Gorse

[Smellydog]

Burn it!!! But what about the carbon bull****?

Much better to spray it with toxins....but not lead!! That's bad that .... FFS.

 

[Cumbrian 1]

Burn it!!! But what about the carbon bull****?

Much better to spray it with toxins....but not lead!! That's bad that .... FFS.

What a pr1ck don’t you know the first rule of SD fight club? Never bring logic into any thread….

 

[Kiwiguy]

Here in NZ gorse is such an invasive plant that it is on our Noxious Weeds list.

 

[Crowstalker]

It’s not great for biodiversity - and in the long term can be quite suppressive, especially if it establishes big thickets.

The understory becomes very barren, with an invertebrate fauna that’s more or less entirely dominated by spiders and very little leaf litter or soil fauna. Some birds do nest in it, but many do not - it essentially acts as an ecological homogeniser, and you can lose things like willow warblers, white throats, black caps and the parids if it becomes too dense and extensive.

It’s also terrible for suppressing other plants. On heathland, it’s notorious for leading to declines in many rarer, more interesting plants. I’m involved with a long term project on fragments of dry heath on SSSIs in Fife, and they’ve been very badly affected by gorse. Several have more or less completely lost all the original rich flora and are now just gorse monocultures.

Like most things, a bit is fine, too much is not.

Blessed are the balanced!

 

[pjm099]

Is it any use for anything?? Sitting in a high seat just now and noting how much gorse has sprung up on this section of woodlands. Photo attached, what would you do with this?

Used to cut a load and lay it on flower beds in the garden to keep the neighbours cats from digging and sh***ing. Worked a treat.

 

[landkeeper]

As far as I’m aware the burning of gorse or heather isn’t actually illegal, but you need a licence from NPWS and they are refusing to issue them for controlled burn’s because of smoke and carbon emissions.
You can legally spray it off or dig it out, there may even be grants to encourage you.

Digging it out just kicks the can down the road, the seeds lie dormant, remove the old gorse plants and voila the next spring the new ones spring into action
I watched a lad near me remove about 5 acres of the stuff which was head high and inpeneterable he used an. excavator it looked fantastic for about 6mnths lol