| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| towerhill |
Finally pulled out all the ragwort.Well, after 3 days with 3 people we have finally pulled about 3 tonnes of Ragwort before it's gone to seed!It was good exercise despite the weather (it's sunny now), lots o With good food and company around the camp fire in the evening. We live about 1/2 a mile inland from the Pembrokeshire coastal path (with walkers dragging seeds up and down all the time) so we'll never be shot of it. Ho hum... |
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| bodger |
Look on the bright side dormant seeds can be viable for 20 years plus.
Its a 12 month of the year thing on our holding. I spray the rosettes throughout the year with Barrier H which is a strong citronella concoction which burns then to a frazzle within the hour. It actually kills the whole plant and not just the visible leaves. We strip feed the horses with an electric fence and use the ragwort fork on any that we come across as we move the fence. We also hand pull all the plants that we have in the hedgerows. I hate the blooming things and no matter what we do, we seem to have just as many the following year. 
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| Rob R |
Well done  I can't resist pulling ragwort when I see it, but most people seem not to care- particularly local authorities  but then again if everyone took care of 'their' verges it wouldn't matter as much. They really should make it illegal to grow it 
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| vegplot |
Our local authority was pulling them up today, at least on one stretch of road. | ||
| bodger |
I thought that it was illegal to grow it due to being an injurious weed.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/FARM/wildlife/weeds/ |
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| Rob R |
Yeah, I was trying to be ironic  you wouldn't think it though- can't remember the last time I saw a prosecution for it.
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| bodger |
Its possibly because the councils are the worst offenders and they are connected with bringing any offenders to boot. | ||
| oldish chris |
What about the poor little Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae), you've just removed it's primary food source. Another specie becomes extinct due to human activity. | ||
| Jamanda |
As a land owner you are required to do something about it if you are asked to, but there is no obligation if it isn't bothering anyone. | ||
| Jamanda |
Exactly why we leave it in peace on the Commons. |
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| bodger |
Ragwort was once known as Oxford Ragwort because it was first spotted growing in the railway station there. It hails originally from Sicily, so it begs the question what was the Cinnabar thingy feeding on before its arrival here ? | ||
| Rob R |
Interesting, thanks, I'll get onto the council tomorrow, and every time I spot some from now on. |
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| Rob R |
You'lll be telling me I shouldn't treat sheep if they get maggots next...
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| nettie |
Quite, the stuff was everywhere on the roadsides when I lived in Herts and it was because of it that I used to pick about 40 barrow loads from our pastures every summer
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| Treacodactyl |
I gave up being fanatical about ragwort when I realised the worst places for it round here were fields with horses in. |
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| bodger |
Thats something that is very noticeable . | ||
| Angel |
Ragwort is a very good herbal medicine. 
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| VSS |
This place was covered in ragwort when we came here 11 years ago.
Earlier this week, we needed a picture of some ragwort as an illustration for Tim's book and we walked the whole farm without findng a single plant. Had to go up the road to find any. Don't despair - you CAN get rind of it. |
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| bodger |
Your and my local farmers use their sheep to control it.
They say that the sheep eat the young rosettes and that they have no ill effects. This may or not be true but as horse keepers, all our winter fodder comes from sheep farmers and it doesn't have rag wort in it. |
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| VSS |
They will eat the young rosettes in the spring, but you do have to stock the sheep VERY tight to do it.
Repeat two years in a row and be religious about pulling out any plants that you see on your land and over the fence too. |
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| Castle Farm |
When we lived back in Surrey we rented a 'field' being on Bagshot sand didn't have lots of grass but the Ragwort was thick everywhere.
We spent years clearing it and within 2 years of us leaving you could only see ragwort,nothing else..well except for rabbit holes. All along the A3 it was thick and left untill too late to take out and our horse hay used to be bought in from Hampshire at a cost. It's starting to get a grip up here and I stop the car and rip it out if I see any and burn it..Give it another few years and all over Herefordshire will be covered with the stuff. I think the UK should have a Ragwort Ripping Day,that or get some of these bloody layabouts off the DHSS and put them on it. |
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| Bluedog |
Nope, Oxford Ragwort is from Sicilly, the others, and there are loads of "others" are from all over the world, and it was originally brought over to be grown as a plant in the Duke of Beauforts garden at Badminton, its called Oxford Ragwort because an Oxford Proff took it to the City and it quickly went feral. Did you also know that no one has actually ever been charged for allowing it to grow on their land, partly because the constant threat of death from animals eating it is hugely exaggerated. |
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| Bluedog |
To add, the BEST thing to spray on Ragwort, in fact almost the ONLY thing that kills it is Citronella, sold as Barrier H and VERY concentrated but you can almost watch it kill the crowns, of course like all things its all about the timing of applying that makes the difference between success and failure. |