Bracken

[Woodworks]

Sorry Countryboy but can't help with your question.

 

As for grazing animals on bracken it does not work. Dartmoor has loads of bracken and is heavily grazed with sheep, cows and ponies. Never heard of anyone losing stock to grazing it because they simply don't eat it.

[cornish wood burner]

Have a look in forestry and woodland management/ bracken in woodlands

I had the same problem + brambles you wouldnt believe how thick and tall a few years ago. After regular cutting 99.99% gone. Very occasional weak shoot of bramble but you need to really look for quite a while to find one.

Assuming you can cut it of course.

[humpo48]

I manage a large site and all I do is brush cut it and bruise it and it does have an effect. Not a believer in Asulox I am afraid

[Cob-logging]

Hi I use my horses and bracken basher to run over the bracken which bruises the stem and sap leaks out weaking the plant best time to do this is middle of July to middle September hope this helps

[Johno219]

whats the best chemical to clear bracken before it takes over please. I have been reading that us old boys are losing our grandfather rights to spray chemicals in November. I have put my name down on the course to get my certificate and assessment, but what is the training course like. I have not done any courses for years so wounds what it is like. I only need the certificate to spray in my own woodland. I understand there is 35 pages on the assessment.

I did the spraying course last year. Depends who you go with but the guy who took me was a contractor so he had plenty of practical experience

The course itself was very easy the questions are idiot proof multiple choice they have to be if I passed

The second day was all practical

Make sure if you book a course that you get PA1 and PA6aw so you can spray upto and into watercourses. It won't cost anymore and is only a few extra questions

[ben_inthewoods]

Weed wipe with glyphosate or spraying with same is an alternative but not as selective as asulox. Knapsack rate for asulox in a knapsack only gives you 3.5l/ha when you really need 7-14l/ha for bracken. You could double dose, but this is not legal, so instead a BASIS guy recommended to me to twice spray the site in the same day. A lot of hassle. Therefore bracken basher may be more attractive.

[daveindales]

Sheep love asulox. I spend most of August spraying bracken on the moor's. I've done it for the past 15 years or so. I always use a blue dye to see where I've been. The sheep lick the salt in the asulox, and end up with blue nose's. God knows what it does to them, but never seen one dead yet.

[spandit]

Can I ask why you are keen to spray in your own woodland? It provides good cover for game and dies down in the winter anyway when you're likely to be extracting logs.

[Countryboy]

Thank you for the information it is very helpful. The reason that I want to get rid of the bracken Spandit is because at the moment the bracken is pretty sparse so want to get rid of it before it spreads too much. The are woodland close to me that are covered in in. I have pheasants in the wood that I feed and there is loads of cover for them. I only use the woodland for a few logs and to keep me busy. It is my retirement pastime and love just tinkering about in the wood.

[spandit]

Nice way of passing the time. Can you not just cut or crush the last bits?