ragwort

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wernickwonder

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Hi as a new horse owner have heard of ragwort and its dire consequences moved horse to new paddock and my friend came to visit horse and said it is full of ragwort shock horror ! Will remove it but there is loads any tips welcolme and should YO have let me know I am really worried ::(
 
I am afraid it normally means a rag fork and hard work digging out each one. Have just spent the last hour doing just that. Not sure what your livery deal is but normally it is the responsibility of the land owner to control it - it is an offence not to. If there are loads then sounds like it has not been controlled. If there is plenty of grass to eat the horses should not eat it though as it tastes bad so may not be an immediate worry but you really want it removed or the horse moved to a better paddock.
 
Ditto. It is an offence to graze livestock in a field infested with Ragwort under animal welfare legislation. I'd have a quiet word with the YO. The poison is cumulative -- so the poisoning is gradual and irreversible.
 
Having spent several back breaking weeks last year trying to control the ragwort in our new paddock with a ragfork, I'm keen to try and spray the recurring stuff that's starting to show this year. Would something like Roundup be effective to spot spray, so it would kill off the root system as well?

I'm thinking of doing it at the same time as I spray the buttercup, so the horses would be off it for a couple of weeks while it works, then dig it up before they go back on so they can't eat it after. I'm well aware of the dangers of dried ragwort, my wife won't let me forget!!
 
Trouble with ragwort is that it seeds and often not from your own land.

Farmers tell me that it only likes disturbed ground so is not much of a problem on good well managed grass.

Churned up muddy horse paddocks are exactly what it loves.

As most of us cant do anything about that, the only way is to keep digging it out year after year.
 
Timmy T said:
Having spent several back breaking weeks last year trying to control the ragwort in our new paddock with a ragfork, I'm keen to try and spray the recurring stuff that's starting to show this year. Would something like Roundup be effective to spot spray, so it would kill off the root system as well?

I'm thinking of doing it at the same time as I spray the buttercup, so the horses would be off it for a couple of weeks while it works, then dig it up before they go back on so they can't eat it after. I'm well aware of the dangers of dried ragwort, my wife won't let me forget!!
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From my research the best thing to target ragwort specifically is BarrierH, I think more expensive than Glycosophate but not as dear as having to do it again :-))

worth considering.
 
Roundup is the last weed killer you should use! Roundup kills everything (but is reasonably safe to stock) and you'd be left with a patch bare -- which is an idea seed bed for more ragwort!

The best way to control ragwort is to spray twice a year when the plant is at the "rosette stage", i.e. a small plant with no flowers. I am very doubtful about pulling mature plants as it is hard work with (in my opinion!) very little effect. There were a couple of fields locally completely covered in ragwort. The field was sprayed and now it is completely free of the stuff. Spraying on a commercial scale isn't that expensive either.

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/wildlife/management/weeds/weedscontrol.htm
 
Dry Rot said:
Roundup is the last weed killer you should use! Roundup kills everything (but is reasonably safe to stock) and you'd be left with a patch bare -- which is an idea seed bed for more ragwort!
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Depends on how you apply it! I've been pretty successful in the garden in targeting weeds without carpet bombing the surrounding areas. Just be really careful to spray just the leaves, not the 6" around it! Then you're just left with the hole you get from digging it ;)

My main thrust was would it be effective, as I know ragwort can be a stubborn weed to kill.
 
Don't forget that it's biennial, so what you see flowering this year will not be the plants that were flowering last year, so you need to spray 2 years in a row.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that if there is grass in a field with ragwort, the horses won't eat the weed. They may not like the taste of the live plant, but it only takes a few to be trodden on and die off, and suddenly it's more palatable and ingested ragwort is like a ticking time bomb.

A friend bought a horse in February from what I thought was a pretty reputable breeder. The horse has gradually lost condition and developed behavioural and physical problems, and on investigation she has severe ragwort poisoning. The breeder doesn't want to know. Interestingly on her website there are photos of large groups of horses grazing in fields alive with pretty yellow ragwort plants :mad:
 
Ragwort has a 2 year cycle and it flowers in the second year. If you are tackling a badly infested field you will end up doing masses in the first year. In the second year you should mostly get them at the non flowered stage. In the third year it should show marked improvement but you will get some every year and so you will be tackling this every year but once on top of it it gets much easier
 
Cocorules said:
Ragwort has a 2 year cycle and it flowers in the second year. If you are tackling a badly infested field you will end up doing masses in the first year. In the second year you should mostly get them at the non flowered stage. In the third year it should show marked improvement but you will get some every year and so you will be tackling this every year but once on top of it it gets much easier
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I've no problem with digging it, as there's far less of it this year than last, but I am aware that even tiny root fragments can regenerate. My hope was that roundup (or something similar) would kill the root off as well.
 
Yep I am on my 5th year of digging it out but there is less every year. Hopefully get rid of eventually! Problem is local farmer does not control it in his fields so always the danger of it spreading to mine.
 
Grazing sheep on the land also helps, as they nibble down into the top of the floret and that does for some reason kill it.

OP unfortunately it tends to need a belt, braces and piece of string approach - spray, dig, manage your pasture well, and you will see a marked improvement over the years, but I don't know anything that will eradicate it completely, and if you have neighbours with it, you will have that added issue to deal with.
 
I've seen people put a bag over the plant and seal it with an elastic band before digging it up, I guess to stop pollen spreading. anyone knoe if that does any good?
 
Timmy T said:
Having spent several back breaking weeks last year trying to control the ragwort in our new paddock with a ragfork, I'm keen to try and spray the recurring stuff that's starting to show this year. Would something like Roundup be effective to spot spray, so it would kill off the root system as well?

I'm thinking of doing it at the same time as I spray the buttercup, so the horses would be off it for a couple of weeks while it works, then dig it up before they go back on so they can't eat it after. I'm well aware of the dangers of dried ragwort, my wife won't let me forget!!
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Not Roundup for a field of ragwort and buttercups, you need a selective weedkiller, see the Buttercup posting.
If you have only a few ragwort, but they are big plants, dig them out rather than spray with Roundup, which will work, but is not ideal, as the plant will shrivel up, so you might as well use a selective weedkiller and spray the whole field with a knapsack sprayer.
The weed looks different at different stages and is particularly delicious and therefore dangerous when wilted.
http://www.progreen.co.uk/weed-killers/selectively-control-weeds-in-grass/for-paddocks/cat_28.html
The earlier you spray the better, spraying mature ragwort is not ideal, as you will have to go round and remove them.
 
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doonrocket said:
I've seen people put a bag over the plant and seal it with an elastic band before digging it up, I guess to stop pollen spreading. anyone knoe if that does any good?
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It's poisonous to us too, so it may be to stop inhalation. I know that when I've done huge amounts of ragwort I feel very ill :( I always wear gloves and now wear a mask too. The other thing to be really careful of is inhaling the smoke when you burn the plants. I think it was someone on here whose OH ended up in hospital doing this :(
 
Rowreach said:
It's poisonous to us too, so it may be to stop inhalation. I know that when I've done huge amounts of ragwort I feel very ill :( I always wear gloves and now wear a mask too. The other thing to be really careful of is inhaling the smoke when you burn the plants. I think it was someone on here whose OH ended up in hospital doing this :(
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You can't inhale seeds, then you get pneumonia, a ragwort seed is not pollen but so big as rice!!! You have also nostrills.
Jakobskruiskruid%20jacobaea%20vulgaris7.jpg



Some people have an allergic reaction but that reaction is more common for compositae and has nothing to do with pyrrolizidine alkaloids but with another compound.

http://www.ragwort.org.uk/facts-or-...oning-through-skin-absorption-fact-or-fiction

Edit. my typo's and a little add because I am not a native English speaker.
 
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Ok now the roots

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This is a mature plant, look at the broken roots, digging out a mature plant is not a good idea, preventing flowering in a horse pasture is ok. Ragwort seeds needs light, a bare spot is good for a new plant, broken roots also. If you dig up a plant ( better if it is still a rosette) do some mulching, cover the bare spot, seeds need light! But very important is to feed your gras also. Horses need gras , they eat, but gras can't also not without feed! Feed the grass also, make a dense sward. Pulling ragwort every where make more bare spots, spraying the plant everywhere kills our natural friends. Insects and bugs are stupid, they eat their own hostplant, horse owners are also stupid to think if we rag out all ragwort, ( not possible) they kill also all our helping bugs! A good pature management is the key. A dense sward prevents light for germination for new ragwort plant in the pasture.
 
we dig it up every year and it still comes back unfortunately. I hate digging it up backbreaking work especially as it is just me and my friend who can be bothered to dig it up, I appreciate some of the others who share the field have bad backs but they do have teenagers who don't who could help and my friend is nearly 60 and we are the only two in the field who work full tiime as well.

Least year we dug up loads and though it had to be better this year unfortunately not.
 
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SO1 said:
we dig it up every year and it still comes back unfortunately. I hate digging it up backbreaking work especially as it is just me and my friend who can be bothered to dig it up, I appreciate some of the others who share the field have bad backs but they do have teenagers who don't who could help and my friend is nearly 60.

Least year we dug up loads and though it had to be better this year unfortunately not.
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Why do you do all this work because yuo make it worse in the pasture? Digging is a risk and can make it worse. It is important to know the plant and the behavior of the plant, a lot of methods are not the way to solve it in he pasture. In UK was ragwort always common, suddenly some people thought it was a big problem , after that people thought every horse that was sick they thought it was ragwort and they become digging al yellow plants. That prevents good cure for horses. There are a lot of reasoms for liver problems.

But for the pasture is this maybe a bit help. http://www.ragwort.org.uk/backgroun...es-and-ragwort-prevention-is-easier-than-cure
 
We dig it up as if it flowers there will be more and we do not want our horses to be in fields full of poisonous plants. There is no alternative for us we can't spray because the horses are in the field and we don't fertilise as we don't want masses of lush grass due to the laminitis risk and ponies all good doers, besides which I have seen fields knee high in grass which still has lots of ragwort in.

EstherHegt said:
Why do you do all this work because yuo make it worse in the pasture? Digging is a risk and can make it worse. It is important to know the plant and the behavior of the plant, a lot of methods are not the way to solve it in he pasture. In UK was ragwort always common, suddenly some people thought it was a big problem , after that people thought every horse that was sick they thought it was ragwort and they become digging al yellow plants. That prevents good cure for horses. There are a lot of reasoms for liver problems.

But for the pasture is this maybe a bit help. http://www.ragwort.org.uk/backgroun...es-and-ragwort-prevention-is-easier-than-cure
Click to expand...
 
wernickwonder said:
Hi as a new horse owner have heard of ragwort and its dire consequences moved horse to new paddock and my friend came to visit horse and said it is full of ragwort shock horror ! Will remove it but there is loads any tips welcolme and should YO have let me know I am really worried ::(
Click to expand...

Is it posibble to sent some photo's of the plants? Maybe it is a different plant.
 
SO1 said:
We dig it up as if it flowers there will be more and we do not want our horses to be in fields full of poisonous plants. There is no alternative for us we can't spray because the horses are in the field and we don't fertilise as we don't want masses of lush grass due to the laminitis risk and ponies all good doers, besides which I have seen fields knee high in grass which still has lots of ragwort in.
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OK, but did you know that laminitis risk also some has to do with gras that isn't feel well? Stressed grass make more fructans
I have also a PPID pony ( Icelandic horse) Especially 'lush 'grass can be a wrong term!
http://www.safergrass.org/
 
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