miniscule thistle population and still working on the buttercup. I have never sprayed for anything except nettles, which we used to do with a spot sprayer and I now just scythe down the few patches left. It takes work and dedication but it is achievable.
 
It would appear that broken roots left in the soil may sprout new plants. It is also apparent that seed can survive for literally years, and springs into life on disturbed earth. Last summer we had two new horses introduced into the herd, lots of 'team building,' running around, sliding stops etc., and a lot of disturbed earth. This would account for the explosion of new growth. Think the best way to tackle this is to persuade my fellow liveries to help me do a ragwort blitz, and spot spray each individual plant with weedkiller to avoid blanket spraying the entire pasture. I know just how that chap in Greek mythology felt, pushing boulders up a never ending hill.
 
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