Bracken woes

adocholiday

Hi all,

I have a long narrow site, about 15m x 130m, connected to my garden. I want to keep it wild, there are loads of wildflowers growing there as well as elderflower, hawthorn, rhododendron, and a few young trees like Oak and Sycamore. The major obstacle to this is that the place is completely infested with bracken, so much so that last summer it was completely inaccessible from June to September.

This year I've taken an aggressive approach, in mid June as the first fronds were opening I went through the place with a strimmer cutting any I saw. Since then I've been going through a few times per week with a hedge clippers just lopping any new growth but I just feel like it's an endless battle. I go up a day later and there's as much new growth as I've cut previously.

Is there anything I can do at this stage other than keep at it? It's not possible to get any machinery in there due to location and the profile and other growth on site make rolling a non-option. I've been reluctant to use glyphosate as it'll kill everything else and at this stage of the season with so much cut I think it's too late for that now.

Is there any point in continuing to cut it or should I just leave it and go full nuclear on it with spray next year? Any suggestions would be really great.

tromtipp

Can you hire a couple of pigs for a few days?


https://www.lowimpact.org/using-pigs-for-woodland-conservation/

https://www.southwestfarmer.co.uk/news/2331682.clearing-bracken-pigs---sanna-sargent-enlists-porcine-army-clear-land-smallholding/

I have absolutely no idea whether the dept of agriculture would let this happen in Ireland - I do have a friend who used her own pigs to clear an overgrown walled garden, very successfully.

adocholiday

tromtipp wrote: »

Can you hire a couple of pigs for a few days?


https://www.lowimpact.org/using-pigs-for-woodland-conservation/

https://www.southwestfarmer.co.uk/news/2331682.clearing-bracken-pigs---sanna-sargent-enlists-porcine-army-clear-land-smallholding/

I have absolutely no idea whether the dept of agriculture would let this happen in Ireland - I do have a friend who used her own pigs to clear an overgrown walled garden, very successfully.

I had actually considered that before but the site is not secure so they'd easily roam. I'd need to spend a fortune on fencing that I'd want to remove once the bracken was finally cleared, however many years that may take! Sounds like there are loads of benefits other than the bracken clearing though so it might be worth considering.

You could try pulling them out. I have done this in a smaller area, it is much better than cutting. From around about now for the next couple of months. You need a reasonably robust back as there is a lot of bending. Grab only one frond with two hands, one near base, the other about a foot above and ease it out. Clear an ever expanding oval and keep it clear of dead bracken material. Fairly knocks the strength out of them, and rhizomes die back.

I think spraying might lead to more severe issues long term. Not sure glyphosate would work, other chemicals I would avoid.

looksee

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/beware-of-bracken-1.76064#:~:text=Bracken%2C%20the%20pretty%20green%20fern,in%20order%20to%20be%20affected.

Bracken, the pretty green fern that blankets the land in many areas, contains carcinogenic chemicals related to benzene. It may be enough just to breathe the bracken spores in order to be affected.

Maybe wearing a mask when you are handling it might be a good idea.

blackbox

looksee wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/beware-of-bracken-1.76064#:~:text=Bracken%2C%20the%20pretty%20green%20fern,in%20order%20to%20be%20affected.



Maybe wearing a mask when you are handling it might be a good idea.

If you keep cutting or pulling them while they are young they won't produce spores.

adocholiday

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You could try pulling them out. I have done this in a smaller area, it is much better than cutting. From around about now for the next couple of months. You need a reasonably robust back as there is a lot of bending. Grab only one frond with two hands, one near base, the other about a foot above and ease it out. Clear an ever expanding oval and keep it clear of dead bracken material. Fairly knocks the strength out of them, and rhizomes die back

I don't think pulling them is really feasible, there's simply too much. For reference I spent 3 hours on Saturday cutting the new growth on only half of the site with a hedge clippers. Literally almost every square inch of the site other than the path through it has bracken growing on it. I refuse to admit defeat though, it's just about finding the most effective solution that doesn't involve killing everything else.

hirondelle

Can you get somebody in to plough the site OP? I think turning over the roots in the autumn gives you the best chance of removing them in one go. As stated above, the spores are nasty so I would mask up if attacking them in between. The fronds are considered a delicacy in Japan and are apparently responsible for Japan having one of the highest rates of stomach cancer in the world.
I think if you don't knock them back you will never establish the wildlife variety that you are looking for, and ploughing it allows you to get other plants in in the meantime. There is bracken growing on land beside me and I keep reducing it by hand but it seems to be taking hold in more areas and is a bit of a thug.

ellee

Some advice here: https://www.allotment-garden.org/gardening-information/weed-control/bracken-control-compost-cancer/

It's nightmare stuff, apparently the roots can be as much as 6 feet under ground.

The article says 3 cuts a year and it would take about 3 y. However this would not eradicate it completely.

Burning also suggested but again, some roots tend to survive.

magicbastarder

adocholiday wrote: »

For reference I spent 3 hours on Saturday cutting the new growth on only half of the site with a hedge clippers.

buy a scythe!