GardenBanter.co.uk - Using Yellow Rattle as natural grass suppressant in an orchard

gray writes
I have an orchard on the side of a hill, that is really impossible to
cut the grass.

I do not want sheep etc, as the trees are bushes.

I was wondering if using Yellow Rattle would solve some of my
problems.

No - it isn't at all dramatic in its action.

There are several closely related plants which are to a certain extent
parasitic on grass, lousewort is, I think, another. They are all plants
of fairly wet areas (where getting nutrients from the soil can be a
problem - hence the development of an alternative method) - yellow
rattle is the most tolerant of drier soils, but I think it would not be
totally happy on a bank where the soil is likely to be quite dry in
summer.

If you do want to use it, scatter the seed where you have raked out the
thatch, so the seed has a good chance of hitting the soil and not
sitting on top of a lump of dry grass. Be aware that it is an annual, so
has to regrow every year from seed - either from your own plants, or you
will have to source new seed every year.

It does have an effect - the coarser grasses seem to be affected (1),
and after a few years the area where the yellow rattle is will have
shorter finer grasses. But it will take years (2), and you obviously
won;t be able to cut the grass at all since you'll need to allow the
yellow rattle to go its full cycle and produce seed.

(1) A patch that I have been keeping an eye on has a dense growth of
yellow rattle growing amongst long grass. I have been watching this area
for about 5 years. This year, for the first time, I can see that the
area where the densest yellow rattle was now has thinner and shorter
grass (and also less yellow rattle!) - the yellow rattle has now spread
and is now amongst grass which at the moment is 18inches high.

(2) If the trees in your orchard grow sufficiently well, they may shade
out the grass in the same sort of timescale that it would take the
yellow rattle to work.
--
Kay