The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: PK on March 18, 2017, 03:51:10 pm
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I have patches of stinging nettles in one of my areas of grazing. Is there a weed killer effective against nettles but won't harm the grass which ordinary mortals can use? Alternatively, will relentless mowing eventually do the trick?
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would ploughing be an option at all? Or would it only put any seeds under the surface therefore making it worse? As I heard the only way to get rid of them is to phisically dig them up by the roots.
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Yes mcpa. One brand name for it is blaster.
To use anything on agri land I understand you need a sprayer license these days. Just a box ticking exercise.... depends of your neighbours are likely to dob you in.
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Grazon on is what you need. Not available to mere mortals I believe.
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Grazon on is what you need. Not available to mere mortals I believe.
Just check and you can get it of eBay??? I guess you would still need the spraying licence card etc
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Just remember that dung from any animal eating the treated grass, or hay made from it, will also kill broadleaved plants. So only use such dung on pasture, never on crops, and for goodness sake don't give it to your neighbours for their veg plot or champion roses :o
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Just remember that dung from any animal eating the treated grass, or hay made from it, will also kill broadleaved plants. So only use such dung on pasture, never on crops, and for goodness sake don't give it to your neighbours for their veg plot or champion roses :o
Is that a particular herbicide Sin? Or all broadleaf treatments.
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Nettles are actually very nutritious; and palatable to stock when wilted. I top ours, or strim small areas and the livestock eat it with relish.
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As mentioned previously Grazon 90 is the one. I can vouch for its effectiveness- its a back pack product- Pastor is pretty much the same thing but for boom spraying. the licences mentioned are for application, not purchase.
I keep hearing that suppliers will be expected to only sell product to people who can supply a licence at time of purchase, but the logistics of this are horrendous and cant see it happening any time soon. I ought Grazon 90 the other day and was not asked for a licence.
Obviously you're not actually going to apply it yourself so all is good :innocent:
intrigued as to precisely what species of creature eats nettles- a succession of goats and sheep, and pigs failed to stop our ever expanding nettles from pretty much blocking out the sun- Grazon 90 however !!!!
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intrigued as to precisely what species of creature eats nettles- a succession of goats and sheep, and pigs failed to stop our ever expanding nettles from pretty much blocking out the sun- Grazon 90 however !!!!
Sheep, goats, cattle and horses will all eat nettles.
But please note the magic word - WILTED. And they have to be sufficiently wilted that they no longer sting, in which state they eat them with relish.
So if you just have a few clumps of nettles then pull them out by hand - roots and all and leave them to dry and feed like hay.
If your pasture is full of nettles then wait till the grass has been eaten down a bit so the nettles tower above. Then top the field on a high setting so you're mostly cutting nettles, not grass. When the nettles have dried out sufficiently the stock will eat them. Obviously do this when fine weather is forecast for best results.
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Grazon Pro. Or pull them up when the soil is wet (assuming you don't have acres), get as much root as possible. Nettle flourish in places where there is high nitrogen, like next to compost heaps.
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So which herbicide carries thru Manure?
About to go on the course for spraying, but i use manure on veg and shrubs.
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So which herbicide carries thru Manure?
About to go on the course for spraying, but i use manure on veg and shrubs.
Hopefully they'll be able to tell you on your course! I did know once, but can't recall now, sorry. I avoid anything with '*yralid' in it but it's probably only a subset of those.
Ex-BH used Grazon and couldn't grow turnips, having mucked and ploughed. He always blamed the weather, but I always suspected the dung.
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Aminopyralid, clopyralid, and picloram I think all pass through into manure, and are even present after composting. Grazon contains clopyralid.
It does say on the label:
"Do not use any plant material treated with GRAZON 90 for composting or
mulching.
Do not use manure from animals fed on crops treated with GRAZON 90 for
composting."
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Does anyone know how long after application/exposure the effect on compost lasts?
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Does anyone know how long after application/exposure the effect on compost lasts?
On fresh grass, no I don't. I do think it survives on hay through the next winter at meat, but whether a metabolising plant would break it down over some weeks, I don't know.
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Aminopyralid, clopyralid, and picloram I think all pass through into manure, and are even present after composting. Grazon contains clopyralid.
It does say on the label:
"Do not use any plant material treated with GRAZON 90 for composting or
mulching.
Do not use manure from animals fed on crops treated with GRAZON 90 for
composting."
:bookmark: Thanks for the definitive list of persistent-through-hay-and-digestion weedkilkers, foobar :thumbsup: