Weeds!!

C

colouredhat

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7 March 2005
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Bulls Hill, Ross-on-Wye
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Does anyone have any suggestions on the best weedkiller to use for docks, thistles and nettles?!
I can't get it professionally sprayed as it's a livery yard (who refuse to spray) and I only want to do my fields, which are not accessible by tractor! :( So it's going to be a knapsack and an afternoon in the fields I think!
I ideally therefore want something I can buy in small quantities and that is relatively easy and straightforward to use.
If you've got any ideas or recommendations please let me know.
Thanks x
 
worth checking that they will allow you to spray? (prob done that tho?)

Otherwise, pull the nettles (rubber gloves & long sleeves mandatory) or cut them down.
Either bag up or if you cut them the horses/ponies might well eat them 24hrs later.

Cut the thistles - many horses & poines love these when they have been allowed to wilt for a short while (even an hour or so after chopping)

Also cut the docks if you cannot pull them or hoick them out by the roots with the edge of a metal spade - lob into old plastic feed sacks & take to the dump.

Worth keeping a set of garden lawn trimmers, the hand operated ones like these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Faithfull-Long-Handled-Lawn-Shears/dp/B0001IWQ44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1306437079&sr=8-2 I find them invaluable for the tiny paddocks which are in use much of the year.
 
I have just started using a garden weed killer called Verdone.

It is pet safe and child safe and is really knocking the nettles and docks out in our fields without killing the grass.

I am spraying the weeds with a back pack, which is a bit of a chore, but it's certainly effective. You can spray it from now until September, so I'm taking care of the hay field first and then the rest of the field will get a going over, as we have quite a few docks this year.
 
I use Timberel on nettles docks and brambles, in the garden centers this is commonly called SBK (for A 1 results add a little oil into the mix and results improve)
or Outrun on buttercups,
supplied by Avoncrop amenity products, crouch end road, Berks.
 
Quote
"Cut the thistles - many horses & ponies love these when they have been allowed to wilt for a short while (even an hour or so after chopping)"

Just to mention, thistles are higher in sugar than spring grass so a no no for fatties/lammis
 
My horse adores wilting and dying nettles and thistles and even has a good chew on dock leaves and their flower stems - clearly she is reduced to eating weeds because I don't look after her properly!!
 
It's worth mentioning that glyphospate ie Roundup will kill everything including the grass, but if you have large clumps of docks etc that you can spot spray carefully with minimum chance of any going on the grass, then it really does work.
 
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