Ragweed 2017

duffysfarm

Does anyone have much ragweed this year? Fields were bad round here in 2016 buy doesn't seem to be much yet this year although it could be early. Don't get me wrong - not complaining !

Biscuitus

I've noticed a lot less this year, at least a lot less growth, plants are still there but I'd usually have to pull a bunch around silage season.

Nettles and thistles on the other hand are thriving with the weather this year.

Mooooo

Ragwort goes every second year unless cut when they may appear again the following year. Was hoping to spray his year but by time rosettes appeared it was too late in season and couldn't keep stock out for longer than 21 days

duffysfarm

When you say it goes every second year do you mean the same actual plant or it's seeds ?

Mooooo wrote: »

Ragwort goes every second year unless cut when they may appear again the following year. Was hoping to spray his year but by time rosettes appeared it was too late in season and couldn't keep stock out for longer than 21 days

whelan2

Mooooo wrote: »

Ragwort goes every second year unless cut when they may appear again the following year. Was hoping to spray his year but by time rosettes appeared it was too late in season and couldn't keep stock out for longer than 21 days

Sprayed ours. They didn't die. Used d50. Thistles and nettles died

The part time boy

If you top them for 2 years before they get a chance to flower will you get rid of them .?

I thinking no ?

I have a bad field of them and every year they seem to slip to flower before I can top.

I am determined this year to get them all cut

Cavanjack

I see plenty of them around that haven't flowered yet. Not as bad as last year though.

_Brian

Cavanjack wrote: »

I see plenty of them around that haven't flowered yet. Not as bad as last year though.

Was well clear last year but I see a few back at the moment, just coming into flower..

emaherx

The part time boy wrote: »

If you top them for 2 years before they get a chance to flower will you get rid of them .?

I thinking no ?

I have a bad field of them and every year they seem to slip to flower before I can top.

I am determined this year to get them all cut

No if you top them they will grow back. They are resilient little buggers.

foxy farmer

Great farm for buachallans here. 2014-15 was a bumper crop. Went out in 15 around this time and topped about 10 acres that were riddled with them. I think it rained shortly after topping.
Cut it for bales last Sept after being left grow naturally. Not a stalk to be seen. Stuffed it well this year and had it in pit last week. Nothing to be seen. I see a few growing around but definitely very scarce this year

Biscuitus

I had a field full of them last summer, topped and sprayed in the Autumn. Not a single one in sight now.

Who2

What's a bauchallan

Username John

Who2 wrote: »

What's a bauchallan

Ragwort

The grandfather here used to call em buachalans or I think he used to call them piseach buí as well

djmc

Another name around here is yoseataun heard the other names two I have two versions of ragworth growing at the moment

The part time boy

bauchallan is what we call them here in north cork . I only use ragworth so other people know what I am talking about

Water John

Its a biennial, so it flowers and seeds every second year.
Sprayed in April, slow to die but did. Neighbour spot sprayed them recently, they are refusing to wilt.
Spraying at rosette stage, Nov or Mar/April best results.

anthony500_1

Who2 wrote:

What's a bauchallan

A mayo mans description of the weed better known as ragworth. Lol

emaherx

Oh, the joys







But on a positive note I found some visitors had nearly completely taken care of the problem in a near by field.

Some Cinnabar Moths/caterpillars have moved in.

visatorro

Seen a couple of hedgerows polluted with them now, never seen them there before.

whelan2

Pulling a bucket full on the front of the digger every day here. Hateful job. Seems to be an awful amount of them this year

emaherx

Yea a bumper crop, some monstrously large ones too. This was some rented land, we had very few on our own land this year as we have been attacking them fairly intensively for the past few years.

We had been topping this land after grazing for the past few years and I think it has made the situation much worse, so we are going to now give this land the same treatment as we have done for our own.

darragh_haven

The ditches of the public roads are absolutely covered in ragwort around here. Fields are clean enough tho.

emaherx

darragh_haven wrote: »

The ditches of the public roads are absolutely covered in ragwort around here. Fields are clean enough tho.

They won't be clear for long if the roadside ditches are left covered in them!

whelan2

emaherx wrote: »

Yea a bumper crop, some monstrously large ones too. This was some rented land, we had very few on our own land this year as we have been attacking them fairly intensively for the past few years.

We had been topping this land after grazing for the past few years and I think it has made the situation much worse, so we are going to now give this land the same treatment as we have done for our own.

Yes some of them are very hard to pull. Takes 2of us to pull some of them

emaherx

Definitely a market for a tractor mounted ragworth pulling machine.

High bike

whelan2 wrote: »

Pulling a bucket full on the front of the digger every day here. Hateful job. Seems to be an awful amount of them this year

only had em one field last year so pulled every one of the fcukers back twice as bad this year so cut em this time

_Brian

Spent half hour earlier pulling them, one advantage to the soaking wet ground is they come out easily..
Was in a small garden behind the old house, we leveled a ditch last spring to knock two spaces to one.. last year nothing, this year it was covered in the cnuts..

The part time boy

Saw a house the other week . The house was in the middle of a 5 acre field . No word of a lie the field was covered in them . Around the house no more than 3 feet around the house . No idea how anyone could live there !

_Brian

The part time boy wrote: »

Saw a house the other week . The house was in the middle of a 5 acre field . No word of a lie the field was covered in them . Around the house no more than 3 feet around the house . No idea how anyone could live there !

Brother rents in an estate.. house across has front garden packed with them.. bizzare looking among the tight cut lawns of the neighbors.

whelan2

We always tipped the pulled ragwort into a skip. Never a problem getting it collected. Would get about 8skips a year off the same crowd. They refused to take the skip this morning as the was ragwort in it . It has never bern mentioned before in the over ten years I have been dealing with them.

pms7

Seem to have less this year

patsy_mccabe

They are pronounced 'boola-hawns' around here. Very little around here except for the odd farmer who doesn't pull them.

emaherx

whelan2 wrote: »

We always tipped the pulled ragwort into a skip. Never a problem getting it collected. Would get about 8skips a year off the same crowd. They refused to take the skip this morning as the was ragwort in it . It has never bern mentioned before in the over ten years I have been dealing with them.

Putting them in a skip :0 .......
Your just a bad person whelan2

kowtow

emaherx wrote: »

Putting them in a skip :0 .......
Your just a bad person whelan2

good way to keep a skip for a while, must try that.

Saves digging a trench around it.

We have bad ragwort this year in every field but the one I sprayed with forefront.

White Clover

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

They are pronounced 'boola-hawns' around here. Very little around here except for the odd farmer who doesn't pull them.

Called buachail-awns or yosathawns around here

emaherx

White Clover wrote: »

Called buachail-awns or yosathawns around here

We pronounce it yellow backstard weed.

whelan2

emaherx wrote: »

Putting them in a skip :0 .......
Your just a bad person whelan2

Have done it for years. No problem until today.

_Brian

whelan2 wrote: »

Have done it for years. No problem until today.

On what grounds ??

We dump them in a corner where stock have no access, rot away quickly.

Nekarsulm

_Brian wrote: »

Brother rents in an estate.. house across has front garden packed with them.. bizzare looking among the tight cut lawns of the neighbors.

There's a house in Latt Hills in Cavan town where the front lawn has never been cut. (Well, not in 5 or 6 years)
They just let it go to meadow, and then it dies down again.
Neighbours must love them..

maconof

Crag was riddled with them the past few years, few sheep brought in to graze the florets down this year. Know they won't eradicate completely but means an awful lot less pulling up to be done.

Water John

Did one half with D50 in early April, slow, but a really good kill. Will do the other half that has them in Nov or April.
Too much now for the back.

whelan2

_Brian wrote: »

On what grounds ??

We dump them in a corner where stock have no access, rot away quickly.

NO way of recycling them apparently

Farmer_3650

I have never had any problem with Ragwort here. I would probably pull about 2 every year off a ditch. That's it. I was on the M4 up to Dublin at the weekend and I couldn't believe the amount of Ragwort up that side of the country compared to down here

Biscuitus

Sprayed a few fields last Autumn and then some other fields this Spring. Not a single ragweed in sight.

The field I didn't spray near an open road where all the seeds can blow in is covered. I said it would be a bad year for weeds and that was putting it lightly. Mild winter and warm Spring with almost tropical conditions during the Summer.

I was looking at a neighbour who keeps horses and he has a forest of ragwood spreading across his farm.

whelan2

Biscuitus wrote: »

Sprayed a few fields last Autumn and then some other fields this Spring. Not a single ragweed in sight.

The field I didn't spray near an open road where all the seeds can blow in is covered. I said it would be a bad year for weeds and that was putting it lightly. Mild winter and warm Spring with almost tropical conditions during the Summer.

I was looking at a neighbour who keeps horses and he has a forest of ragwood spreading across his farm.

Are ragwort posionous to horses?

kowtow

whelan2 wrote: »

Are ragwort posionous to horses?

yes, very.

but same as cattle they won't eat them until they are dying and the sugars rise.

whelan2

kowtow wrote: »

yes, very.

but same as cattle they won't eat them until they are dying and the sugars rise.

Saw a field after being topped with horses still in it. Was just wondering

kowtow

whelan2 wrote: »

Saw a field after being topped with horses still in it. Was just wondering

I have one myself that I'm holding off letting weanlings back into; topped it two or three weeks back before the rain and now has a good growth of grass on it. No sign of the ragwort but difficult to say when it's safe and when it isn't.

A neighbour of mine says top and let them back in with the rotation, so about 3 weeks I suppose... hard to know.

patsy_mccabe

If you top them and they have yellow heads, they will seed out. So in a way no real benefit from topping, only the seed will travel less.

kowtow

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

If you top them and they have yellow heads, they will seed out. So in a way no real benefit from topping, only the seed will travel less.

At the moment I'm doing a combination of things as we have a really bad dose this year and can't spare the grass for too long; pulling where possible (have about 3 tonnes so far), topping where the field needs topping anyway & going to spray regrowths with forefront later in the year...

Total war on ragworth from now on.. sick of the sight of it.

My problem is I live in such fear of ragwort that I'm apprehensive about spot spraying them at the rosette stage earlier in the year...because we inevitably need the paddock in the rotation and I'm always worried the stock will get at them. Am beginning to think that I'm being stupid and would be better to spray them small early on and not worry quite so much that some stupid cow will take a bite of one two weeks later rather than have the cows dance around them all year and then be clearing out tonnes of the stuff and letting them seed.

patsy_mccabe

Could you get someone to put in a few sheep early next year? They will eat it at the rosette stage, although too much isn't good for them either.