The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: JMB on September 08, 2012, 12:32:41 pm
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Hello.
I noticed somewhere on TAS that Rosemary mentioned land reeds. I'm not sure if this is what we have but they look like reeds to me.
Alot of the surrounding farmers fields have them in big clumps, but they seem to just leave them alone.
We had the same thing in big clumps by the burn and I mowed alot of them last year which seemed to improve things a bit, but now my front paddock has lots of little ones, just appeared this year. I've tried digging them out by hand but there are hundreds of them.
Does anyone have any better ideas? It's been such a wet year I'm assuming that's the cause.
Maybe it would be easier to let them get bigger and then tackle them? Or weed wipe? With what though? Or just leave alone and mow them?
Any advice most appreciated.
Thank you ,
Joanne xxx
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You have to mow them before you weedwipe anyway, because the herbicides need fresh green reeds to work on not old brown ones.
Things you can do to reduce/remove reeds.
- mow - and keep mowing, plus grazing with sheep
- improve drainage - reeds like wet soil
- lime the land - reeds like acid soil
- reed wipe
You'd have to be meaner to your sheep than I'm prepared to be, to get them to keep down the reeds themselves - ie they'd have to get very skinny and thin before they ate them enough :-\
I'm having some success with drainage and mowing, mean to try liming too when I can get someone to sell me some pelleted lime for my spreader.
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We put in a field drain and sprayed last year but even spot spraying made a mess, so we're going for cutting and cutting. I've strimmed three times this year and they are noticably weaker. I'm going to strip graze one paddock using the ponies and get them to eat them down.
We had to spray at just the right time - about July, just as the reeds flower. Otherwise the chemical just runs off them.
We'll beat the b*ggers yet :fc:
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Thank you for your replies.
No- my sheep would never eat them. Too spoiled for choice.
Could you recommend a product to spray them with please?
And is is too late to add lime now (this year)?
Thanks, Joanne
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My understanding on these reeds was that it was lack of drainage and also nitrogen..........
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i was looking at ours today, we have them alot at the bottom of the field. 2 new drains have made no difference. this area also has alot of buttercups so probly needs liming but its right next to the burn and we are in nitrate zone so havent done anything, except add 2 drains.
but we also have them on the hill 3 metres higher (above ground level) which isnt particularly wet.
livestock do eat them but not much.
what is there proper name? i asked a farmer and he said reeds, but its seem more like a certain grass to me?
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I wouldn't lime without having the soil tested first - you can just have pH tested, or pH, P and K or for all nutrients (excet N) plus pH. We had one field with a pH of 7.3, which we put down to liming without testing first.
We were told to lime in the spring and that it would take a couple of seasons to have an effect and therefore not to test again for four years.
We used MCPA50 to spray bt it has to be done July just as the flowers are opening.
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They're Juncus species, especially Juncus effusus, known as soft rush.
Lots of local names, they're called seaves around here, here being Cumbria.
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You just all need to get goats.... We had them in our field when we moved in, absolutely none now- the goats love them and ate them out.
Beth
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My goats certainly eat them, the new growth mainly, but I'd need goats like a swarm of locusts to control my fields.
And can you imagine how much concentrate naughtiness that many goats would be :o