Ground cover rough ground?

Sysmod

We have cleared a fire break of gorse and briar. Rough thin soil on a stony sloping hill. Naturally the gorse is coming back and while I can keep it down with a walk behind mower (too steep for ride on) at its highest setting and avoiding the protruding stones, it takes hours of work.
So, is there something I can plant, not expensive for what is about 20x150 metres, which will smother the gorse and briar?

_Brian

Gorse and briar will be very hard if not impossible to smother out with anything.

You need brushwood killer if grazon 90 . to kill off the gorse and briars. Or roundup which will kill everything . Spray the briars and paint the stumps of horse.

Then you can plant the ground cover

Lumen

This might be useful

https://wiki.bugwood.org/Ulex_europaeus

See the bit about planting acid tolerant fast growing trees.

Sysmod

Thanks, _Brian, Suresanders, Lumen, helpful advice there.

Gorse "Seeds may remain dormant yet viable in the soil for up to 30 years....Management efforts must be very long-term in scope in order to be successful, due to the longevity of buried seeds."
As we've had a fire on the hill last year, burning is definitely out of the question. For that reason too, we're not going to plant fast growing trees.

"Gorse usually requires several cuttings before the underground parts exhaust their reserve food supply. If only a single cutting can be made, the best time is when the plants begin to flower. At this stage the reserve food supply in the roots has been nearly exhausted, and new seeds have not yet been produced. After cutting or chopping with mechanical equipment, gorse resprouts from root crowns in greater density if not treated with herbicides."

"Goat grazing has been shown to be effective in controlling gorse" It's an idea but one I have no personal experience of. And of course it would all have to be fenced off.

"Gorse is very difficult to eradicate with a single application of an herbicide....The best results have been obtained when plants are in the seed head stage in late summer and early autumn."

Lots of work, then.

Lumen

Sysmod wrote: »

For that reason too, we're not going to plant fast growing trees.

I wouldn't write off that option.

"Species selection
The selection of fire tolerate species, such as broadleaves trees (e.g. Oak, birch, ash,
sycamore, alder etc.) and conifers such as larch, can increase wildfire resilience, especially in
risk locations. They can used strategically to break up higher risk species (see 4. Risk
Management: Table 2 – Susceptible species) or in extreme cases replace them."

https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Vegetation_Fire_Control_Measures_130212.pdf/$FILE/Vegetation_Fire_Control_Measures_130212.pdf

my3cents

Would a better walk behind mower work?

In my experience if you cut more than a couple of times a year then the ultimate result is grass even if the soil is very poor.

I realise the area is big 3000 sq meters but some machines are better suited to working on slopes than others. Scag walk behinds and the Hayter Condor spring to mind.

What sort angle of slope?

Sysmod

Thank you Lumen, that's enlightening. Counter-intuitive, or maybe more likely counter-naive-assumption.

The pdf is odd - it has Tables 1, 10, and 9 in that order, but no Table 2.

I see too that their name for what we did is a fuelbreak rather than a firebreak. Dept.Ag. suggests larch too:

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/publications/fsFPG.pdf
says
"Moorland vegetation, bracken and furze are most flammable...Firebreaks (also known as firelines) are formed by:
...(c) Planting bands of larch;"

Sysmod

my3cents, I haven't measured the slope on the ground but reading two points off google maps gives me 40m drop over 150m or about 25%. It varies, and the man who did the clearing with a digger said he would not use a ride-on mower on that slope. The Scag looks like a professional tool. Ours is a ten year old GTM with a Briggs&Strattion 675, 190cc. 600 euro I think? If I can get away with mowing once a month May-Sep, (or even less :-) ) that's OK, this is not for a lawn.

my3cents

Sysmod wrote: »

my3cents, I haven't measured the slope on the ground but reading two points off google maps gives me 40m drop over 150m or about 25%. It varies, and the man who did the clearing with a digger said he would not use a ride-on mower on that slope. The Scag looks like a professional tool. Ours is a ten year old GTM with a Briggs&Strattion 675, 190cc. 600 euro I think? If I can get away with mowing once a month May-Sep, (or even less :-) ) that's OK, this is not for a lawn.

I used to do that sort of work professionally and you'd be hard pressed to get a suitable machine new for less than €6k. 25% isn't that steep but certainly far too steep for a ride on.

Mowing that often is going to result eventually in grass anyway so you might have to get a more powerful machine just to cope with the grass?

Sysmod

my3cents, I'll ask on the great big lawnmower thread.

peasant

As for walk-behind mowers for this kind of operation I would recommend one of these:




AS 28 or AS 65
http://southernmachinery.ie/as-motor/as-products/
Both have a very torque-y 2-stroke motor that also works really well on slopes. Really well buildt commercial grade mowers that will last forever and can take a beating. Had the AS26 for years and graduated to the As65 a few years ago...would recommend them to anyone who's looking for a rufty-tufty mower that's capable of cutting long, wet gras, rushes, brambles or even saplings.
The As26/28 is a bit more basic and requires some effort in handling whereas the AS65 has 5 gears and reverse which makes it easier to go in and out of thick growth repeatedly until it's gone.

Unless you have manicured lawns, bot mowers are equally capable of maintaining a reasonably good, working grass surface in your garden.

Neither are exactly cheap, but worth it, IMO

standardg60

I'd say Rubus tricolor would be ideal for the situation you describe..it's well capable of smothering anything.

Sysmod

standardg60, that's a bramble. Does it dry out in winter? I don't want cover that could conduct a fire.

standardg60

No being evergreen and having thick leathery leaves it would be very difficult to burn at any time.