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Author Topic: creeping buttercup  (Read 14598 times)

Workhorse

  • Joined Jan 2013
creeping buttercup
« on: January 05, 2013, 10:38:45 pm »
Hi I am new here :wave:
We rent nearly ten acres of pasture/meadow and have managed over the years to get the thistle and nettle to the minimum, but are struggling with buttercup , although last year it didnt seem quite so bad!
We keep horses and they are kept in a third of the field in the summer, and the rest is either topped or as last year we took a cut of hayledge/hay. After about october/november the horses have the whole field until the spring growth when they go back into the small third!
 So how do we conquer the dreaded creeping buttercup?

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2013, 10:47:00 am »
I am told that liming is the only way. 

BH won't lime my paddocks so I've got the pigs on rotovating duty  :D  There is noticeably less buttercup where they've been - but I don't know how long it'll be before it comes back to 100% when I replace the pigs with the ponies.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

ballingall

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • Avonbridge, Falkirk
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2013, 11:37:46 am »
Creeping buttercup is awful stuff. I'm told it is much more common with horses on the land as well. Liming does work, but it is slow. Rosemary had some figures on how much lime to apply per acre, and how much it will change your ph by, but I can't remember those figures off the top of my head. We try and lime every autumn, and sometimes in spring as well. Fertilising is good too- we just spread some rotted down manure. You can also harrow to try and get rid of some of the buttercups as well. One thing I noticed, is when we had sheep on our field , and they keep the grass trimmed a lot further down is that the buttercups didn't get a chance to flower, so at least they weren't producing more seeds.


Beth

hughesy

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Anglesey
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2013, 12:43:04 pm »
We used to let two of our fields out for horse grazing for a few years and over that tim the buttercups took over the place. The horses didn't eat them. We don't keep any grazing animals so not a big problem and our pigs have cleared the buttercups along with everything else. The pigs will be followed by various things such as stubble turnip, clover etc, then back to pigs afterwards, and it'll be interesting to see how much buttercup comes back.

Workhorse

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2013, 04:31:07 pm »
Thank guys :)  Not sure if we are allowed to lime or put down artificial as it is old meadow land so can only be used for grazing! Would like to put sheep on it but there are footpaths which means quite a lot of dog ****!  :(

Vinny D

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • West Wales
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2013, 12:30:42 pm »
We keep horses and were over run with buttercups.  We used Headland Transfer weedkiller last year.  You have to keep livestock off for 14 days (we left them off for a month) with 80% success.  Hope this helps.
www.falabellawales.co.uk   Mini horses and cairn terriers

OhLaLa

  • Joined Sep 2010
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2013, 05:52:31 pm »
.......we used Headland Transfer weedkiller last year.  You have to keep livestock off for 14 days (we left them off for a month) with 80% success.......

Where did you buy your Headland Transfer from VinnyD?
 
We've used Depitox this year. Leaves started to curl on first day, but early days yet to see outcome.

earlybird

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2013, 09:30:33 pm »
how much lime do you have to use and how long before you can put grazing animals back on, thanks :wave:

MelRice

  • Joined Jun 2011
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2013, 12:56:55 am »
Would it be better to plough, then lime and reseed?   or just put lime on the buttercup field
 well ingredient labels say that the most plentiful ingredient must come first.

Factotum

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2013, 08:49:13 pm »
how much lime do you have to use

It depends on the pH of the soil - you need to get that tested first.

This website has a calculator which may give you some idea of how much lime is needed with different pH and soil types.

http://www.aglime.org.uk/lime_calculator.php

HTH

Sue

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2013, 10:13:03 pm »
weve just had granular lime applied and it doesnt affect grazing (you dont even have to move them)

MelRice

  • Joined Jun 2011
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2013, 11:03:14 am »
Was that much more expensive FIB?

si-mate

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Kent
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2013, 10:49:23 am »
I had 24 acres sprayed last year with Thistlex and Pastor which had a really bad buttercup problem. So far they haven't returned!

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2013, 10:52:53 am »
We had a bad problem with buttercups last year when we moved in. The previous occupants had horses on the ground. We then bought sheep and this year I haven't seen one buttercup, despite there being loads out in the lane.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Workhorse

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: creeping buttercup
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2013, 04:25:18 pm »
I wish i could put sheep on, but nobody wants to graze it with all the footpaths and dogs!!  :(

 

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