Rusty Hinge wrote:
The message
from "The Devil's Advocate"
contains these words:

I will clear mine as soon as I see it as my brother has a horse and I know
how you feel Kate

THE LAW
As ragwort is an injurious weed it is specified in the Weeds Act 1959. The
DEFRA has powers to serve clearance notices but will only do so where
agricultural production is directly affected. On roadside verges and waste
land, local authorities should have be contacted. Difficulties occur on
other types of land in regard to enforcement. The horse owner has a very
clear duty to protect his stock from what can only be described as a
horrible and unnecessary death.

There is now a ragwort-specific herbicide - contact Norfolk Wildlife
Trust, 72 Cathedral Close, Norwich. 01603 625540

Is this the one being promoted by the BHS as well? If it is then
(IMHO) it's a rip-off aimed at horse owners as it's ridiculously
expensive compared with the standard (recommended by DEFRA and others)
2-4d based herbicides.


They ran a trial on New Buckenham Common, which was overrun by it. Did a
magnificent job, and while there are some plants left, they are dotted
about rather than growing in thickets.

Was it compared with any other herbicides? Is it really "ragwort
specific" or is it just like most herbicides specific to broad leaved
plants?

We have found that standard 2-4d based herbicides are pretty effective
for controlling ragwort on our fields, you need to apply good pasture
management as well though. You don't really want to end up having to
spray with herbicide regularly and it isn't necessary either to keep
ragwort under control.

--
Chris Green )

Rusty Hinge wrote:
The message
from "The Devil's Advocate"
contains these words:

I will clear mine as soon as I see it as my brother has a horse and I know
how you feel Kate

THE LAW
As ragwort is an injurious weed it is specified in the Weeds Act 1959. The
DEFRA has powers to serve clearance notices but will only do so where
agricultural production is directly affected. On roadside verges and waste
land, local authorities should have be contacted. Difficulties occur on
other types of land in regard to enforcement. The horse owner has a very
clear duty to protect his stock from what can only be described as a
horrible and unnecessary death.

There is now a ragwort-specific herbicide - contact Norfolk Wildlife
Trust, 72 Cathedral Close, Norwich. 01603 625540

Is this the one being promoted by the BHS as well? If it is then
(IMHO) it's a rip-off aimed at horse owners as it's ridiculously
expensive compared with the standard (recommended by DEFRA and others)
2-4d based herbicides.


They ran a trial on New Buckenham Common, which was overrun by it. Did a
magnificent job, and while there are some plants left, they are dotted
about rather than growing in thickets.

Was it compared with any other herbicides? Is it really "ragwort
specific" or is it just like most herbicides specific to broad leaved
plants?

We have found that standard 2-4d based herbicides are pretty effective
for controlling ragwort on our fields, you need to apply good pasture
management as well though. You don't really want to end up having to
spray with herbicide regularly and it isn't necessary either to keep
ragwort under control.

--
Chris Green )

In article ,
Rusty Hinge writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
|
| Almost certainly the arse covering side of safe! You do not increase
| safety by going bananas. I am now seeing that sort of notice on
| bags of sharp sand - yes, really, complete with instructions to
| wash carefully with soap after any accidental contact.
|
| Now, which is more likely to cause skin irritation - soap or sand?
|
| Drunken louts - avoid eye contact......

I didn't know that you could buy drunken louts by the sackful - what
do you do with them in the garden? Compost them?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Rusty Hinge wrote:

The message
from "Dave Liquorice" contains these words:

It's illegal to allow it to grow on your land. (Most county bylaws
specifically mention ragwort as a notifiable weed.)

But tolerated as it is a native plant and host to several
invertebrates. If it's more than 100m from grazing horses/stock or
land used to produce forage they say leave it. Of course round here we
are surrounded by sheep...

Oxford ragwort is a fairly recent introduction - believed to have been
brought in the ballast of merchantmen, which ballast often comprised
sacks of sand or soil.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
Ragwort.
Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
Oxford and escaped from there.


Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

In article ,
Rusty Hinge writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
|
| Almost certainly the arse covering side of safe! You do not increase
| safety by going bananas. I am now seeing that sort of notice on
| bags of sharp sand - yes, really, complete with instructions to
| wash carefully with soap after any accidental contact.
|
| Now, which is more likely to cause skin irritation - soap or sand?
|
| Drunken louts - avoid eye contact......

I didn't know that you could buy drunken louts by the sackful - what
do you do with them in the garden? Compost them?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Rusty Hinge wrote:

The message
from "Dave Liquorice" contains these words:

It's illegal to allow it to grow on your land. (Most county bylaws
specifically mention ragwort as a notifiable weed.)

But tolerated as it is a native plant and host to several
invertebrates. If it's more than 100m from grazing horses/stock or
land used to produce forage they say leave it. Of course round here we
are surrounded by sheep...

Oxford ragwort is a fairly recent introduction - believed to have been
brought in the ballast of merchantmen, which ballast often comprised
sacks of sand or soil.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
Ragwort.
Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
Oxford and escaped from there.


Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

In article ,
Rusty Hinge writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
|
| Almost certainly the arse covering side of safe! You do not increase
| safety by going bananas. I am now seeing that sort of notice on
| bags of sharp sand - yes, really, complete with instructions to
| wash carefully with soap after any accidental contact.
|
| Now, which is more likely to cause skin irritation - soap or sand?
|
| Drunken louts - avoid eye contact......

I didn't know that you could buy drunken louts by the sackful - what
do you do with them in the garden? Compost them?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Rusty Hinge wrote:

The message
from "Dave Liquorice" contains these words:

It's illegal to allow it to grow on your land. (Most county bylaws
specifically mention ragwort as a notifiable weed.)

But tolerated as it is a native plant and host to several
invertebrates. If it's more than 100m from grazing horses/stock or
land used to produce forage they say leave it. Of course round here we
are surrounded by sheep...

Oxford ragwort is a fairly recent introduction - believed to have been
brought in the ballast of merchantmen, which ballast often comprised
sacks of sand or soil.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
Ragwort.
Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
Oxford and escaped from there.


Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

In article ,
Neil Jones writes:
|
| This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
| Ragwort.
| Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
| Oxford and escaped from there.

I am a little confused about this. I have read in relatively
respectable locations that the plant spreading along verges etc.
is normally Oxford ragwort, and that the population of common
ragwort is fairly stable.

Is that so, and what is the species that normally invades badly
managed pastures? Whether they are different makes a LOT of
difference to the methods of control!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Neil Jones writes:
|
| This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
| Ragwort.
| Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
| Oxford and escaped from there.

I am a little confused about this. I have read in relatively
respectable locations that the plant spreading along verges etc.
is normally Oxford ragwort, and that the population of common
ragwort is fairly stable.

Is that so, and what is the species that normally invades badly
managed pastures? Whether they are different makes a LOT of
difference to the methods of control!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Neil Jones writes:
|
| This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
| Ragwort.
| Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
| Oxford and escaped from there.

I am a little confused about this. I have read in relatively
respectable locations that the plant spreading along verges etc.
is normally Oxford ragwort, and that the population of common
ragwort is fairly stable.

Is that so, and what is the species that normally invades badly
managed pastures? Whether they are different makes a LOT of
difference to the methods of control!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
Neil Jones writes:
|
| This is incorrect. Oxford Ragwort is a different plant to Common
| Ragwort.
| Oxford Ragwort was introduced from Mt Etna to a botanic gardens in
| Oxford and escaped from there.

I am a little confused about this. I have read in relatively
respectable locations that the plant spreading along verges etc.
is normally Oxford ragwort, and that the population of common
ragwort is fairly stable.

Is that so, and what is the species that normally invades badly
managed pastures? Whether they are different makes a LOT of
difference to the methods of control!

Er, why does it affect how you control it? They are closely related
species and opportunistic in much the same way in badly managed
pasture I would have thought. They are also susceptible to the same
herbicides.

--
Chris Green )

The message
from (Neil Jones) contains these words:

Arctiiidae is the correct term

Ahem!

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

The message
from contains these words:

There is now a ragwort-specific herbicide - contact Norfolk Wildlife
Trust, 72 Cathedral Close, Norwich. 01603 625540

Is this the one being promoted by the BHS as well? If it is then
(IMHO) it's a rip-off aimed at horse owners as it's ridiculously
expensive compared with the standard (recommended by DEFRA and others)
2-4d based herbicides.

Developed IIRC by the Plant Research Station at Colney. I've no idea if
it is being promoted at all yet - the trials were only, I think, last
year. I might be wrong though, as time flies here in Norfolk.

They ran a trial on New Buckenham Common, which was overrun by it. Did a
magnificent job, and while there are some plants left, they are dotted
about rather than growing in thickets.

Was it compared with any other herbicides? Is it really "ragwort
specific" or is it just like most herbicides specific to broad leaved
plants?

It is ragwort specific. That was what the trial was all about.

We have found that standard 2-4d based herbicides are pretty effective
for controlling ragwort on our fields, you need to apply good pasture
management as well though. You don't really want to end up having to
spray with herbicide regularly and it isn't necessary either to keep
ragwort under control.

Quite, which is why this herbicide seems (to me) to be rather useful,
especially in mixed leys and wildflower meadows.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

| Drunken louts - avoid eye contact......

I didn't know that you could buy drunken louts by the sackful - what
do you do with them in the garden? Compost them?

You don't buy them, you shovel them up where they lie in the road, or on
the footpath. If you're lucky there may be some pavement pizzas to
compost with them.

Good replacement for the onetime ubiquitous G. G. Dunnit heap in the road.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
horrid·squeak snailything zetnet·co·uk exchange d.p. with p to
reply.