Ragwort

[Billhook]

I see where you're coming from, just horses then ragwort gets a start, lack of grazing( verging, rail side) heaven for ragwort!!

 

Bit of a dull day here, midges horrendous!!!! Although that's the first day I've felt them really, been cold upto now.

 

 

Culicoides Impunctatus

 

I was camping on a beach in Mull near Carsaig bay in my youth in September.

We bought some anti midge paste locally which we concluded the locals sold as a midge attractant to deter tourists!

I put some in a matchbox and brought them home for my father to examine.

A keen amateur entomologist he put one under a microscope as he took out an old book from the shelf something like "Midges of the British Isles"

 

There were seventeen different varieties identified only by their wing vein pattern.

The only bit of humour in the whole book was in the section on Culicoides Impunctatus, which we had now decided that this indeed was the midge under the microscope

He said " This midge together with the kilt was probably the origin of the Highland Fling!"

[Stubby]

Blimy . !

[Stubby]

There is lots growing on the rail network all occross the country . This may help to spread it .

[openspaceman]

I see where you're coming from, just horses then ragwort gets a start, lack of grazing( verging, rail side) heaven for ragwort!!

 

Bit of a dull day here, midges horrendous!!!! Although that's the first day I've felt them really, been cold upto now.

 

That's it, and road verges, railways etc. often get sprayed off or have works that create bare patches for the seed to take hold.

 

On good ground grass will out compete ragwort.

 

I've nothing against pulling it but I suspect this can cause a strange effect on it's life cycle if any bits are left. It is a biennial so first year it establishes itself as a rosette close to the ground and probably below grazing height. Second year it sends up the flowing spike and distributes seed then I think the whole plant dies.

 

If you prevent it flowering or leave a bit of root in the ground I was told it stayed in the rosette stage and then flowered the following year, I have never been able to substantiate this.

[Mull]

Culicoides Impunctatus

 

 

 

I was camping on a beach in Mull near Carsaig bay in my youth in September.

 

We bought some anti midge paste locally which we concluded the locals sold as a midge attractant to deter tourists!

 

I put some in a matchbox and brought them home for my father to examine.

 

A keen amateur entomologist he put one under a microscope as he took out an old book from the shelf something like "Midges of the British Isles"

 

 

 

There were seventeen different varieties identified only by their wing vein pattern.

 

The only bit of humour in the whole book was in the section on Culicoides Impunctatus, which we had now decided that this indeed was the midge under the microscope

 

He said " This midge together with the kilt was probably the origin of the Highland Fling!"

 

 

Nice spot carsaig,

But midges can spoil any view😤😤

[tommy w]

Good answers there billhook; it would appear not to bio accumulate then. There are plenty of far more poisonous and more common plants that get little or no attention.

[openspaceman]

I've been on the google to Mull!

 

Blimey how long did that take?

 

 

Horses are the most vulnerable not only because they are tender animals but because they live so much longer than cattle and sheep which are murdered much younger.

 

 

That's my understanding and I suspect they nibble at it from boredom, like they chew tanalised posts and rails. It damages the liver in a similar way alcohol does mine, over time the scar tissue overwhelms the liver.

 

 

FALSE . Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris formerly called Senecio jacobaea) is a common native British Plant.

 

Does this renaming also affect groundsel which I though was related? The poison in ragwor was known as sennecene.

 

 

 

FALSE. The cinnabar moth, whose caterpillars eat ragwort

 

And I thought they were brightly coloured to warn birds and their poison was adapted from the ragwort they ate.

[ThrustSSC]

If you prevent it flowering or leave a bit of root in the ground I was told it stayed in the rosette stage and then flowered the following year, I have never been able to substantiate this.

 

It does. Mowing or pulling turns it into a perennial. So if you want to get rid of it, you either need to spray (autumn then spring with Headland Polo has worked well for me), or you have to ragfork and treat each hole with rock salt to kill the roots. The latter is incredibly time-consuming.

 

Mowing or pulling-without-salting are just emergency control measures that simply aggravate the problem in the long term if not followed up effectively.

[alexm]

Is ragwort capable of making humans photosensitive without ingesting it? I've pulled tonnes of it, literally, never had an issue.

 

My mate strimmed a load and came up in a rash of tiny blisters. It left discolouration on the skin for months too but I suppose he could have been particularly sensitive.

[Billhook]

Nice spot carsaig, [ATTACH]184286[/ATTACH]

But midges can spoil any view😤😤

 

I know that view so well as my Aunt and Uncle used to run the painting school at Inniemore.