What happens if you dont pull ragwort?

[Jenko109]

I am pulling it. Don't come for me.

However, what happens if you dont?

I understand there will be even more next year, however what about the actual plants that have not been pulled.

Horses dont usually eat ragwort unless there is nothing else there, but when it starts dying back in the autumn, would they then eat it?

 

[tda]

You will get more next year, and the plants you have left This year will come back bigger next year

 

[webble]

You will eventually end up with a field that looks more like a rapeseed field than a horse field. V pretty but not what you want

 

[Jenko109]

Oh I see.

So the plants that remain dont actually die off over the winter? Do they just drop their flowers and shrink so you dont notice them as much?

 

[tda]

They do die off, but the roots are still there and they come back stronger.
Never thought what happens later in the season if not pulled, I'll watch my neighbours fields closely as the year progresses

 

[Pinkvboots]

I did a bit of a test and I pulled what I could on my big field and sprayed with barrier h, then just cut down what was in my small paddock and sprayed what was left and honestly I think cutting then spraying worked better.

Mine got out of hand so I got a farmer to spray all my fields this year and I have none now.

 

[Cortez]

No, they come back and seed so you get more and more until you end up with a rancid patch of toxic weeds. Ragwort has a two year cycle, seeding in the second year. What also happens when you don't pull it is sometimes ponies (or horses, cattle, sheep) will eat it and eventually they will develop liver failure and perhaps die, as happened to a friend of mine who never believed it was in her words "worth it" to pull ragwort and let it grow for 15 years until first her beloved older horse died (of liver failure), then her sheep started getting sick (she got the sheep to eat the ragwort, which they will willingly do), and now her goats are dying too.

I bought this small farm 23 years ago, a sea of yellow plants. I pulled and pulled every year, less every year until finally for the last 8 years or so I can say I'm free of ragwort (still go out to look; I got two juvenile plants last year).

 

[baran]

I am pulling it. Don't come for me.

However, what happens if you dont?

I understand there will be even more next year, however what about the actual plants that have not been pulled.

Horses dont usually eat ragwort unless there is nothing else there, but when it starts dying back in the autumn, would they then eat it?

My pony happily ate ragwort despite grass being available so I would not risk it.

 

[cauda equina]

The RHS says this:

The plant is usually a biennial (living only two years and flowering in its second year) but damage to the base of the plant can make the plant behave like a perennial (living indefinitely), as new
rosettes are formed.

I wonder in that case if it's better to cut it off so as not to damage the roots, rather than pulling it, assuming horses can be kept away from the 'stumps' of the plants
I've had plants which I've tried to dig out but reappear year after year

 

[Cortez]

My pony happily ate ragwort despite grass being available so I would not risk it.

Some horses will eat it, some won't touch it. The effects are cumulative, so horses can be out on infested fields for years with no visible signs, then suddenly crash and by then it's too late.

 

[Cortez]

The RHS says this:

The plant is usually a biennial (living only two years and flowering in its second year) but damage to the base of the plant can make the plant behave like a perennial (living indefinitely), as new
rosettes are formed.

I wonder in that case if it's better to cut it off so as not to damage the roots, rather than pulling it, assuming horses can be kept away from the 'stumps' of the plants
I've had plants which I've tried to dig out but reappear year after year

No!!! That is precisely what is meant by damage to the base: mowing ragwort encourages root growth. You have to dig it out - using a specifically designed ragfork helps - getting all the root. I'm a bit of an evangelist on ragwort elimination, in case you haven't guessed....

 

[cauda equina]

No!!! That is precisely what is meant by damage to the base: mowing ragwort encourages root growth. You have to dig it out - using a specifically designed ragfork helps - getting all the root. I'm a bit of an evangelist on ragwort elimination, in case you haven't guessed....

I was digging it out with a ragfork! and still it came back
And I definitely have some persistent plants in the field which are more than 2 years old, even though it's meant to be biennial

 

[Cortez]

I was digging it out with a ragfork! and still it came back

It'll be the seeds from the year before, they can also blow over from neighbouring fields*; you have to keep at it. It is all worth it in the end.

*my next door farmer luuurves me as he doesn't have to worry about seed drift from my previously riddled fields.

 

[cauda equina]

It'll be the seeds from the year before, they can also blow over from neighbouring fields*; you have to keep at it. It is all worth it in the end.

*my next door farmer luuurves me as he doesn't have to worry about seed drift from my previously riddled fields.

It isn't, it's the same plants
I know where they are. I dig them up, they grow back

 

[Andie02]

I was digging it out with a ragfork! and still it came back
And I definitely have some persistent plants in the field which are more than 2 years old, even though it's meant to be biennial

There is a saying in gardening ......... 1 yrs seeds = 7 yrs weeds !

 

[Cortez]

It isn't, it's the same plants
I know where they are. I dig them up, they grow back

Good. Keep doing it, eventually the buggers will give up (this is encouragement, BTW )

 

[Cloball]

Best to pull before it seeds if you can.

 

[Polos Mum]

Ragwort seeds live for 25 years in the soil, waiting for it to get disturbed to let them germinate.
They will also regrow from a 5mm long tiny thin piece of root left in the ground.
So definitely even if you dig, and dig pretty carefully they can easiliy regrow.

I'd read about putting salt in the hole once you've dug to kill remaining invisible roots - but not tried it myself.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Ragwort seeds live for 25 years in the soil, waiting for it to get disturbed to let them germinate.
They will also regrow from a 5mm long tiny thin piece of root left in the ground.
So definitely even if you dig, and dig pretty carefully they can easiliy regrow.

I'd read about putting salt in the hole once you've dug to kill remaining invisible roots - but not tried it myself.

That would explain why after digging them up religiously for the last 3 years I have so many plants this year. They suddenly appeared from nowhere and I filled two full feed sacks a few days ago.

 

[Polos Mum]

That would explain why after digging them up religiously for the last 3 years I have so many plants this year. They suddenly appeared from nowhere and I filled two full feed sacks a few days ago.

Sadly so - the seeds also blow really well on the wind (as anyone who drives on a motorway can see).
So your neighbour / council 5 miles down the road with a sea of the poxy stuff will have it blowing all over your fields.

I confess to leaving small rosettes (tea cup circumference size) in the field because life is too short.
I know where they are and I know my particular ponies are not eating them

I also confess to going into neighbouring fields / along the verges locally with scissors and a sack and cutting off all the head upwind of my fields - I'm sure it makes no difference but it makes me feel better and I'm sure local farmer wouldn't mind too much.

 

[Gloi]

There's a field left unused near some new build housing by me. Probably year three now and it's gone from a few plants to solid yellow. Fortunately no animals in the area any more.

 

[BSL2]

It's so frustrating, my neighbours field is filthy with the stuff, he mows it now and again and seems to think that's all that's needed. We just keep getting ours sprayed and pull as best we can. Such hard work and quite a bit of expense..

 

[scruffyponies]

Top tip; pull it (or mow it if you can leave the field empty for a few months) once it's in full flower.
At that stage all the energy from the root has gone into the flower/seed production and it will not regrow next year.

 

[Lady Jane]

We dig out if the ground is OK but if we see it and the ground is rock hard we just pull as best we can, anthing to stop more seeds. We get very little now on the fields we have attacked for 20+ years but the farmer last year had left a field and it was full of ragwortand we had loads in the adjacent field. Its infuriating but if there is any ragwort near you, you are likely to get a few new plants

 

[spacefaer]

Once you're pulled the plant, make sure you get rid of it. The flowers will still go to seed despite it being uprooted and then the seeds blow everywhere.
The dead stalks actually lose some of their bitter taste apparently and are then palatable to horses. So leaving it is even more dangerous!

 

[Melody Grey]

I was once on a yard overrun with ragwort in places (not for long!!)….turns out they were topping it, so spreading the seeds far and wide. Madness!

 

[scruffyponies]

I was once on a yard overrun with ragwort in places (not for long!!)….turns out they were topping it, so spreading the seeds far and wide. Madness!

Topping works fine so long as you top when the flowers are out but the seed hasn't matured.
If the farmer is following set aside rules etc, he may have to wait until mid July (please fact check me on this) until he's allowed to cut.

 

[Fieldlife]

No!!! That is precisely what is meant by damage to the base: mowing ragwort encourages root growth. You have to dig it out - using a specifically designed ragfork helps - getting all the root. I'm a bit of an evangelist on ragwort elimination, in case you haven't guessed....

It is a bit of a minefield though, I think multiple new plants can grow from root fragments. I was once at a yard with lots. And I did hours of pulling in spring and we few months later there were multiple small plants in the places where I had pulled out bigger ragwort plants. The problem increased. Despite me doing my best to get all bits of root out with a ragwort fork.

I moved fields and ultimately yards.

Now I have sufficiently little digging with a fork keeps it at bay.

In terms of what you can do this year, IMO the key thing is to remove it before it can go to seed and multiplies. Whether you pull / dig / cut etc. And make absolutely sure you dont leave any dead or soon to be dead plant where horse can eat it. Digging out would be ideal but if you cant logistically before seeds, I would cut off at ground level and bag up the stems now, and dig roots out over next however many months.

 

[Melody Grey]

Topping works fine so long as you top when the flowers are out but the seed hasn't matured.
If the farmer is following set aside rules etc, he may have to wait until mid July (please fact check me on this) until he's allowed to cut.

Sadly no thought was involved, just topping Willy nilly to make the problem appear to go away

 

[sbloom]

Interestingly I'm in a wildflower group and there is absolutely not a consensus about it being harmful to livestock, that it's just as likely moulds or similar. They're absolutely vehement that science has proven it and that horse owners are all still hanging onto a fallacy. Obviously no-one wants their grazing to become mostly ragwort so it's still an issue but....I've kept out of the debate.