Cost efficent ways of keeping weeds away

mick145

Is there any cost efficent way of keeping the weeds away?
Over the summer my land has become over run with nettles, thistles and that weed that gives you a slight rash if you rub against.

I heard boiling water kills them, does it really work??

Conmaicne Mara

mick145 wrote: »

Is there any cost efficent way of keeping the weeds away?
Over the summer my land has become over run with nettles, thistles and that weed that gives you a slight rash if you rub against.

I heard boiling water kills them, does it really work??

Glyphosate through a home made weed wiper would be the cheapest way I can think of. There are various plans online for DIY jobs. Maybe not the most technically controllable but a damn sight cheaper than commercial ones.

Floody Boreland

Some help here..


http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/spray/pubs/documents/Aavimhowtomakearopewick.pdf

delaval

Increase stockig rate, grazing pressure keeps swards clean, or is it just tht we can't see them?

just do it

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Glyphosate through a home made weed wiper would be the cheapest way I can think of. There are various plans online for DIY jobs. Maybe not the most technically controllable but a damn sight cheaper than commercial ones.

How much would you knock one together for?

epfff

just do it wrote: »

How much would you knock one together for?

If your talking about small area I use old window lean bottle all spring when herding for nettles and buck tistles

1chippy

Sheep anything else will need spraying.

delaval

1chippy wrote: »

Sheep anything else will need spraying.

Didn't know you could control sheep with Roundup????!!!!!

Sam Kade

delaval wrote: »

Didn't know you could control sheep with Roundup????!!!!!

All you need do is round them up and the're under control

tabby aspreme

Sheep grow nettles as a hobby, and there highly skilled at it

Pacoa

Something i came accross recentley that could make week licking even cheaper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRS6H2wE6ME

Conmaicne Mara

just do it wrote: »

How much would you knock one together for?

Can't imagine it'd cost much. I'd mount it on the back of a quad or the two wheel barrow I haven't put together yet :pac: So wouldn't be thinking of making a drawable frame for it. Some of the lickers on DD are well over 1k.

Sam Kade

How often do you need to weedlick rushes? I know drainage is the answer but the land is too low lying for that.

reilig

Pacoa wrote: »

Something i came accross recentley that could make week licking even cheaper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRS6H2wE6ME

20 litres of Gallup is cheaper than vinegar. You'll have to use it at 5 to 1 as well. You can get a good kill with Gallup at 80 to 1. Doesn't make economic sense!

reilig

Sam Kade wrote: »

How often do you need to weedlick rushes? I know drainage is the answer but the land is too low lying for that.

Usually run over ours once a year. Keeps them clear.

Farmer Pudsey

mick145 wrote: »

Is there any cost efficent way of keeping the weeds away?
Over the summer my land has become over run with nettles, thistles and that weed that gives you a slight rash if you rub against.

I heard boiling water kills them, does it really work??

Top the fields as you graze them out then let the weeds regrowth and spray with MCPA or D50. I think a sprayer and topper are the most important items on a farm if you wan grass and clean pasture. Spraying with either of the sprays above will give pasture a good clean at about 10 euro/acre. MCPA will also hit rushes hard if you use an additive about 2-3 euro/acre.

A sprayer is no longer expensive one of the Jarmet sprayers will only set you back about 1300 euro and will pay back for itself in 3-5 years. It is very hard to get contractors to spray small amounts because you need the right spraying conditions.

If you have a sprayers in 3-5 years you will have completely cleaned up your land of most weeds. Also it is necessary if you wish to reseed as again it allows you to spray off when it suits you not a contractor.

Lickers are grand but are of more limited use really only suitable for rushes and high weeds. With docks/thistles/nettles etc this is not the ideal stage to spray as they are going to seed

just do it

FP
How soon after topping do you spray? Is grass growth retarded much doing it this way?

nashmach

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Top the fields as you graze them out then let the weeds regrowth and spray with MCPA or D50. I think a sprayer and topper are the most important items on a farm if you wan grass and clean pasture. Spraying with either of the sprays above will give pasture a good clean at about 10 euro/acre. MCPA will also hit rushes hard if you use an additive about 2-3 euro/acre.

A sprayer is no longer expensive one of the Jarmet sprayers will only set you back about 1300 euro and will pay back for itself in 3-5 years. It is very hard to get contractors to spray small amounts because you need the right spraying conditions.

If you have a sprayers in 3-5 years you will have completely cleaned up your land of most weeds. Also it is necessary if you wish to reseed as again it allows you to spray off when it suits you not a contractor.

Lickers are grand but are of more limited use really only suitable for rushes and high weeds. With docks/thistles/nettles etc this is not the ideal stage to spray as they are going to seed

Cannot disagree with any of that and doing that on our farm for the past few years too. The only issue with MCPA is for clover but that is not widely established on our farm.

MCPA works wonders on rushes and buttercups which are the main items we are controlling now.

Rush needs draining though too!

In normal growth, we would be leaving around two weeks between topping and spraying.

Farmer Pudsey

just do it wrote: »

FP
How soon after topping do you spray? Is grass growth retarded much doing it this way?

If I spray weeds general I watch the weed not the grass, when the weed is at the right stage usually 10-12 day after topping I spray. Yes grass will be retarded however if a week -10 days after you graze it off and fertilize it it will recover. Remember to give it some P&K after spraying to get existing Grass to tiller.

In a lot of swards 30% of the ground can be taken up with weeds. Weeds cost more than you think first there is the fertilizer they use then if you are making silage what is the cost if 20% of your bale is weed instead of grass. You need do it all in one year think of it as a 3-5 year plan, reseeding as a 10 year plan.

How much of slurry is made up of indigestable weed, how much bad silage and weed do you remove from the feedface over the winter.

Also if you go reseeding it a great job to hit the docks and other weeds 1-2 year before spraying off to reduce the size of dock tap roots in pasture that has not been reseeded in 20-50 years.

A lot of land in Ireland has not been reseeded since WW11 and the compulsory tillage. Maybe we should bring it back.

I have often walked fields and cannot understand what they are not sprayed for the sake of 10-20 euro/acre. How much an acre will fertilizer cost you every year, is 20-30% going down the drain. how much is silage costing is 20% f it weed that the cattle will not eat.

If the contractor was costing 1.5/bale extra and the roll of plastic costing another 15 euro in a certain shop would you go there or would you mover to another contractor or supplier.

just do it

FP

Your system has a lot of logic to it. While the sward is open post weed die-off, have you tried overseeding?

Agree with wet land it is a long term project with some intervention required probably on an annual basis.

Farmer Pudsey

just do it wrote: »

FP

Your system has a lot of logic to it. While the sward is open post weed die-off, have you tried overseeding?

Agree with wet land it is a long term project with some intervention required probably on an annual basis.

No waste of time and money would rather spray off, disc. seed and roll. I am intending to dry direct drilling but will spray off before doing. Might consider Direct drilling into Hybrids or RVP/Italian after third cut in mid September but not sure. They only survive 3-4 years. But for most farmers if they got rid of the weeds on there land they would produce 20%+ more grass. If the choice is between Weeds and Clover the clover gets it in the Neck. My own opinion is that reseeding after permanent Pasture 20 years+ unless you get it exactly right with the post emergence you will have to scrafice clover. However I have seen some claim that using MCPA early on reseeds before clover forms that it will recover applying MCPA at light rates.

I think that you can use MCPA on Red clover and it may be an option with Hybrids/Italian RVP it may also be an option after permant pasture getting high rates of organic nitrogen for 3-4 years. however Red Clover will not stand up to grazing but may be an option on Silage fields with ordinary ryegrass.

beef burger

im in sort of the same situation licking the rushes is solving that problem but ragworth is getting more popular what amount mcpa are ye putting with water to the acre. mortox 50 is whats to be got round here but is there a differnce to mcpa

Farmer Pudsey

beef burger wrote: »

im in sort of the same situation licking the rushes is solving that problem but ragworth is getting more popular what amount mcpa are ye putting with water to the acre. mortox 50 is whats to be got round here but is there a differnce to mcpa

Mortox contains 2-4D it is the same as D50 Just look at the labels and google them. Hygeia have a fairly good site as has Magentadirect. MCPA, D-50, Mecoprop dicampa are all the ingredient it is only a matter of comparing the brand names. Also look at the strengths as for instance post emergence sprays for to protect clover are weaker formulation of generic names.

bob charles

the future of spot spraying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adPLuCT2d4M

Askim

bob charles wrote: »

the future of spot spraying

Seen that a long time ago on beyond 2000, surprised it took so long to develop

A