Author Topic: 2 questions about getting rid of gorse..... (Read 8893 times)

devonlady · « **Reply #15 on:** October 11, 2015, 03:27:56 pm »

Or make bread!

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #16 on:** October 11, 2015, 03:55:58 pm »

Quote from: Louise Gaunt on October 11, 2015, 01:33:47 pm

A bit off topic, but most old Guernsey farmhouses had a "furze oven" - furze being the term used for gorse in Buernsey, and as Devonlady says, they used to burn gorse in the oven to heat is before baking bread etc. needless to say, they are mostly gentrified now as Guernsey farmhouses fetch huge prices and are owned by doctors,in private practice and lawyers! Bet they don't burn gorse in them!

Got to be careful with gorse, it contains a highly flamable fluid, which is why it burns so easily, and can be dangerous

cloddopper · « **Reply #17 on:** October 12, 2015, 12:41:39 am »

You can crawl through it dragging a reel if detonator cord wrap it round every stalk twice and move on to the next .
When you run out of Det cord , slip a fuse on it, light it and get the hell away PDQ

It will blow with a very loud sharp cracking noise and take a lot of the stalks off cleanly where the det cord was wrapped round them .

Getting the spikes out your underwear & knees takes a long long time ..guess how I know all this ?

cloddopper · « **Reply #18 on:** October 12, 2015, 12:51:26 am »

Quote from: cloddopper on October 12, 2015, 12:41:39 am

You can crawl through it dragging a reel if detonator cord wrap it round every stalk twice and move on to the next .
When you run out of Det cord , slip a fuse on it, light it and get the hell away PDQ

It will blow with a very loud sharp cracking noise and take a lot of the stalks off cleanly where the det cord was wrapped round them .

Getting the spikes out your underwear & knees takes a long long time ..guess how I know all this ?

Seriously if you can safely gt a patch well alight it will burn off the fuzz and leave easy to get at stalks that can be dragged out .
If you make a decent long spider of rope & hooked chain say with 20 foot legs you can drag out eight or more stalks at a time if you have the vehicle to do it.

A slower way is to still use the spider but to also use a cheap Tirfor type hand winch 1.5 tonne puller & make you own four or five six foot long field anchor strips to attach the Tirfor to , out of big link chain with six to eight two 2 foot long short anchor pins in each chain tapped in the ground a foot or so deep going in through the chain links at angles to the pull & criss cross to each other .

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #19 on:** October 12, 2015, 12:15:35 pm »

No can do with burning the gorse, there are two houses below the field and it is inaccessable for firemen to watch the gorse to make sure the fire doesn't spread. Anyway back to my origional question..... Does anyone know of a contractor who would cut gorse off sloping areas in ceredigion?

shoveller · « **Reply #20 on:** October 27, 2015, 05:27:38 pm »

Use a product called 'Woody' in a knapsack sprayer - very effective, I've found.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #21 on:** October 27, 2015, 08:40:29 pm »

I might try that thanks
really appreciate the input guys.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #22 on:** October 29, 2015, 09:45:23 am »

Would it be worth considering leaving a narrow crescent untreated, curved away from your prevailing winds? Shelter is at a premium on our sloping fields and would be very useful around lambing time. I've seen gorse on the mountains which has been grazed up to about 70 cm and that's both useful as a shelter and less likely to tangle up a fleece.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #23 on:** October 29, 2015, 05:26:36 pm »

All the hedges on my land are comprised of gorse, blackthorn and elderberry trees, so they provide a lot of shelter. I started renting this field last year, but haven't been able to deal with the gorse wait is too thick and the bushes have been there for a long time. My farm land is well sheltered from high winds, the gorse on the slopes, not around the sides in the hedges, but in the middle of the slope, or that rented field, needs sorting.