by James M » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:04 am
I'm going to do some selective bracken spot weed killing with Glyphosate. I have cancelled it twice due to wind and rain.
If I were to get any on my spruce tress what would be the result - would it kill the whole tree or just the green parts it touches?
Oddly, a lot of my bracken this year seems to have started growing as normal and then in the last week started to die. Any ideas why that might be? It's on the flat valley bottom rather than the hillsides.
by RichardKing » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:09 pm
Quite frankly I am surprised that you need anything as drastic as Glyphosphate on bracken.
It produces a single stem and simply breaking it with a stick will suppress it for that year.
By this time of the year it is probably several feet high and must be difficult to spray without drenching everything in sight.
Earlier in summer you could have easily prevented it for the year & an annual stomping will get rid of most of it.
Make sure you have adequate protection against spray, including suitable face mask as it is extremely toxic and ingestion of even small quantities can lead to a lingering death with no known cure.
Also glyphosphate is not cheap.
by tracy » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:20 pm
I think I would agree with Richard here, although we do not know the extent of the problem. Remember many insects and some butterflies will be on the bracken, laid eggs and there are also birds living in it. I also agree that it needs some control, but not total death by napalm ;-) We just go around breaking some of the stems where are want light to get the ground, or to young trees.
by greyman » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:35 pm
I think Richard might mean Glyphosate which is now ubiquitus in agriculture and forestry.
Those of you feeling in an academic mood might like to follow the links - the first takes you to a site on organophosphates: the second to an article that puts forward experimentle and annecdotal evidence to an EU review of Glyphosate in 1999
http://www.mapperleyplains.co.uk/oprus/ops_file.htm
http://www.mapperleyplains.co.uk/oprus/glyphosrev.htm
Frightening reading.
Greyman
by martingarwood » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:37 pm
If chemicals are the only option this there is one called Asulox that is specific to bracken and will not kill anything else, I do not know how you get hold of it. I have no experience of using it but know it is used on major heathland restoration projects by RSPB, Wilife Trusts etc. Glysophate will kill or damage any green plant and a little can do a lot of harm if it spreads. Traditionally bracken was controlled by breaking it or dragging chains around or just trampling. Until mid August there is a good chance that nesting birds and reptiles will be making good use of your bracken, so hold back until the season has moved on.
by jillybean » Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:48 am
I sythe mine off, then make a big roll of it and work my way along and pull the roots up, which arent too deep on my land, just do a bit each day. Now it flowering however, i shall leave it to the bees and resume the attack after the blackberries. Might even get some jam!Having said that i do fantasize about some flame throwing ride on chain thrashing diesel powered caterpillar tracked Camo uni mog bramble Masher.
by James M » Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:47 am
I'm sure people have images of me flying over our woods with a helicopter, agent oranging everything in site, I'm talking about a spot weedkiller with a funnel guard, I'm not trying to destroy the planet here.
We spent 3 days with a brush cutter clearing some of it last year, and in those places it has erupted twice as bad as it was before. We have areas which are infested to the point that nothing else is growing even underneath. Access paths which existed a month ago are no longer there.
I'm 6'2" and last year it was higher than me. It unfurls later up here so this is the time of year it needs to be done, when the fronds are unfurled properly it shelters the underlying ground better. The spot weedkiller apporach was advised by FCS.
If we could post pics I could show you what I mean. These are not just a few fronds, this is blanket exclusive coverage which is spreading rapidly and invading from our neighbours. The eco friendly option of cutting and trampling as we go, has backfired and it is invading all the areas we cleared last year. Some of it's on a 60 degree scree slope which doesn't help.
If the whole forum came with their families and dogs for the weekend and trampled it there wouldn't be enough feet.
Asulox is an option, but that is under review by the powers that be.
by tracy » Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:08 am
Hi James, yes, I think some of us did comment that we didn't know the extent of the problem when we posted some thoughts for you. Perhaps we do need a forum day trampling in your bracken!
Let us know how you get on- and you are welcome to send me a photo, I can add it - or put it up on the coppice forum. I will see if we can upgrade this one without losing all our discussions
Tracy
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