That ragwort time again.

N

NeilM

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 January 2008
Messages
2,706
Location
Nth Somerset
Visit site
I know spring and summer are when we usually keep a careful eye on the fields for the dreaded weed, but after such a long dry spell, followed by some decent rain, I have suddenly stared to find those tell tale little bunches of crinkly leaves appearing.

It might be something to do with the fact that we had the fields sprayed last year, but a lot of the ragwort I'm finding is growing out, rather than up, and has some pretty misshaped leaves, but there is no mistaking what it is, and every single plant is dug up and put in the dustbin at home.

So, keep your eyes open, as I have found more plants in the last two weeks than I have seen all summer.
 
I have picked all of mine but am finding it growing back again.
The tenant in the next field has 8 ponies & 1 foal living in a huge field absolutely full of ragwort & isn't doing anything about it. So come next year with the seeds blowing i'll get even more to pull/dig out.
A losing battle every year & every year my field gets more & more !

XxX
 
I know the feeling. I cleared my field completely of ragwort- no rosettes or flowers. Walking through the field 2 weeks later and a whole load of ragwort has just popped up from absolutely nowhere. I made sure that I got every one and now I'm having to go around and to the whole lot again- how can they spring up so quickly?! :mad:
 
Yes I see it popping up all over the place too. I think they are next years flowering plants,
I beleive they flower in the second year of growth. I hate the sight of them,it seems an endless task digging them up, just when you think you have the b-ggers under control, hey presto they appear again.
 
Only two of the 6 fields on my yard gets Ragwort, luckyily but i do take great pleasure in burning the stuff :D
Holding we are moving to is Ragwort free apparently, shall ahve a mooch when I go for a visit on the weekend
 
I'm fighting a losing battle.

I have a motorway embankment that never gets done and a neighbour the other side who leaves it. I was getting to the bottom of mine a couple of years ago and this year its been the worst i've ever seen. Fighting a losing battle.

I've taken the horses off it now until the farmer can spray in the spring.
 
Totally fed up doing Ragwort :-( Our fields are full of the stuff I hate it, I really wish I could move my horses (they are on loan and a condition of loan is not moving them, currently trying to buy them), instead I spend more time poo picking and digging out ragwort than I do riding <sigh>.....
 
I feel your pain, I kept horses at a yard where there was ragwort for about 4 years & I spent far more time than is healthy digging the stuff up. It seems to thrive on slightly poached ground so the dry spell & lack of grass growth we had earlier this year has probably helped it. I think the seeds stay dormant, but I've also noticed that roots that I've left behind on previous ragworting exploits will tend to sprout new baby plants when there's been a decent bit of rain. I'm now on a yard where there is virtually no ragwort, but one of the main reasons for that I suspect is that the fields are fertilised & the grass is (too) lush. I'm not sure which is worse, ragworty fields or fields where the grass is so lush that almost everything has to be muzzled for fear of colic/lami/obesity :o
 
yep, I cleared the lot earlier in the year and the field is full again!

Also worth checking hay thoroughly as some farmers haven't been too fussy about the fields they havecut this year...
 
Yus, got Ragwort blindness yesterday stalking around the bottom paddocks digging it up. Got 3 tubs of it in just 3 acres. Damn stuff.

I find it grows 2 yearly - next year we wont get much but wait til 2012... it will be an Olympic year for digging, I bet !
 
I have found the easiest way of getting rid of it is but spraying it and then once it has died removing it. That way the roots are killed off. Unfortunately pulling it up leaves the roots in the ground and they simply regenerate. Unfortunately the mature plants release about 100,000 airbourne seeds which is why the plant spreads so rapidly.

The BHS are plotting a nation wide map with any fields with ragwort in them at the moment so it would be appreciated if you could provide details to the below E-mail address of the location of any ragwort.

r.molloy@bhs.org.uk with name of property/location, street/lane post code and grid ref if possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top