Briars and Ivy taking over Ireland

Biscuitus

I had to take a drive to pick up a machinery part over the weekend. From coast to coast Ireland is being overrun by briars any ivy. Every fence along the motorway, every back road, every farm and field was covered in briars. Some sticking out into the road, covering entire fences and ditches. Neighbouring dairy and sheep farms that were kept immaculate are now struggling to stay on top of briars.

Then there's ivy. Every tree is being covered. It's like a parasite and eventually kills them and pulls them down. No matter the time of year ivy grows and as soon as it hits a tree it races to the top.

How are you fighting this problem on your farm? Is this just a problem from climate change we have to deal with. I've read that both are growing more cause of the milder winters.

patsy_mccabe

I'd have to agree. I've seen briars grow 10 ft in a year. I've taken to spraying now with Graze On Pro. Ivy I cut at base of tree.

blackbox

A few goats needed to sort that out!

tanko

The widespread use of electric fencing, cattle not being outwintered anymore and most farmers being part time are the reasons i think.
Every tree in the country seems to be smothered by ivy now.
It’s very satisfying to cut it at the butt and see it die off.

atlantic mist

cows here seem to love eating the ivy off trees and sheds

could all the briars be considered in our 30% organic figure for the eu, fully organic blackberries there everywhere;) id say we loose a foot off every field that we dont hedgecut to briars each year

memorystick

Put your thorny wire in the middle of the ditch and let the cattle walk along it.

_Brian

My mother keeps saying that the countryside is unrecognisable with overgrowth in the last 20 years.

We have two corners set aside where briars etc are allowed do their thing.

Most boundaries are fenced with electric wire. We used to spray these but stopped for environment and cost reasons. Means much more manual work trimming and cutting back briars off fences. But we’re not loosing ground to them every year. Electric fences are in same line last two decades.

wrangler

_Brian wrote: »

My mother keeps saying that the countryside is unrecognisable with overgrowth in the last 20 years.

We have two corners set aside where briars etc are allowed do their thing.

Most boundaries are fenced with electric wire. We used to spray these but stopped for environment and cost reasons. Means much more manual work trimming and cutting back briars off fences. But we’re not loosing ground to them every year. Electric fences are in same line last two decades.

Electric fence are only a joke on a boundary fence unless the flail can go between the fence and the ditch. dairy farmers think they have fenced when thy stick an electric fence along side a boundary ditch when in fact they are destroying the ditch as I've never seen them leaving room for the flail, briars thrive in those conditions, Sheep farmers fence for everyone

memorystick

wrangler wrote: »

Electric fence are only a joke on a boundary fence unless the flail can go between the fence and the ditch. dairy farmers think they have fenced when thy stick an electric fence along side a boundary ditch when in fact they are destroying the ditch as I've never seen them leaving room for the flail, briars thrive in those conditions, Sheep farmers fence for everyone

In the process of improving all ditch fences. Take down electric and put up thorny.

What would be best option for removing ferns......i noticed they are creeping out too far into one or two fields here


Would roundup and reseed be best option

Seamai

Used Gallup a few month back on briars with fantastic results, about 6 weeks later went back over the odd green shoot that popped up. TBH I found it better than Roundup and it's a lot cheaper.

yosemitesam1

Biscuitus wrote: »

I had to take a drive to pick up a machinery part over the weekend. From coast to coast Ireland is being overrun by briars any ivy. Every fence along the motorway, every back road, every farm and field was covered in briars. Some sticking out into the road, covering entire fences and ditches. Neighbouring dairy and sheep farms that were kept immaculate are now struggling to stay on top of briars.

Then there's ivy. Every tree is being covered. It's like a parasite and eventually kills them and pulls them down. No matter the time of year ivy grows and as soon as it hits a tree it races to the top.

How are you fighting this problem on your farm? Is this just a problem from climate change we have to deal with. I've read that both are growing more cause of the milder winters.

They are the two most important plants for pollinators in this country.
Far from a problem if there was any reasonable amount of hedge management out there. Unfortunately proper hedge management is a thing of the past

Dinzee Conlee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What would be best option for removing ferns......i noticed they are creeping out too far into one or two fields here


Would roundup and reseed be best option

Spray with Asolux.

Chain harrowing or rolling this time of year, is meant to do a good job of halting their progress as well...

patsy_mccabe

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I'd have to agree. I've seen briars grow 10 ft in a year. I've taken to spraying now with Graze On Pro. Ivy I cut at base of tree.

You're spraying them and I'm planting them

wrangler

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I'd have to agree. I've seen briars grow 10 ft in a year. I've taken to spraying now with Graze On Pro. Ivy I cut at base of tree.

Graze on is good coupled with good grazing management. roundup etc only seems to propagate them, grass gets killed off with roundup which gives the briars a great chance to reestablish, I see a neighbour annually using roundup with little effect apart from propogating nettles as well

Still waters

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

They are the two most important plants for pollinators in this country.
Far from a problem if there was any reasonable amount of hedge management out there. Unfortunately proper hedge management is a thing of the past

Unfortunately too many farmers like to see bare clean soil, there was a time we as farmers had to work with nature and the land we had, now its easier spray it with poison and cut it back to within an inch of its life

Birdnuts

Biscuitus wrote: »

I had to take a drive to pick up a machinery part over the weekend. From coast to coast Ireland is being overrun by briars any ivy. Every fence along the motorway, every back road, every farm and field was covered in briars. Some sticking out into the road, covering entire fences and ditches. Neighbouring dairy and sheep farms that were kept immaculate are now struggling to stay on top of briars.

Then there's ivy. Every tree is being covered. It's like a parasite and eventually kills them and pulls them down. No matter the time of year ivy grows and as soon as it hits a tree it races to the top.

How are you fighting this problem on your farm? Is this just a problem from climate change we have to deal with. I've read that both are growing more cause of the milder winters.

If a tree is healthy, ivy won't bother it. Plus as others have mentioned its an important source of food for pollinators, cover for nesting birds and source of trace elements for cattle and sheep. Its the sterilisation of the countryside by sprays and heavy machinery is what I notice far more then a bit of nature around the place

Dinzee Conlee

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Spray with Asolux.

Chain harrowing or rolling this time of year, is meant to do a good job of halting their progress as well...

Any googling i seen says asolux is banned in EU??


If i could get it,i would

_Brian

wrangler wrote: »

Electric fence are only a joke on a boundary fence unless the flail can go between the fence and the ditch. dairy farmers think they have fenced when thy stick an electric fence along side a boundary ditch when in fact they are destroying the ditch as I've never seen them leaving room for the flail, briars thrive in those conditions, Sheep farmers fence for everyone

Electric fence is best thing ever.
I’m happy with briars and other wild flowers behind the electric fence on the ditch. It’s great some for biodiversity to thrive.

The only joke is the lads that think a flail is the only way to treat a boundary.

tanko

Birdnuts wrote: »

If a tree is healthy, ivy won't bother it. Plus as others have mentioned its an important source of food for pollinators, cover for nesting birds and source of trace elements for cattle and sheep. Its the sterilisation of the countryside by sprays and heavy machinery is what I notice far more then a bit of nature around the place

It’s not true to say that if a tree is healthy that ivy won’t bother it.
Ivy will smother and eventually kill the trees and do the same with the likes of whitethorn bushes.
Large parts of this country will be sterilized of farmers and briars and weeds will cover the country with the way things are heading.

JJayoo

Having a bit of ivy around is handy if you have a sick animal.

A sheep could be in a bad way refusing to eat grass/concentrate but will go crazy for ivy.

Birdnuts

tanko wrote: »

It’s not true to say that if a tree is healthy that ivy won’t bother it.
Ivy will smother and eventually kill the trees and do the same with the likes of whitethorn bushes.
Large parts of this country will be sterilized of farmers and briars and weeds will cover the country with the way things are heading.

I've yet to see a healthy mature tree die due to ivy - if a tree suddenly looks sick its much more likely to be a fungal disease of the type hitting Ash, Elm etc. currently. Another issue would be damage to roots due to ploughing etc..

tanko

Birdnuts wrote: »

I've yet to see a healthy mature tree die due to ivy - if a tree suddenly looks sick its much more likely to be a fungal disease of the type hitting Ash, Elm etc. currently. Another issue would be damage to roots due to ploughing etc..

You didn’t say mature trees.
Ivy kills lots of young trees and bushes.
I see it every day.

wrangler

_Brian wrote: »

Electric fence is best thing ever.
I’m happy with briars and other wild flowers behind the electric fence on the ditch. It’s great some for biodiversity to thrive.

The only joke is the lads that think a flail is the only way to treat a boundary.

It's a joke when the ditch pushes down the fence and kills the shock enabling the cattle to climb the bank and jump into my land, then the crack starts when they can't get the heifers back over my sheep wire and barbed wire.
The real joke was cutting .my sheep wire and barbed wire, not on their boundary but out on to a private road so I couldn't accuse them ....... but they were seen. so forgive me if I regard an electric fence threaded through badly maintained briars a joke.

Briars are an absolute course, we spray the s*it out of them every year anywhere they appear. Can’t understand farmers letting them grow like mad and start encroaching in the field it’s not that hard or time consuming to do a bit of spraying.

Still waters

wrangler wrote: »

It's a joke when the ditch pushes down the fence and kills the shock enabling the cattle to climb the bank and jump into my land, then the crack starts when they can't get the heifers back over my sheep wire and barbed wire.
The real joke was cutting .my sheep wire and barbed wire, not on their boundary but out on to a private road so I couldn't accuse them ....... but they were seen. so forgive me if I regard an electric fence threaded through badly maintained briars a joke.

So is it the briars or the farmer that's at fault

Say my name

I think Wrangler referred to this earlier.

The biggest reason ivy and brambles are perceived to be taking over in some parts is because landowners have been busy out spraying round up on their ditches.

Landowners have basically made monocultures of their boundaries. The competition has been removed and ivy and brambles take advantage of the situation.

Now yere looking for another spray to kill the ivy and briars.
If the roundup was left in the can the problem wouldn't be there.
Nature abhors a vaccum.

Frankx

tanko wrote: »

You didn’t say mature trees.
Ivy kills lots of young trees and bushes.
I see it every day.

I think I've a problem with ivy on a mature tree

How do u take it off

patsy_mccabe

I don't like spraying briars. I'd rather just cut them back but the work involved seems endless. I cut them back with a battery hedge cutter but maybe I'm getting too old for that now.
Ivy adds a lot of weight and wind drag to tall trees, helping to bring then down in high winds. Whenever there's a storm here it is nearly always the ivy laden ones that come down.

tanko

Frankx wrote: »

I think I've a problem with ivy on a mature tree

How do u take it off

Just cut it at the bottom of the trees and it will die off.

Frankx

tanko wrote: »

Just cut it at the bottom of the trees and it will die off.

Thanks

Does the tree come back after the ivy?

wrangler

Say my name wrote: »

I think Wrangler referred to this earlier.

The biggest reason ivy and brambles are perceived to be taking over in some parts is because landowners have been busy out spraying round up on their ditches.

Landowners have basically made monocultures of their boundaries. The competition has been removed and ivy and brambles take advantage of the situation.

Now yere looking for another spray to kill the ivy and briars.
If the roundup was left in the can the problem wouldn't be there.
Nature abhors a vaccum.

If you spray a ditch with grazon it'll be a few years before it get's as bad again, also if you spray a bank for a few years with roundup the bank starts to fall away because there's no scutch roots to hold the clay in banks, I used to have a problem with neighbours spraying my banks to get visibility on a private road with roundup, I had to tell one guy three times, eventually I told him he could strim it if he wanted visibility. You wouldn't be surprised to hear it wasn't strimmed

I think grazeon kills whitethorn as well so you have to be careful

Birdnuts

Say my name wrote: »

I think Wrangler referred to this earlier.

The biggest reason ivy and brambles are perceived to be taking over in some parts is because landowners have been busy out spraying round up on their ditches.

Landowners have basically made monocultures of their boundaries. The competition has been removed and ivy and brambles take advantage of the situation.

Now yere looking for another spray to kill the ivy and briars.
If the roundup was left in the can the problem wouldn't be there.
Nature abhors a vaccum.

Horsetail is taking over alot of places thanx to the Roundup addiction

memorystick

JJayoo wrote: »

Having a bit of ivy around is handy if you have a sick animal.

A sheep could be in a bad way refusing to eat grass/concentrate but will go crazy for ivy.

Yeah but not a jungle of it.

memorystick

JJayoo wrote: »

Having a bit of ivy around is handy if you have a sick animal.

A sheep could be in a bad way refusing to eat grass/concentrate but will go crazy for ivy.

Yeah but not a jungle of it.

amadangomor

Ivy and trees have been around for millions of years and there are still trees.

Trees will still get plenty of light on their leaves. If a tree does fall that's the cycle of nature and a new tree will take it's place and the tree rotting down will add to the ecosystem.

As mentioned spraying weedkiller fks up the balance of the ecosystem and you end up with more problems than it solves.

tanko

Frankx wrote: »

Thanks

Does the tree come back after the ivy?

That depends on whether or not the ivy has smothered and killed it.

Frankx

tanko wrote: »

That depends on whether or not the ivy has smothered and killed it.

How would you know

patsy_mccabe

amadangomor wrote: »

Ivy and trees have been around for millions of years and there are still trees.

Trees will still get plenty of light on their leaves. If a tree does fall that's the cycle of nature and a new tree will take it's place and the tree rotting down will add to the ecosystem.

As mentioned spraying weedkiller fks up the balance of the ecosystem and you end up with more problems than it solves.

I have huge ash and oak trees here that my Grandfather set. I don't want them knocked.

tanko

Frankx wrote: »

How would you know

It’ll be obvious if the tree is dead.
Just cut the Ivy and hope for the best.

Frankx

tanko wrote: »

It’ll be obvious if the tree is dead.
Just cut the Ivy and hope for the best.

Obvious how though I'm no tree expert

wrangler

Frankx wrote: »

Obvious how though I'm no tree expert

There should be leaves on the trees this time of the year, if there's not it's dead

listermint

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I have huge ash and oak trees here that my Grandfather set. I don't want them knocked.

Spraying chemicals all over them seems like a sound solution...

..

Frankx

wrangler wrote: »

There should be leaves on the trees this time of the year, if there's not it's dead

Looks to be leaves on them

Bark doesn't look the best

patsy_mccabe

listermint wrote: »

Spraying chemicals all over them seems like a sound solution...

..

I don't spray them with chemicals. Do you use any weed killer yourself?

wrangler

listermint wrote: »

Spraying chemicals all over them seems like a sound solution...

..

If you need to kill a tree you have to drill holes in it and inject roundup into it so a spraymist isn't going to be much harm

Castlekeeper

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Spray with Asolux.

Chain harrowing or rolling this time of year, is meant to do a good job of halting their progress as well...

Sorry to correct you but the time for that was in the spring. They're dying away from September anyway.
Knock the young fronds for a few years and they're well shook and the grass has plenty space to re establish.

Base price

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I don't like spraying briars. I'd rather just cut them back but the work involved seems endless. I cut them back with a battery hedge cutter but maybe I'm getting too old for that now.
Ivy adds a lot of weight and wind drag to tall trees, helping to bring then down in high winds. Whenever there's a storm here it is nearly always the ivy laden ones that come down.

I haven't sprayed the hedges/under the electric fence since 2017 and I haven't used any herbicides around the farm or yard since 2018.
I have a small (3') old Bamford flail that I use to trim behind the fences during the closed period and I use a similarly aged Lely 4 disc mower to top under them during the Summer. I previously posted (a couple of years ago) looking for recommendations for a light weight petrol hedge trimmer as I was getting too old/worn out using my brothers powerful but heavy Tanaka long reach one. I bought a McCulloch ErgoLite for about €240 and it's the best yoke I've bought in years. I can run along behind the fence and trim off the overgrowing briars, whitethorn and whins.
https://besthedgetrimmers.co.uk/best-petrol-hedge-trimmers/mcculloch-ergolite-6028/

Castlekeeper

tanko wrote: »

It’s not true to say that if a tree is healthy that ivy won’t bother it.
Ivy will smother and eventually kill the trees and do the same with the likes of whitethorn bushes.
Large parts of this country will be sterilized of farmers and briars and weeds will cover the country with the way things are heading.

Trees quickly come through the briars , youdo have the makings of a nice young forest in 10 years.

Base price

Frankx wrote: »

I think I've a problem with ivy on a mature tree

How do u take it off

Look at the base of the tree and see where the Ivy stems are growing up. Cut a section of the Ivy stems near the base of the tree (1' or 2'), then cut another section about 4" up. If its mature Ivy get a hammer or pinch bar and prise the cut sections out to leave a gap. The uppermost part of the Ivy will die but the stem end will still continue to grow. If you want to kill off the stem end then paint those sections nearest the ground with an approved brushwood herbicide. Depending on the age of the Ivy growing on the tree there maybe several Ivy stems intersecting each other so follow each stem as it appears around the base and around the trunk of the tree.

Most people think that Ivy is a parasitic plant (like mistletoe) and that it lives off the nutrients on the tree that it growing on - it doesn't. Ivy has its own system that transfers nutrients/water between it's root and leaves.

TBH I quit cutting Ivy stems on our trees several years ago after listening to Philip McCabe (RIP) - the bee man on Mooney Goes Wild. He told how important Ivy flowers are to our bumblebees so that they could stock up stores coming into Winter. Ivy comes into flower in Autumn so its a very important plant for our wild bees and pollinators to store up for Winter.

HillFarmer

This thread is the reason we need more funding in pillar II of CAP.
Spraying ditches, FFS. Do any of you care about the nature part of farming?

I'm sickened tbh reading half of it.

We all love livestock and farming in general but we have a responsibilty to protect the wildlife and habitats that exist on our farms.

I have Ivy growing on all my trees, they haven't killed one yet.