Ragwort

jocero.johnstone · June 2020

Hi all,

Do any of you nice folk know of something that will outcompete ragwort? Got a real problem with it and was thinking of spreading a few safe seeds where I pull it (root and all). Any help appreciated,

Jo

Fairygirl · June 2020

Have you got a photo of the area?

Ragwort doesn't usually inhabit domestic gardens very often, and the best method is to dig it out. If you're next to open fields, it's harder to keep it away, but regular chopping back can help, or just a weedkiller when it's growing.
I'm not sure what other seeds would really outdo it in terms of growth, if it's got that invasive.

jocero.johnstone · June 2020

Hi it's not too bad in the garden. Its horrific at the yard we keep the horse at, hoping I could combat the garden stuff withawith dig out and outcompete trial and if it works let our ym know. 😁

Fairygirl · June 2020

We just used to cut it every now and again where I worked.
In my experience, despite all the warnings of it's toxicity, no horse or pony ever ate it

hypercharleyfarley · June 2020

The simplest way to deal with it is to prevent it from flowering, though of course the seeds can (and do) travel some distance - wind-borne. My neighbour and I have been able to control it to a great extent by removing flowering stems from roadside plants if we can't manage to pull them out completely, and digging up the rest. It does seem to have worked, as there's been very little spread over the past few years because it's not a perennial plant.

Unfortunately some horses do eat it - especially when they are kept on poorly maintained and overgrazed land - apparently it is unpalatable when "green" but not so once it has died down, and if dead ragwort is present in hay etc they will eat it. Two horses and a pony were kept in a field very nearby and had been totally neglected by their owner, despite efforts to deal with this and reports made to local authorities and the RSPCA. One day my neighbour saw that one of the horses was distressed and was in fact foaling, so she called her own vet practice who came out to try to assist. The foal was stillborn - due to ragwort apparently - and it took a while before the situation was finally resolved and the horses & pony rehomed.

I think it is in the "notifiable" category, so owners of land/livestock are supposed to keep it under control.

Fairygirl · June 2020

That's poor husbandry then @hypercharleyfarley. Plain and simple

There are lots of people who simply shouldn't have animals - of any kind.

jocero.johnstone · June 2020

That's awful hypercharleyfarley! We pull every year but I was hoping to find something we could put in the hole where the roots were to replace it and stop any regrowth. I didn't realise it was perennial. I'll redouble my efforts to get it all before the flowers come out, that should help.

I moan about it but the yard do pull it every year it just keeps coming back and seems to be more than ever, I think it's because theres so many fields they aren't all pulled before flowering. This year I decided I was going to do the one my boys in to help out. None of ours have ever eaten it, but then again they're not out full time, the fields massive and they all get good hay at night so aren't hungry. Our vet says it's rare for horses to eat it unless there's no other option ☹️. I just can't stand any of it in the field. If theres more than two barrows full I consider it a horrific problem!

I was sure I read an article years ago saying that some herb species outcompete ragwort making it less common and therefore easier to manage. It went on about being better for grazing animals too. I think (and I stress think) it was a herb mix called medieval pasture. I wish I'd kept the article.

Its now appeared in my back garden too. I've started pulling it from out lawn and thats worrying as I'm.sure it is bad if you touch it and the kids pull at everything.

Sorry for the long post I just can't stand ragwort. Been at the same place over 20years with the horse and seriously think it's worse now than when I was a kid. That or maybe it was just easier to dig it out when I was younger and fit 😂😂

hypercharleyfarley · June 2020

Hello again - just to reassure you, I think I already said it's not a perennial so if you make a big effort to tackle it this year you'll find that the number of "repeats"will lessen unless the seeds blow in from elsewhere. Even if you can't pull every plant up, removing the flowering shoots helps a lot. Worth wearing gloves, as the sap can be irritant. You can actually buy a tool which is specifically designed to dig out ragwort, so perhaps worth looking into that. The problem which lots of people find is that because ragwort isn't dealt with on adjacent land, the seeds do travel further than you might realise, so if you can persuade other landowners nearby do do something that would help too. Although I no longer have horses I still make the effort to remove any ragwort which I find on my land, though it's usually near the hedges where the agricultural machinery doesn't reach. My neighbour does the same, so I think we're winning!

jocero.johnstone · June 2020

Thanks, we have a rag fork it's brilliant 😁. Farm owns most of the land around the field so that's good. As I said before I think the main problem was that last year there was three people to clear like four large fields alongside other jobs so it flowered before it was all done. That's why I decided to tackle the field I'm in this year. I had no idea it was perennial and thought the plants there already could come back as well as produce new ones 😮. Much happier thinking that's not true 😁.

Will dig out the bit in the lawn too, hopefully that'll mean it won't reappear next year.

Dovefromabove · June 2020

Ragwort is usually annual or biennial but if you try to pull it and don’t get all the root it will behave like a perennial, do when we kept horses I would take a garden fork into the pasture with my and ease and lift the root before pulling .., this way it’s easier to get the whole taproot out so it won’t regrow.

I would just point out that ragwort is also an important food source for some of our insects and it’s important to leave it to grow in places where it will not be grazed or cut for fodder.

😊

Ragwort

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