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Ragwort Control Options

  • 09-07-2025 08:38PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭


    Hi all, having big problems with ragwort this year as I hear some others are. All is flowered at this stage. I know I can pull it but I've done that in the past and it comes back. Could I spray it or would mulching it work?



Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,844 ✭✭✭Cavanjack


    Too late spraying now if they are flowering . Top them or pull them and spray if they regrow or next spring when they are only a few inches high.. Need to spray them for years if they are bad.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,951 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    my Shetland Sheep and Cinnaber moths are hammering mine atm🙂



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,066 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Problem now that they are at full size is if you cut them they become a poison risk. Pulling them at least removes them from that.
    But ground is hard so pulling them will be hard and less successful if you don’t get the roots out.

    Whatever you do it’s not something you beat in one or two years, it takes a few years of work to knock them back and even then you will need to keep on top of them.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44 dowlerswozere


    There is a man in Tullow who makes specialised ragworth sprangs for getting up the roots I can pm you his number if you like

    They grow over two years so as people have said already it takes a few years to get rid of them

    I’ve been doing an hour a day and you’d be surprised how much you get done



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭farmer2018




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx


    Mulch it now, give it plenty of time to rot before letting livestock back.
    From my experience, I didn't have a ragwort problem, ragwort was only the symptom not the cause, using nothing but implementing rotational grazing, grass measuring and regular topping the ragwort disappeared once the grass could out compete it.

    This is from 2017 - just before I took over the farm and the last time I tried to clear a field by pulling.

    image.png


    The same field this morning, will be cut and wrapped shortly and not a yellow flower in sight.

    image.png

    Poor grass management or a nutrient issues will lead to bad ragwort infestations, soil samples came back good for this field, but I blame overgrazing in the fringes of the year allowed the seed the conditions to to germinate, I now close up the worst effected areas first in the autumn to leave them with some cover over the winter and into spring. (Even just the worst strip of a field).

    I still have some fields to deal with but every year I'm seeing an improvement, embarrassingly the home farm is still the worst as it is only a 10 acre block, that has been an easy target for abusing with late/early grazing and/or blacking with FYM but I'm targeting that for improvements now.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,481 ✭✭✭✭patsy_mccabe


    image.png

    Works for me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx


    Wore that t-shirt long enough, it won't work unless the underlying issues are resolved also.
    But far less pulling required if any once they are.

    Having said that I wouldn't walk past a ragwort without pulling it in a field that is more or less under control.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,888 ✭✭✭893bet


    The difference in the presumed ash tree in the back ground is stark.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx


    I just thought the same thing when writing the post, both pictures are from the same time of year.
    Not many healthy looking ash trees left around here.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭farmer2018


    I agree with what your saying but there are various factors depending on people's situations



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,066 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    I read somewhere that ash trees are showing signs of recovery of a sorts. I certainly hope it’s possible. The one in the corner of my garden “seems” to have more cover this year but that may just be wishful thinking.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,066 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    I wonder is mulching to chips the solution?? Would be much harder for any animal to get enough material to sicken themselves and they should rot much quicker.

    If you top them wjen big and strong they will be lying on the ground for the most of the grazing season.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx



    True,

    I guess the short version is,
    Don't bother spraying now the plants will wilt, die very slowly and go to seed early and you'll achieve nothing.
    I wouldn't bother pulling either it will be a lot of work and fruitless, if you can't fix the underlying issues now.

    Mulching, them would be an option this time of year, but only if you can afford to keep cattle away for a month, would need up to 6 weeks after a normal topper. Alternatively an old double chop harvester to cut and collect them, then compost them away from livestock.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx


    I'm not convinced any of these mature trees will recover much if at all, but I have heard that more younger trees are starting to show resistance. Hopefully there will be some comeback, if fire blight were to take hold now there will be very little life in any of my hedge rows.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭farmer2018


    My problem is I've never had them in places I have them now and nothing has changed in some of the fields, which is strange. I drained some land and they even came up where the soil was flattened out from the drains and never had them before there.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,951 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    More so the rosette stage just b4 full flowering. I've targetted at the most vulnerealble paddocks since the start of the year and difference is very noticeable compared to my near neighbours with similar ground



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,524 ✭✭✭emaherx


    Well the flattened soil or any bare clay is ideal for their establishment. The seeds spread in the wind and can remain viable for years. Any soil disturbance from machinery/drought/poaching/over-grazing etc will also help them establish.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭farmer2018




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