Killing Dock leaves

Mules

Hi, I need some advice about herbicides. I recently spot sprayed docks. They are mature plants and the land is full of them. The land had been overgrazed. When I bought it last year it didn't look too bad but the docks have gone out of control this year. I use it for grazing horses.

I sprayed it with fluroxypyr (hurler). It is supposed to work for mature docks.
The docks looked like they were dying but they came back to life! So I resprayed them but it still didn't work. I used a strong mixture too.

I'm tempted to spot spray with glyphosate but tbh there's too many docks to do this, if I did there wouldn't be much grass left.
Does anyone know why the fluroxypyr wouldn't be working? Is there something that absolutely will work?

Cavanjack

Mules wrote: »

Hi, I need some advice about herbicides. I recently spot sprayed docks. They are mature plants and the land is full of them. The land had been overgrazed. When I bought it last year it didn't look too bad but the docks have gone out of control this year. I use it for grazing horses.

I sprayed it with fluroxypyr (hurler). It is supposed to work for mature docks.
The docks looked like they were dying but they came back to life! So I resprayed them but it still didn't work. I used a strong mixture too.

I'm tempted to spot spray with glyphosate but tbh there's too many docks to do this, if I did there wouldn't be much grass left.
Does anyone know why the fluroxypyr wouldn't be working? Is there something that absolutely will work?

Mow what’s left and wait for them to start regrowing. Spray again when they are 8” high. You won’t get rid of them in one year. They were probably too strong when you sprayed them if they came back to life.

hopeso

Timing of spraying is half the battle. As already said, you need to hit them at the leafy stage before the stalk appears. The best available spray is Forefront T. It is expensive though. A lot sprays will need doing every year for a number of years to finally clear docks, especially when they are heavy an established.
I think horses make docks worse, for some reason.

bigroad

It wouldn't be too bad if the horse would even run on them ,but they don't.
I have been cutting them with a strimmer ,not sure if it makes them worse or not as in spreading .

Mules

bigroad wrote: »

It wouldn't be too bad if the horse would even run on them ,but they don't.
I have been cutting them with a strimmer ,not sure if it makes them worse or not as in spreading .

I think topping them so they don't have a chance to spread seeds helps to lessen their spread.
Horses are too picky for their own good.

80sDiesel

Forefront T seems to be working for me but will know more in the Autumn. I have also spent an hour or two each day in a biodiversity rich area digging them up . When you see the depth some of the roots go ( think carrots) you can see why they are difficult to eradicate.

Bass Reeves

Mules wrote: »

I think topping them so they don't have a chance to spread seeds helps to lessen their spread.
Horses are too picky for their own good.

As well as that horses dung in the same area all the timeas well as making piles of it. Because of that they will not eat in that area of ground. You need to spread the sung all the time.

If you want to get rid of docks you need to top them to get clean regrowth. This year because it is do dry is not a great year to be spraying them. You need to spray them when they are actively growing. Putting on any spray at a higher strength may actually prevent it from working as the leaves can die too fast and the roots shut down.

If getting someone to spray use plenty of water in the mixture and adjust spray level after that.