We are preparing a field for planting orchard trees and looking to reduce the number of rushes. The gently sloping land is wet though not too bad. There's about 16" of top soil on top of clay. We conducted a thorough lab analyses soil analysis which gave a PH reading of 5.5, high organic matter, ok magnesium, poor phosphorous. The recommendation was to add ground limestone.
Drainage was improved last year through moling however we made a big mistake in asking a local farmer to top the fields a bit last in the season which resulted in a little extra compaction and unfortunately I think the rush seeds were spread in the process. So this year we have even more rushes coming up. Lesson learned.
Has anyone here had success in reducing rushes, and in particular dealing with young plants without applying poisons such as glysophate? If so please share... Thanks.