The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Horses, ponies, donkeys & mules => Topic started by: Daisys Mum on June 25, 2010, 10:08:53 pm
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We seem to have loads of ragwort this year, I have just spent 4 hours digging it up. Last year we treated it with a specialized ragwort killer and now it's back worse than ever. Is there anything that works? cause I reckon that I still have at least another 4 hours worth of digging still to do,
I did treat myself to a proper fork for ragwort and I must say it is good.
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Hello Anne I used a thistle spud and spotted the exposed root with Roundup they don't like that but the next door and hedge row seed seems to replace the spudded ones its an ongoing ever lasting vicious circle.Kill yours someone else's replaces them ??? :farmer:
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Ragwort is biennial, so it grows the first year and flowers and dies the next. There are always seeds in the ground, so it's important to pull all plants in all stages of growth.
Unfortunately there are plenty of places which have ragwort and no-one seems to either be responsible or to care about its spread. Each plant can produce up to 150,000 seeds...
The huggers tell us it is an important plant for the cinnamon bar moth larvae, but I've never seen one. ::)
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Yes A I'm not being facetious I know all this but did you know that Lincolnshire County Council can if they wish take out a court order against anyone that allows Ragwort to grow on their land and there are quite heavy fines that can be imposed.Do you know that the roadside along the A46 is Yellow in places with Ragwort flowers but I think its a special sort that is NOT poisonous to animals ??? ??? >:( :farmer:
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Bloody things, we got a pull to do down my mams, theres defo less than last year, but a job that needs to be done all the same. Ours isnt flowerig yet and neither will it have a chance to.....
We double glove and pull it as normal.
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The huggers tell us it is an important plant for the cinnamon bar moth larvae, but I've never seen one. ::)
I have ;D ;D ;D
While helping plant some trees I found a patch of ragwort and set about pulling it up only to find this little guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tyria_jacobaeae_caterpillar.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tyria_jacobaeae_caterpillar.jpg) the moths are quite pretty too, but I haven't seen any of them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar_moth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar_moth)
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[quote The huggers tell us it is an important plant for the cinnamon bar moth larvae, but I've never seen one. ::)
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I am sure that they are very pretty but I would rather have live horses, just spent another 4 hours down by the river digging the damn stuff up, just got the other side to do but not nearly so much there.
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One of my pet hates this stuff. We spray, pull and dig it up but >:( my neighbour has it and just lets it take over. she has two horses but just does not care. >:(
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Can't you report people for not dealing with ragwort especially if they have horses grazing with it?
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I have never heard of it being done Then if you were warned about it and told to eradicate it you would be foolish not to .Hence not hearing of it. :farmer:
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Can't you report people for not dealing with ragwort especially if they have horses grazing with it?
Yes, you can. Try the BHS website - they ran an anti-ragwort campaign a few years ago.
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ragwort, you jiust keep on pulling year in and year out, but if your living nextdoor to people who let it grow out of control you still be pulling
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I do pull ragwort when I walk past it (out of habit), BUT a horse will have to eat between 5 and 25% of body weight to cause a problem. They don't eat it at all when green and only in hay. This would mean a horse would have to eat a whole bale or more of pure ragwort hay to cause any ill affects. There are more myths and old wives tails with ragwort than any other plant. It doesn't build up in the body (myth). There are so many more plants that are more toxic. Yew for example. There are no laws to control ragwort either (another myth) I don't want to cause a big argument as this isn't just my opinion but facts. So in a nutshell don't worry about a little ragwort.
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I agree that when it is dry it is palatable because of the sugars that it produces, i think because it is more prevalent it is much more a national problem. We pull it to try and reduce the numbers of clusters for the following year, even though yes as Aengus has said it can live in the soil for years, im sure that in wales at least you can make a complaint about it to the national assembly office in llandrindod wells.
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read in our local paper on Friday that next week is ragwork awareness week, they are asking everyone who finds in to fill in a form stating where and how much etc as they say that it is on the rise at the moment. I think there is a special tool just for digging up ragwort but dont quote me on that??? i only scanned the article so sorry i am a bit vague Huh?
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here is the link for ragwort awareness week check it out http://www.bhs.org.uk/Press_Centre/BHS_E-NEWS/July_ENEWS/Ragwort_Awareness_Week.aspx maybe this is of some use to you??? :horse: