Are weed lickers any good

viztopia

I am thinking of buying a weed licker. It will mainly be for rag weed and thistles but i would like to see if what current owners think of them and what are the pros ans cons. There seems to be a wide variety of model types and would be good to hear what are good e.g. remoceable carpets, non drip carpets. One thing from lookng at done deal is that the majority seem to be for sold in the west or midlands. Would this mean that they are mainly used for one type of land or weed?

_Brian

We have a small DIY one here and it's used for rushes. The drum has a carpet.

I would think that the carpet type would be useless for ragworth and thistles.

There is a bristle type, I'd say it might do ragworth and thistles but you'd need input from someone with that style to be sure.

As for success, they're handy on land where rushes grow freely, marginal type land where rushes will reappear. A lot of people don't like the effects or cost of repeated spraying. I'd say with a standard Gallup mix we can kill 70-80% of rushes with one pass, I know some lads lick from different directions but we don't bother.

djmc

I have one but found it slow going
I got a jarmet sprayer which is ten times faster which means l can do the job in hours rather than days if there is a lot of acres to do.
A sprayer would be better for ragweed and do it at rosette stage

welton john

have a logic bristle type one here with 10 years.Have used it to kill docks aswell as rushes.it was costly new (3k) but a well made trouble free machine. you can adjust height and application rate also. As said above its slower than sprayer but wouldnt use
a fraction of the chemicals.

viztopia

My thinking of why a licker might be better than a sprayer is because a sprayer would kill clover. Is this true?

TPF2012

Thinking of buying a licker also. What are the best weed lickers on the market now, mainly in the 1300 - 2000 price range. Looking at a Coogan with the hand lance, anybody got one of these?

farawaygrass

We have a field in lipp for glas that is very bad with thistles. As we can’t spray, would a weedlicker be any use on the thistles?

Who2

farawaygrass wrote: »

We have a field in lipp for glas that is very bad with thistles. As we can’t spray, would a weedlicker be any use on the thistles?

The licker does a good job on thistles. Cleans them off very fast. I tried a few trials on paddocks last year and I am happy with how it worked out. I bought a new carpet one and found the best results came if they were got early

farawaygrass

Who2 wrote: »

The licker does a good job on thistles. Cleans them off very fast. I tried a few trials on paddocks last year and I am happy with how it worked out. I bought a new carpet one and found the best results came if they were got early

What price would a new carpet one cost? Did you go one way only or back over them another way? I’d say you’d save a lot of chemicals

patsy_mccabe

TvMCPA may be banned too, so round-up with a weedlicker may be the only option.
I've a hydraulic driven weedlicker I made myself. Cost me €200 at the time. 10 ft wide but in hindsight I should have made it wider. Uses feck all weedlicker.

Who2

farawaygrass wrote: »

What price would a new carpet one cost? Did you go one way only or back over them another way? I’d say you’d save a lot of chemicals

One way, I only used forefront until I get the hang of it. Good machine in fairness and it took me a while till I was happy with one. Kavanagh engineering in Carlow I think they are, very helpful bloke, got it delivered to the door. 1800 inc I think it was, looked at loads and bar I went spending 4-5 k I couldn't find one as well built.

Who2

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

TvMCPA may be banned too, so round-up with a weedlicker may be the only option.
I've a hydraulic driven weedlicker I made myself. Cost me €200 at the time. 10 ft wide but in hindsight I should have made it wider. Uses feck all weedlicker.

You must have very flat ground. On hilly ground they can tend to rub of the ground. Mines eight foot and on my ground I doubt it would be successful if it was much wider as you'd be rubbing tight off the ground regularly.

coolshannagh28

Weedlicker is a great tool ,sprayed rushes on marginal ground for years and found it stunted grass ,killed clover and a lot or rarer type grasses that gave the ground structure and cover .Spraying while fast is also expensive ,the first time I tried the weedlicker I thought I had wasted my time but 3 weeks later all standing weeds including rushes were dead . Clover is flying and the land holds up much better ,wont be spraying again.

farawaygrass

Would you travel at the same speed as if spraying or slower?

Who2

farawaygrass wrote: »

Would you travel at the same speed as if spraying or slower?

tried a few speeds, not a huge difference but slower is better. its a pity there isnt more info on using them,ive had to try a lot of trial and error.