Thistle & Ragwort control in wildflower meadow
Max Campbell
Posts: 17
We have a 3 acre paddock, rough grass, mainly neglected in recent years, but with some nice wildflowers - Cowslip, Vetch, Buttercup, Clover, but also with areas of Thistle, Nettle, Ragwort and Bramble.
We want to manage it for bio-diversity, so intend to leave at least a patch of each of these, except the Ragwort, which we must eliminate. I eventually want to get to the stage where we take a hay cut late in the year, with a finger-bar mower that we'll hire, so then we'll just mow the Thistle, etc areas a bit later and compost the material.
We've sown some Yellow Rattle, and will be raising some plug plants of various species.
How do we control the weeds without damaging the other flowers? I don't want to spray the whole paddock; spot-treating with selective herbicide is difficult because of knowing which plants have been treated; mowing the bad areas will tend to make the Ragwort (&Thistle?) grow as rosettes, so avoiding future cuts. Current favourite idea is a big strimmer, and wander about ripping the nasties to bits as often as possible.
Anyone with experience or ideas?
Posts
Thanks, pansy face, but it would be days & days to pull up the Ragwort. I like the builders' marker idea.
Ragwort: as the other have said, pull it up when it grows tall, just before it starts to flower or just as it is starting to flower. It is hard work but it works and the individual plants will not re grow. OR you can dig it out before it grows tall, making sure you dig out the crown; leaving the roots in seems to be OK, as long as you dig out the crown. Strimming or mowing it is not a good idea as it seems to turn perennial if not allowed to flower, just putting off the problem for future years.
Your quote tool works like mine Max. everything ends up in one box whatever I do.
I can't see an alternative to hand pulling or sharp tool to hack off below ground level for those weeds. I've never had to tackle it as not making hay. Creeping thistle I can see no answer to at all.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Do it a bit at a time and burn it. It will continue to mature to seeding so put it in black bags until you burn it.
We're focussing on the paddock until we can start work on the garden, so I guess we'll just have to use a couple of weekends pulling ragwort.
We'll leave a patch of Thistle, but want to clear it from most of the land so that the hay is usable. You can't pull thistles, because they break, would strimming them work?
From what I've read elsewhere buttercups aren't a problem in hay, because the toxin volatilises off.
It's probably best to wear gloves if you decide to pull up the ragwort - it can cause a reaction which is worse in some people than others. However, you can get a simple tool specifically designed for use in digging up ragwort and it does work quite well. The main thing is not to allow any unwanted plant to set seed - especially those plants whose seeds are spread via wind/movement - so I think you'd be wise to deal with the thistles too. The ragwort tool might work for their removal, but I've never actually tried it on thistles.
Perseverance is the key - but I think I'd find it easier to deal with the thistles & ragwort than brambles any day. Those in my field hedges grow up to 7ft a year even though I try to keep them under some sort of control. The hedges are trimmed by a local agricultural contractor at the appropriate time of year, but during the summer months they grow like triffids!
Thanks, hypercharley, I don't mind the Blackberries, as we call them when they're where we want them, in hedges - the paddock is surrounded by overgrown hedges that we won't trim, but we don't want new patches in the body of the meadow.
Just a quick word of warning about hedges - as the owner of the land you are supposed to keep them under some sort of control. There are some rules & regs as to when they may be trimmed , i.e. not when the Powers That Be call "flowering and fruiting times", If a hedge overhangs a public right of way or road, the local council could (and might) cut them back at any time of year, and it might not work out quite how you'd want it to if you don't take control of things yourself.
In order to establish who's responsible for a boundary, you'd need to look at the paperwork relating to your land. If there's a proper plan anywhere, you need to look for a little symbol along the boundary line which looks like a capital letter T. If that symbol is on your land it means that you own the boundary and are responsible for its maintenance. e.g. if it looks like this:
______________T____________
the owner of the land above the line (boundary) is responsible. If the T were upside down & below the line, whoever owns that land would be responsible.