Weed wipers

[monkeybusiness]

Hello all

I’ve got to treat a large area of birch regen on a wet heath and reckon an ATV trailed weed-wiper would be well suited to the task. 
Does anyone have any hints/tips/advice with these regarding makes/types etc? There are ground driven brushes, electric powered contra-rotating brushes, seemingly cobbled-together mounted frames wrapped in absorbent material (which would in reality probably be the best setup for my job but I’m not convinced about how good these actually are). All of them appear pretty expensive for what they are and I don’t really want to chuck a load of money at a setup that doesn’t do as I hope (I’m happy to spend on the right kit though!). 
In an ideal world I’d hire something to try but not really aware of anywhere offering these for hire. I’ve got ATV-mounted sprayer tanks etc so they aren’t essential. 
Cheers for any and all input - I’m certainly open to anyone who wishes to point out issues with what I’m suggesting too!

Dan 

[Stere]

Can't it be Conservation Grazed

 

Stick some ponies on there etc

[monkeybusiness]

44 minutes ago, Stere said:

Can't it be Conservation Grazed

 

Stick some ponies on there etc

The ground would be too soft for livestock sadly - it’s difficult to walk across (dual wheels on a quad jobby). 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, monkeybusiness said:

Hello all

I’ve got to treat a large area of birch regen on a wet heath and reckon an ATV trailed weed-wiper would be well suited to the task. 
Does anyone have any hints/tips/advice with these regarding makes/types etc? There are ground driven brushes, electric powered contra-rotating brushes, seemingly cobbled-together mounted frames wrapped in absorbent material (which would in reality probably be the best setup for my job but I’m not convinced about how good these actually are). All of them appear pretty expensive for what they are and I don’t really want to chuck a load of money at a setup that doesn’t do as I hope (I’m happy to spend on the right kit though!). 
In an ideal world I’d hire something to try but not really aware of anywhere offering these for hire. I’ve got ATV-mounted sprayer tanks etc so they aren’t essential. 
Cheers for any and all input - I’m certainly open to anyone who wishes to point out issues with what I’m suggesting too!

Dan 

I was involved in regenerating heather for quite a while, I developed an undercover burner for English Nature as was and advocated a high mowing and burning regime but politics got in the way and a quicker fix was adopted. They started using weed wipe but the contractor only seemed to take one pass and only targeted the birch which was 18" above the heather, trouble was by that time the weed wipe couldn't get a high enough dose onto the plant.

 

In the end they resorted to late summer spot spraying with knapsack  and a selective herbicide (which type I was never told) and repeat visits produce a steady income for the contractor.

 

Even with the grazed areas there were problems over animal welfare  and Natural England advised scraping, trouble is where they ended up putting the hundreds of tonnes of scraping messed up the hydrology and ruined the habitat for some rarer plants.

[Stere]

Spraying doesn't seem a sensible longterm solution for maintaining a conservation habitat imo.

 

What was keeping the birch in check in the past historically? (Probably was a combination or grazing burning and coppicing etc)

 

Is the birch regen encrochment from adjacent land area that is now managed different?

 

Local wildlife trust place does controlled burning and some strimming.

[monkeybusiness]

They clear-felled two years ago and don’t want the trees coming back. I’ve only become involved now - there is already substantial regrowth and a couple of weed-wipe treatments this year has been proposed to try and make a decent dent in the problem (but we could do with getting on with it ASAP). 

[monkeybusiness]

I should also add that this isn’t quango funded - I’m not in the habit of trying to make work for myself (always aim to save clients money wherever possible) so am trying to stay away from spot-spraying/hand pulling as much as possible 

[woody woodpecker]

Hi firstly you will need pa2f ticket for weed wipe , I have used 2metre logic with brush that rotates anti clockwise so lifting the plant as you go and also coating the underside of the leaves ,you don't have the pump on constant pump like normal sprayer you have a pulse switch so that you can just keep the bristles damp with spray ,very efficient in the amount of spray that you use ,also on the carpet ones you have to keep replacing the carpet as it rots

[aspenarb]

Trailed or quad mounted weed wipes flatten more vegetation than they wipe, its all a bit hit and miss .

 

Bob

[monkeybusiness]

I know it is far from a perfect solution in whatever guise - I’m just trying to find a way of knocking back what’s there as efficiently as possible to reduce the cost/time involved in sorting whatever gets missed. 
There is a pretty decent covering of heather already so getting on top of what’s already got away should severely limit future issues I’d hope?!