[Ghdp]

Ok, clearly you have my attention! I have looked further on the grazing issue. It is a frequent animal fodder in Asia (I have learned) and, apparrently, can be cooked ( no thanks) Grazing CAN be part of the control of it but it will not erradicate it.
I am far from convinced it is a good idea but let us know how your experiment goes if you do it.

[demonfarmer2630]

i only have hens but have used goats to clear unwanted plants befor eg blackberry bushes shrubs etc they love an overgrown field and iv no anxiety abut the plant iv had it before as iv said in both threads its an edible plant even people can eat it high in vitamin c

[Womble]

Sure. It's just like rhubarb apparently.
 
The worry I'd have is if it escapes your hen run, then you may have a job controlling it. Personally there's just no way I'd risk it, as there are loads of other crops you can grow for hens etc.
 
I've also spoken to a colleague of mine who has it in his garden. He's spent thousands trying to eradicate it as a condition of his mortgage, with varying degrees of success (oh, and he has plenty of hens too!).
 
He did say you can come and take as much of it as you like for free, on one condition:  "he'll have to take every last ***ing bit of it" 

[harmony]

This is the link to our local rivers trust. http://www.scrt.co.uk/cfinns/welcome.


It has really good info on invasive species that that are trying to eradicate from our river banks and why.


I can not understand why anyone would want to cultivate it so I really have a problem with any landowner actively seeking it out to plant?


OK your hens love it. There's plenty of other stuff they'll love so why pick on something that is bound to get people cross? I am also struggling to see if it is so easy to keep it in check with a few hens how has it managed to get so out of hand elsewhere? Maybe there was some other reason it died off?


So, it is rich in vitamin C. I think there are better solutions to avoid scurvy.

[demonfarmer2630]

i forgot to say this before just re read my post and comments to make sure i plant it in an old bath quite a large one with a sealed plug so roots cant spread really should have said that earlier lol as i said iv had it before and the hens ate it to death just looking for a replacement that isnt £30 as they are online i know its an hated subject but it grows fast and is edible and dosnt die easily in a chicken run  if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know

[clydesdaleclopper]

  if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know

Have you thought about Siberian Pea Shrub? The pods are edible and hens love them.

[shygirl]

or sprout some barley?

[Penninehillbilly]

I admit I always thought it was illegal to plant it, so this has made me do a bit of 'googling', interesting reading. not illegal to plant but you can be prosecuted if you allow it to spread onto other land.
I'm trying to remember how much my goats liked it (in a previous 'life' 1980's), I think I used to walk them up to a patch, but they didn't make much headway with it, now the whole area is covered with it.
Hope the bath can control it, beware the roots can go down a long way (though the plug hole?) then may escape?
I'd try my goats with it but I'd be worried about it starting up here.

[devonlady]

Spinach beet? My poultry love it and you can grow it most of the year. We also have trouble with Japanese knotweed  along our riverbanks also Himalyan Baslam(sp) which is great fun for the grandchildren(if you touch the ripe seed pods they snap their seeds into the air like a firework) but will take over and kill all native plants.

[Sbom]

If the goats and hens eat it would they not spread the seeds as it goes through their system and out tuther end?   just a thought

[demonfarmer2630]

noo seeds from the one i had is spreads mosly by roots

[cloddopper]

Arragh knot weed,  it's evil stuff in the UK as there is nothing that eats it in the UK's insect world .

I'm happy to post you a few rooted cuttings of perennial kale if you like ..let the chooks destroy the knot weed forever.

If you landlord found you'd caused the plant to kill the foundations of the property by you  cultivating it I'm betting they will be after the contents of your piggy bank as easy compensation & you'll be looking for some where else to live , no matter what you've said you have verbally agreed ( unless it's in writing and held by your solicitor etc. )
 
 The kale grows well all year round and can be eaten as kale by humans & all animals it's high in vitamin K it is a very hardy plant .
  Most of the plants will grow to be a metre high and a metre across it's so easy to take cuttings off as well to get it all year round .

 I also have some comfrey that you can have some cuttings off this max's at about a metre high and across as well I've been taking four harvestings each year.  It's old name used to be " Knit Bone " because of the poultice healing properties it has , it's long been used a  a cheap animal feed that virtually self perpetuates & when in flower it is a real bee magnet
 It only grows well from mid April if it's mild till the first frosts . It makes a good manure as well, for the tap toots go down a long way collecting all manner of minerals & nutrients not found in many plants .  Chickens thrive on it as it is also a conditioner for all herbivores, the eggs are supposed to be superior from comfrey fed chickens . Pigs horses cows & goats pigs like it too . 

Growing small plots of kale & comfrey make them  it a sensible cheap crop to use as feed stock in a rotation pattern

If your'e interested , drop me a PM with your full name & address inc post code & I'll start the cuttings off to be ready for sending of to you in about four weeks time .

[GSH]

i forgot to say this before just re read my post and comments to make sure i plant it in an old bath quite a large one with a sealed plug so roots cant spread really should have said that earlier lol as i said iv had it before and the hens ate it to death just looking for a replacement that isnt £30 as they are online i know its an hated subject but it grows fast and is edible and dosnt die easily in a chicken run  if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know

The stuff can grow through concrete so i dont reckon your bath is going to contain it.  It can also grow from tiny bits of leaf and stalk that are broken off so i reckon your chickens will be spreading it far and wide.
Not heard of anything as bonkers in a long time 

[landroverroy]

"The stuff can grow through concrete so i dont reckon your bath is going to contain it.  It can also grow from tiny bits of leaf and stalk that are broken off so i reckon your chickens will be spreading it far and wide.
Not heard of anything as bonkers in a long time  "

Agreed  - I presume this is a windup, and that even with the well known shortage of vegetables in Scotland, it is not so cold, wet and bleak that the only way to get adequate vitamin C is to grow a noxious weed in a bathtub in your henrun.   Surely, having spent a year researching the subject you must have spotted the bit about the 2 year prison sentence if it escapes?
But each to his own. . . 

[SallyintNorth]

Folks... Don't Feed the Troll