The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: welshlass181 on February 12, 2012, 10:41:21 am
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Is there any way, other than spraying, to get rid of them? We're hoping to get the land ploughed and turn our pigs onto it to hopefully eat the roots and to poo everywhere. Will this help?
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Surely any land with reeds will be far too wet for pigs...? ???
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I looked at a lot of properties in Ireland where you would think reeds were the main crop! The bad news when I researched it was that the spores/seeds can lie dormant for 30 years....
No matter what you do it will be annual process. We sprayed once and it didn't make any noticeable difference. I think maybe you should cut them then spray? I you are putting pigs on then they will definitely break them up, but reeds may still appear in future if you return to pasture.
Also need to look at drainage in this area.
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reed roots are the last thing the pigs will touch the only proper way to get rid of them is drain the land
you can also make haylage from them if the ground will support the equipment cattle and sheep wont touch them when they are growing but once inside a bale they love them
sometimes reseeding can eliminate them for a year or two
but as yorkshirelass has said if there are reeds it would be to wet for pigs :farmer:
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We have a field next to a river that was 3/4 reeds. Hubby dug out a lot of drainage ditches through the reeds and this really started the drying out . after that we put some colts on the land these were New Forest colts used to foraging the rough stuff and they nibbled away at shoots but also their hooves turned the ground over.
This all coupled with improved drainage is slowly killing the reeds off they just dont like being disturbed too much or dried out. The whole process has taken a couple of years and we are going to plough and reseed it probably this spring if there is not too much reed regrowth.
The key is really to get the ground to dry out.
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Cut them hard in the summer, then again when they start to grow again about 6 weeks later, again hard. Have stock in the field throughout, preferably all or including sheep. Repeat next year and probably every four or five years.
If you want to spray, cut them first then when the new shoots are big enough go over with a weed wiper. You'll need to keep stock off while you spray and for a period afterwards - and be aware that the chemical is extremely persisitent and will continue to kill broadleaved plants in the excreted or muckspread dung of the animals that eat the treated reshes, whether they eat it wilted in the field or ensiled as silage next winter. Not a problem unless your muck ends up on vegetable areas ... :o
And yes, nothing is a long term solution unless you drain it - but keeping sheep and/or native ponies on and topping the reshes whenever they get tough and unappealing to the stock will keep them manageable.
If you have sheep and lamb them, remember that the reshes are mother nature's lamb creeps : the lambs will get a lot of shelter from them. So don't remove them all in fields where you will lamb or run young lambs.
I can't tell you about pigs' ploughing being a solution, I have wondered about it myself but would have to find a way to give the pigs some drier ground as well so they are not forced to be only on the wet, reshy ground. In any case, pretty much all our reshy ground is covered by one environmental scheme or another so we are restricted in what we are allowed to do - and ploughing, whether by pig or by machine, would not be acceptable! :D
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Just what Sally says, keep cutting them.
That's what I've done and I am now getting on top of them.
Drainage and liming will also help.
I would echo the concern about land that grows reeds (seaves we call them in this part of Cumbria) being far too wet for pigs. I'd have loved pigs but not here - the place would be a bog in no time flat, the sheep make enough mess with their little feet in the winter.
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The pigs are on hard standing with access to the entire field. We're planning on fencing in the hard standing ready for when the farmer comes to plough it for us. We've dug out one ditch and the other one will need to be dug out by hand :( will be working on the drainage a lot this year.
The land needs turning and rolling anyway i think and if i'm honest it can't make it any worse :) thank you
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We have soft rush. It was really bad last year - we didn't do anything with it in 2010 - we have one bad field and bits in other fields. Last year we sprayed them - you have to spray when the flowers open. Even though Dan spot sprayed carefully, the clover round about each clump of rush was killed. Later in the year, I strimmed them.
We've had drainage put in (what a difference :thumbsup:) and limed. I think we'll try cutting them this year as the spray was pretty nasty stuff.
Good luck with the battle :)
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Just wondering - are we talking about reeds or rushes? many, including myself untill I checked the books, call soft rush - reeds. I would like the proper reeds to grow here, they would be much more useful than the fields of rushes I can't get rid of, spray didn't seem to do much and cutting them is killing ME off! Goats nibble the tops in this weather but that ain't gonna kill em.
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That did cross my mind when I first posted...
Not to be patronising, but
Reeds
(http://canoetrips.co.uk/Idle/reeds.JPG)
Rushes
(http://c0380802.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/4987m-Soft-Rush-Grass.jpg)
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the reeds will take a bit more draining ;D :farmer:
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Ah. Seaves = Juncus species, ie the rushes in the photos.
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Ah. Seaves = Juncus species, ie the rushes in the photos.
And a little further north, they're reshes.
As Robert says, actual reeds will 'take a bit more draining'! :D
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CUT, CUT, CUT!! WE'VE REGAINED OVER 20ACRES SO FAR, IN ABOUT TEN YEARS THIS WAY...STILL HAVE ANOTHER FIELD TO TACKLEBUT ITS WORKED, DRIED THE GROUND OUT AND NOW WE GET A GOOD HAY CROP FROM THESE FIELDS.
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1. Improve the drainage
2. Top hard
3. Consider spraying but consider using a weed wiper not a sprayer i
4. Some people claim that they don't like nitrogen and put loads of slurry on them. I quote from elsewhere 'Rushes don't like nitrogen, you don't see them where there is a lot of nitrogen put out or on slurry ground, but only on ground that can take up the nitrogen, i.e. make sure there is enough lime first'
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So are we talking about Juncus sp. then?
If so....
Cattle will take the top growth in autumn (native/hardy breeds)
Topping in spring/summer helps, then aftermath grazing
Apparently topping in winter and letting flood and frost hit the clumps is also effective
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So are we talking about Juncus sp. then?
If so....
Cattle will take the top growth in autumn (native/hardy breeds)
Topping in spring/summer helps, then aftermath grazing
Apparently topping in winter and letting flood and frost hit the clumps is also effective
I'm still wondering
Welshlass where are you? please come back and let us know
a lot of ths advice I will certainly be trying this year on my rushes (juncus :) )
BTW - does anyone have any REED roots spare?
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Hi. Looking at the photos they are rushes and not reeds -- my bad. I'm in Carmarthenshire :)
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henchard you are wrong up in Scotland ground that has slurry spread on it is always cut for silage you need dry fields for silage not wet tuffs of poor quality forage also the ground would not stand self propelled choppers and 14 ton capacity trailers :farmer:
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Hi. Looking at the photos they are rushes and not reeds -- my bad. I'm in Carmarthenshire :)
Thanks welshlass
I've always known them as reeds, it's only relatively recent that I found out the truth.
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its basicly cutting, hard grazing and then weedkiller . (drainage is not an option on our fields at the moment, it's little by little (by hand digging and clearing the old field drains)
I was told pigs would root them out, but the field would be left a mess. But if you've ever tried digging one out, it isn't easy!
Henchard - unfortunately we were advised against a weed wipe on our land, unless you have nice level ground the 'arms' would be all over the place, (and could get broken) and the hand held one would take all day.
I did wonder if they preferred poor land, hoping to get it limed this spring.
Our fields are full of lumps, bumps and hollows - hard work and scary on a narrow little tractor, that's if we ever get it running again.
Might try and get the machine mower running before the next frosts.
Perhaps don't be too keen to remove them all, apart from natures lamb creeps, there's a lot of wildlife rely on them for shelter, it amuses me to see a pheasant duck down behind a clump, with his long tail stuck out behind ;D.
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Thank you pennine :)