[sophie]

Hi
We have cut a large section of our bracken where we are trying to claim back the land. Would you spray this land with asulox at the end of August? There will still be some growth of bracken in this area as you cant cut the very small fronds, but we wanted to cut it before it became so big that you couldn't see the rocks.

Many thanks

Sophie

[Foobar]

If you don't want to spray then repeated cutting will help a lot.  This is the regime I'm trying this year (having done much reading) - first cut early June (or once the fronds have unravelled), second cut 4-6 weeks later (again wait for the fronds to unravel on the majority of the plants). And if you can do a third cut  do so, anytime before it starts to die back in the autumn.  Do that for two years and fingers crossed you should have made a big dent in it's regrowth.

[sophie]

Hi
Thanks for the reply. Yeah we were originally planning on multiple cutting, but I just had a thought of whether the spray would go onto the smaller fronds that hadn't been cut and penetrate down into the plant and spread a bit further or work a bit stronger. We sprayed some last year and had quite a bit of success with minimal regrowth, but it gets so high its difficult to get into it when its fully grown. We have quite a few rocks and they just disappear. The flail on the tractor seems to have magic powers, as it turns to nothing, but its time consuming and we wont be able to cut it on the steeper hills.
Do you replant anything. We are wondering about encouraging the heather back, as there used to be lots on the moors near us.
Thanks

[shep53]

AN old method was to drag  a heavy log or  a  roller to break the fronds allowing  microbes and fungi to  get in     I see you can buy modern bracken rollers for small tractors / quads /  horses

[sophie]

Yeah heard rolling was good. The flail has been good at bashing up the years of old bracken. The land looks so much better, I just wish it wasn't such a time consuming process!!

[pgkevet]

I'm also trying the multiple cutting method this year It costs me a day's wages for soemone with the skills to drive my tractor on the slopes each time (my courage fails me) and the second cut was done last week. Certanly those slopes look a lot lot nicer and the grass is thickening up underneath.

[sophie]

I think we will spray the areas we cut this year as when the bracken is low we can see the boulders and stones. I hate the stuff and it would look so much better as field or heather.

[mab]

I've been cutting the bracken in the near fields for 3 summers now (3 cut's/year using an Austrian scythe) and it is working - it's gone from a waist/chest high blanket to a more open calf high spread, but as it gets shorter it gets harder to cut it effectively as you have to cut the grass too.


In the big field there's too much to do by hand (on top of the smaller near fields) so I only did one cut last year and the bracken is worse this year (too steep to do by machine alas) so I'm planning to Asulox it this year (and Glyphosate where there's no grass).


in the far field/wilderness I've been trying to control it by chain harrowing (started out as chest high bramble/bracken) - that worked really well last year, but whilst the brambles seem to be much diminished this year the bracken is fighting back - and this year it's shorter and more springy so the harrow doesn't do as much damage (also, the lack of competition from the brambles gives the advantage to the bracken.


I've made myself an experimental bracken roller this year (small quad/pony sized) but it seems to be too light so I'm going to add some concrete to it and try again...

[Backinwellies]

I'm watching your progress with interest Marcus ..... Ian has been scything our this year.

[Rhea]

May be worth checking with whoever is going to be spraying, we've been advised to only do it when the bracken is mature and hasn't been recently cut (not sure how long ago you did this).

[Marches Farmer]

The common land across the valley from us is managed for the High Brown Fritillary butterfly - one of only 7 sites in the UK.  The caterpillar overwinters in the warmth of the bracken litter and then emerges in Spring to eat its only food plant - the wild violet (you can see why it's rare, eh?)  The bracken is cut one year, rolled the next and left the third, in succession around the common, the idea being to control but not eliminate.  I've been trying for several years to eliminate patches of nettles from our wood by cutting back twice in the growing season but this year have resorted to spraying.  Gone!

[mab]

I'm watching your progress with interest Marcus ..... Ian has been scything our this year.

scything the stuff is quite satisfying - at least until the new shoots pop up a week later 


The bracken roller is working a bit better with a bucket of concrete, but I'm thinking of adding a bit more as the small springy fronds are still not being kinked enough for my liking.


Itching to start with the asulox but the directions say wait until the fronds have finished unfurling and about 20% of the field's bracken still has curled tips...