Sycamore saplings

Season’s Bleatings

Season’s Bleatings

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I’m asking a question I probably already know the answer to, but if anyone has any tips or tricks, I’m all ears 😂

I’ve recently moved house and have a bit of land (yippee) so horses are now at home. Unfortunately one of the paddocks has a decent sized patch of sycamore seedlings. I don’t think the tree is on our land, but we are in a fairly windy area.

Anyway.

As everything is starting to grow, saplings are very visible, is my best bet for getting rid of them to just pull by hand? It’s over an area of about 80sqm, not massively dense, but obviously going to be fairly time consuming 😅 for context, the horses are not currently out in this particular field - they are enjoying being hippos in their trash paddock, but I’d like to move them onto better grazing soon.
 
sheep said:
I’m asking a question I probably already know the answer to, but if anyone has any tips or tricks, I’m all ears 😂

I’ve recently moved house and have a bit of land (yippee) so horses are now at home. Unfortunately one of the paddocks has a decent sized patch of sycamore seedlings. I don’t think the tree is on our land, but we are in a fairly windy area.

Anyway.

As everything is starting to grow, saplings are very visible, is my best bet for getting rid of them to just pull by hand? It’s over an area of about 80sqm, not massively dense, but obviously going to be fairly time consuming 😅 for context, the horses are not currently out in this particular field - they are enjoying being hippos in their trash paddock, but I’d like to move them onto better grazing soon.
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I would pull by hand.
 
Pull by hand or I have tight mowed with the ride on mower you would need to collect the cuttings if your mower does not pick them up .
 
I have several sycamores on the land at livery and the last 2 years has been the worst, I pick them out by hand with gloves on, into a bucket then burn them. I use electric fencing so every time I strip I pick out the seedlings and helicopter seeds as they are still on the summer paddocks from the storms in the winter. I was told it’s because of the lack of rabbits which would normally eat them and the mild wet winters make them worse. I asked the land owner if we could cut the offending tree next to my summer paddock down but he declines as it’s cover for his house from the busy road. The livery is the best in the area so won’t move I just keep on picking them out each year a thankless task.
If it’s your land you could spray them but then you have to rest the paddock quite awhile after
 
I don’t suppose you could pm me a photo of what the saplings look like. My land has/had (!) a tree. I’ve literally just mown very close the whole surrounding area, with a collection bucket on the mower. I’m raking any straggling seeds this week and am then going to spray the area with graze on pro,

But I’m not actually sure what the saplings look like 🤦‍♀️ RVC will test any saplings for the presence of the toxin and I’d like to do that before letting the horses graze the area
 
I think now I know they could be an ongoing issue, it’ll be a bit easier to manage going forward cos I’ll be able to keep an eye out for them and rake up as we go, and arrange spraying if needed. Hopefully the manual way will do the trick this year… 😅
 
ihatework said:
I don’t suppose you could pm me a photo of what the saplings look like. My land has/had (!) a tree. I’ve literally just mown very close the whole surrounding area, with a collection bucket on the mower. I’m raking any straggling seeds this week and am then going to spray the area with graze on pro,

But I’m not actually sure what the saplings look like 🤦‍♀️ RVC will test any saplings for the presence of the toxin and I’d like to do that before letting the horses graze the area
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Of course!

IMG_7131.jpeg

This one is fairly well developed. I’ll get a few more pictures this evening though, they don’t all have the smaller leaves on the inside if that makes sense. I’ll pm you or add here if that’s easier, don’t mind either way!
 
Yep that’s what is in my field and are quite easy to pull up, some types are toxic others are not, my horse seems to use the grass under the tree as his toilet area so doesn’t always graze there, plus I’m still feeding hay so he’s not too hungry I think it would be more drastic if there wasn’t any thing else to eat and the field was bare, I make sure my Shetland pony on a bare patch has no saplings in there.
 
AutumnDays said:
Once you have pulled them up by hand, you need some sheep! I haven't had to pick any up since I've become a shepherdess, they are effective paddock hoovers (grab some exlana/easycare/Wiltshire horn, so you avoid the shenanigans of shearing too!)
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I would love some woolly little pals.. wonder can I sneak some in without my OH noticing 😂
 
Have made a feeble attempt to post this picture about sycamore seeds . Yours may be a Field Maple. No idea how you'd clarify this though. There's loads of info on Lisa Schofields land management page on faceache x
 
I had a load come up last year, also on new land no sycamores with 3/4 mile at least, ans panicked picking them as much as possible. When the ones I'd missed grew up a little more it became clear they were Ash, not sycamore and much rejoicing was had.

Have been trying to find comparison pictures for you but Google is not being helpful 😒
 
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I’ve got Norway maple and a sycamore tree bordering my field where the horses are currently. There is a lot of grass and I am led to believe they don’t actively seek out the seeds, just eat them if nothing else is readily available. I keep finding the odd seed and pulling them up but if there is a lot in one area I usually fence off and mow. Whether it’s too early or not I’m not sure but so far this year doesn’t look as bad for me as the past two years!!
 
spotty_pony2 said:
I’ve got Norway maple and a sycamore tree bordering my field where the horses are currently. There is a lot of grass and I am led to believe they don’t actively seek out the seeds, just eat them if nothing else is readily available. I keep finding the odd seed and pulling them up but if there is a lot in one area I usually fence off and mow. Whether it’s too early or not I’m not sure but so far this year doesn’t look as bad for me as the past two years!!
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Yeah that’s my understanding too! The ground has been fairly heavily grazed so at the moment, the bits where the seedlings are, is where the most grass is.

To be fair, I did make a decent dent in it this evening so another couple of nights like that should break the back of it (and me) 😁
 
When my 2 horses got it they'd only just gone on to 1.5 acres of good grass that hadn't been grazed for 6 months . 1 died a few hours after the first symptoms despite iv fluids, the other spent 5 days on iv fluids but recovered. Bith were very fit and in good condition. I wouldn't make any assumptions based on grass available.
 
Lois Lame said:
So would I, particularly if they come out rather easily.

The thing I find with weeding is that, it looks like a big job at first glance, but if you just do a bit when you feel like it, it becomes addictive.
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I spent just over an hour out in the sun yesterday evening and it was quite addictive, had to stop cos it was getting dark!
 
hairycob said:
When my 2 horses got it they'd only just gone on to 1.5 acres of good grass that hadn't been grazed for 6 months . 1 died a few hours after the first symptoms despite iv fluids, the other spent 5 days on iv fluids but recovered. Bith were very fit and in good condition. I wouldn't make any assumptions based on grass available.
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Thank you so much for sharing; I’m so sorry for your loss. This is exactly why I am so conscious about removing them - now I know that they do pose a potential risk. It’s not something I would’ve realised a few years ago without hearing stories like yours. Its just tragic.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
I had a load come up last year, also on new land no sycamores with 3/4 mile at least, ans panicked picking them as much as possible. When the ones I'd missed grew up a little more it became clear they were Ash, not sycamore and much rejoicing was had.

Have been trying to find comparison pictures for you but Google is not being helpful 😒
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Ash seeds are longish and thinish and in bunches of many per bunch. Maples have only two seeds per 'bunch'. Or to put it more accurately, maple seeds come in pairs.
 
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