Bracken control.

[dartmoordog]

OK fellas, this is the scenario. Location just off the open Moorland on Dartmoor.

A little 6 acre paddock cut for silage twice a year, but around the margin in a swath of bracken between 5-10 meters into the field, horrible stuff. Fieldhas good access and quite flat.

So what is the best way to get rid/control the bloody stuff, it must be done as I don’t want it getting any worse.

1. Top it three or four times a year.
2. Bruise it.
3. Harrow it.
4. Herbicide.
5. Plough it in deep.

What do you reckon, I have time on my hands as it’s a hobby, but I don’t want to lose anymore pasture to the bloody stuff.

Cheers.

 

[Sika98k]

When the use of Asulox was banned I had reasonable success by driving over it with the Landie.

 

[dartmoordog]

When the use of Asulox was banned I had reasonable success by driving over it with the Landie.

So you reckon bruising it on a regular basis with my pick up will have a detrimental effect on it. Quite happy to get a roller or bruiser.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

Bruising works well and I’m pretty sure Asulan has been licensed again this year if you have the option of spraying.

 

[jall55]

As above
Asulox - brilliant stuff
No sign of damage to the plant this year but it simply does not come back - or certainly only a minimal amount - the year after

 

[Sika98k]

So you reckon bruising it on a regular basis with my pick up will have a detrimental effect on it. Quite happy to get a roller or bruiser.

Probably, it’s what I used. it was to hand. Spot spraying with Asulox clears up the remaining bits. It’s a long term project as Asulox only shows its value next year.

 

[Alantoo]

A friend with a small farm the other side of Carmarthen made up some sort of crimping roller he tows behind his quad. He found it much more effective than topping it.

Alan

 

[slider]

Can you get hold of a trailed weed wiper - I had good results using Round-up with one when I was farming. Bracken still sparse 15 years later.

 

[VSS]

Bruising works well. Go over it a few times with a disc roller or something like that. Or, if improvising, tow a metal gate behind your pickup.
Grazing pressure from livestock will do the trick too, largely due to the trampling effect. However, it only works if the animals are concentrated on the area. I got rid of a big patch of bracken by stocking sheep at a rate of 60 ewes + lambs per acre. Only for 3 days at a time mind you, then rested the field for nearly 3 weeks before putting them in again. Did that all of one summer, and bracken all gone. Cattle would do a better job.

Best of all would be electric fence around the plot and put some pigs in. Bracken rhizomes need anaerobic conditions to survive, so being rooted up by pigs soon kills them off. Once cleared, remove pigs to the sausage factory and re-seed the plot.

 

[dartmoordog]

Thanks fellas, really don’t want this to get any worse.

Please keep the suggestions coming, time is not an issue, I will bruise it 15 times a year if I have to,

 

[dartmoordog]

Slider: How does a weed wiper work please.

 

[VSS]

A weed wiper can be used with roundup (glyphosate) on bracken at the right growth stage, provided that it's a good one that doesn't dribble.
If you were closer you could borrow mine, and welcome.

 

[dartmoordog]

A weed wiper can be used with roundup (glyphosate) on bracken at the right growth stage, provided that it's a good one that doesn't dribble.
If you were closer you could borrow mine, and welcome.

Thanks VSS, a very kind gesture. I will see if I can source one locally.

 

[User00035]

Asulox is the quickest way.
If bruising, ideally do it in autumn if you can, just before a frost but when the stems are still green.

 

[Goingback]

The bracken bruiser that I have works ok (Longdog Bracken bruiser). Wait 'till the last frond has unfurled is the suggested way but if it is too 'soft' the bracken just stands back up again. This is when, after a few years, the bracken is short because of rolling. when it goes down to a foot in length then it bruiser is more ineffective. I would then suggest to top it. A standard roller works very well and much cheaper to initially buy..........

 

[sako85708]

I would say if you mow the stems off on a regular basis ,it would weaken the rhizomes so much it would kill it in time. It certainly works with big thistles, docks and nettles. Just don't give it chance to photosynthesize and replace the energy used. The opposite to what you do with Asparagus

 

[John Gryphon]

Roundup will work so much better if a chem like "BRUSHOFF" is added along with a surfactant ( this is very important)
There are generic 'brushoffs' now that the original licence to manufacture has finished.

One good spray on the right day (temps) will give you a rippin` kill Darty.

Cattle would do a better job.

Bracken fern can be very toxic to cattle at times.

so being rooted up by pigs soon kills them off

A mate in Tassy showed me where his sows had turned a paddock over so many times that there wasnt one rhizome left to grow,they did an incredible job.

 

[slider]

Slider: How does a weed wiper work please.

Early ones had a roller covered in a carpet like material and a little pump on a spray bar kept this wet with round up at a high concentration (cant remember now but a little googling will find it)
This type tended th "shadow" thick bracken as it push over plants and the chemical didnt get to the plants in the shadow.
The one in the picture has Brush roller, same principle with an enclosed spray bar but much more effective wash it "fingered" through the ferns.
The secret is getting the correct wetness on the brush roller. If it is too wet you get a little dripping on to the grass below. That said it's only a very small amount of spotting.
Towed ATV Weed Wiper - Contact 2000 CTF - Logic - Equipment that works!

 

[Tulloch]

Best way to control bracken is to thrash it . Bracken needs to be broken and killed from the top as it kills the roots too often just snapping a fern but not completly cutting it will do more harm to it. It is worth doing I have one property I cannot do that and the bracken is exhausting to cull deer in and its only 60 acres

 

[Martini]

Where bracken has totally covered the ground, a simple knapsack sprayer filled with any brand of glyphosate will work well too as there is nothing exposed below to fear killing off. Adding a blue marker dye makes it easy to see exactly which fronds have been sprayed. I use this super concentrated marker, a little goes a long long way Blue Dye. If you can catch it while it is still growing strong it will kill most off for next year, then it will be easier in following years to keep on top of what spreads again from the boundary by crushing.