rushes.. the death of me!

Livestockmad

Has anybody got a permanent solution to rushes. i.e what spray do ye use. In the last three years iv seen rushes grow in dry land. They have even spread out of drains and across a field even tho the field was travelable last autumn with a tractor. Iv tried topping but it all the same.

Conmaicne Mara

Mortone is my spray of choice, I tried agritox and didn't find it nearly as good.

Better again if you can borrow/make/rent/buy a weed licker and just use glypho which I find is the best of all.

Topping is just a waste of time. I pass a field every time I go to Galway, tractor with topper parked in it for the last 6/7 years, they get topped every so often, they're still there.

Livestockmad

Are weedlickers a good job. Iv heard some people praise them completely. But others have no time for them! With mortone would u top few weeks before or after?

micky mouse

Could ya still lick green rushes in the aftergrass,or is it getting late

Conmaicne Mara

Livestockmad wrote: »

Are weedlickers a good job. Iv heard some people praise them completely. But others have no time for them! With mortone would u top few weeks before or after?

I like the weedlicker because you're not putting chemical on your grass when you don't need to.

I'd be inclined to spray first particularly if the weather was fit, don't cut them for 6-8 weeks again, no point in cutting them before the chemical has got a good kill on them.

micky mouse wrote: »

Could ya still lick green rushes in the aftergrass,or is it getting late

Haven't licked them outside of Summer so I don't know, have sprayed at most times of the year and while Summer will give a quicker kill, they'll still be killed in Winter, it just t-a-k-e-s l-o-n-g-e-r for them to die, but die they will. I would guess the licker would work the same.

kerryjack

To be honest you will never get rid of the rushes we have lived with rushes all our lives, we reclaimed a lot of mountain over the years deep dug it with a 12 ton excavator drained and picked stones of it and reseeded it we have spent thousands of euro an acre on it and get a bad year and the mountain will claim it back, If we were smart 30 years ago we should have planted it and brought good land with the money we have spent on it. You know my advise plant it.

moy83

kerryjack wrote: »

To be honest you will never get rid of the rushes we have lived with rushes all our lives, we reclaimed a lot of mountain over the years deep dug it with a 12 ton excavator drained and picked stones of it and reseeded it we have spent thousands of euro an acre on it and get a bad year and the mountain will claim it back, If we were smart 30 years ago we should have planted it and brought good land with the money we have spent on it. You know my advise plant it.

Dad ? Is that you ???

loveta

Tree's they will get rid of them...... takes a few years but they always win out!!! :0)

Timmaay

Rushes took over about 1/2 acre of the wettest feild on the farm, its all very rough also, so you'd make sh&te of a topper with them, I had a mini digger afew wks ago so dug up the most of them, on hindsight I don't know if it was the best idea, I wasn't expecting the roots of them to be so wide and dence, so alot of soil got dug up also. But how in ever, I have them all in a heap now, I'll let them rot down for the minute.

But the long term solution, hmm the 1st solution is pray we never get a year like last year again ha, being more realistic about it, I'll dig a new open drain which will almost certainly solve the problem.

Livestockmad

Well mine haven't got dense yet.. thank f**k. Just patchy nd want to get rid before they thicken.. I saw them start to grow on the side of a hill last year nd there nearly burt brown this year. Amazing what twelve months does

Conmaicne Mara

Don't know what the fuss is. Can't imagine land too much more difficult than my own and I'm on top of them. Plus I don't own any machinery what so ever.

Read up on the rush seed and you'll soon find out why they keep coming back.

Attie

My grandfather used to say plenty of pig sh*te would burn them down, don't know though as only a very small amount and just top keeps them at bay.
Attie

Midlandsman80

We sprayed with MCPA and also done with a weed licker with "buggy" (glypho), done a great job but these fields did used to be good land were just let go bad for years.
Said on here before that topping without a plan to lick regrowth is a waste of time, cant get over how good the kill we got was, defo 80% less regrowing and even when all young shoots do get it looks to be 50+% gone so if can get the same next year will be down to doing it every second year. Even done some that was wayway too heavy and got a good kill there.
€110 for 8kg bag of buggy and €50 for weedlicker rent done more good in one (long long) day than years of frequent topping and god knows how much on fuel.
(The very dry summer has also helped)

Conmaicne Mara

Yeah, saw my cousin top rushes before, then not spray them. She had the finest field of rushes in the parish, and she wasn't without competition.

Keeping on top of them every year is the trick once the initial infestation has been dealt with. I'm in it for the long haul with them anyway.

onyerbikepat

Ya weedlicker with a glyphospate type weedlicker (roundup) is a great job. Getting the soil right with fertiliser helps too.

Livestockmad

Attie wrote: »

My grandfather used to say plenty of pig sh*te would burn them down, don't know though as only a very small amount and just top keeps them at bay.
Attie

I have often heard manure well and graze tight.. id say hungry bullocks wud do the job!. I couldn't graze it tight with cows and calves. I keep sayin il buy a few for the job. Never got around to it.

Wigster

Sprayed 8 acres with mcpa in July. Good kill eventually but went a bit light on the spray. Topped 3 weeks ago and slurried the field. It's unrecognizable. Licked 7 acres first week sept. brilliant kill. Spent thousands in drainage last few years only for them to come back Again during a wet year. Going to spray/lick fertilize from now on as topping on its own is a waste of time.