roosterman71 wrote: » Is it not covered by some piece of legislation related to "Noxious Weeds"? If so, get onto the council to have it cleared. If you owned land beside that road you would be infested by it soon
k mac wrote: » Pulled as much as i could hopefully will be able pick some more out of the swards. Think 1kg of ragwort when dried would need alot of it in a bale.
Upstream wrote: » Teagasc advice is to not let cattle back onto land until ragweed is dead and rotted away, how long would you have to leave cattle out of a field for? Would it take longer now than when it's at the rosette stage?
whelan2 wrote: » i dont know, but some lads never let them off it after topping:eek: i would be saying 2-3 weeks but i would walk the land to make sure they where gone before i let cattle back in, maybe pick the dead ones and throw them away
Upstream wrote: » Thanks, got a field well cleaned off, it was our worst field for them. Pulled about half and took them away and the rest were clipped, will lift as many as I can and keep the cattle off for 3 weeks for any I've missed. Starting to see them in my sleep now
whelan2 wrote: » yup. was on a neighbours farm last year and i started pulling a few in his field unbeknowns to myself, he was laughing at me.... i hate ragworth
KatyMac wrote: » Walking past a garden in town the other day and there was two plants growing out of a crack in a wall. I pulled them much to the embarrassment of my daughters.
greysides wrote: » Ragwort at sub-lethal doses is still not going to be doing any good.
sandydan wrote: » thought ragwort poison is accumulated over time in system, or so my old vet used to say,just needs the balance to kill.
smokey-fitz wrote: » Went topping a field today, started on one side plenty of buttercups.. So wasnt paying to much attention to the all the yellow flowers as I was topping away. Got off the tractor a little after half way to strain the spuds and was looking at ragwort! Oh dear.. The field was covered in it (12ac). 1000s of young flowered plants. Finished topping anyway and moved cattle off it, I can afford to keep cattle off it for rest of the year, but what should I do now? Wait for regrowth and spray? September'ish maybe?
weatherbyfoxer wrote: » Get yourself an lorry loads of goats...sounds like they would feel right at home!..
sandydan wrote: » pity you didn't stop topping and spray at least half would be gone as it may not regrow good enough for spraying now before night-frosts,which may neutralize spray, cattle aren't as quick to eat growing ragworth as withered stuff which is lethal in small doses even. were spuds done
gozunda wrote: » If the Ragworth plants topped are in flower you will need to remove them to prevent the seed germinating next year. Plus If the plants dry on the ground there is a danger that cattle may eat them and be poisoned. Not much spraying flowering plants at this stage imo. I have previously loaded cut plants into a trailer and covered in an old pit with heavy black plastic - they eventfully rot to nothing. Some advocate burning but not too sure what the regs are about that. If you can pull all the flowering Ragworth plants you can - plenty of older kids on school holidays with little to do - Ragworth wars! Great game but make sure they wear gloves and cover arms and legs. Again collect all the plants you can and remove. The normal time for spraying is at the rosette stage early in the year - so you might have to wait till next. I reckon once you got the cut and pulled plants out you should be ok for grazing as regrowth will only start next year. Make site to spray with a dedicated Ragworth killer then. Can't remember offhand the one I used last time.
just do it wrote: » When spraying ground with MCPA last year I was advised to keep stock out for 4 weeks if there was ragwort
sandydan wrote: » mcpa i used for rushes but not sure if it works on ragworth, best cut rushes early and manure, then spray before they seed, works a treat,probably in may,avoid night frost anyway it neutralises or limits response to many sprays including bandock, gallup and roundup have you ever tried spot spraying with hand held sprayer or weedlicker on clumps of weeds
smokey-fitz wrote: » Used gallup along fences and on a few clumps around headlands, yard ect. Have a quad sprayer which is pretty handy. Its my 1st year farming so alot of stuff to get the head around, at the moment rushes are the enemy (along with factories) will be sorting some sort of spraying plan for them and in time drain that land, at least the ragwort infestation is only in one field at the moment, so preventing that from spreading is important.
sandydan wrote: » an old harvester will knock the stuffing out of rushes double or single chop if not sure of ground,this will give you some break rather than spraying big acreage together, if good ground a topper or mower, there is a thread devoted to this elsewhere so i wont go there,but a harvester and trailer will gather ragworth or heavy cover handier rather than topping and leaving on ground to rot,rotting grass left after mowing or topping can soil round bales of silage if not removed i think. know a chap uses baler he bought cheap with narrow pick up for same purpose and use Gozunda's suggestion of covering heap of ragworth with plastic to rot,
