Ragwort question

[sueonmull]

Apol's for putting my text inside the quote but wanted to take each point in turn and limited to iPhone at mo.

 

Not looking to lock horns Sue, just trying to take a look through both ends of the telescope.

 

 

No locking horns at this end either Kevin good to try and see from all sides.

Domestication/selective breeding whether that be with animals or crops undoubtedly has an effect but whether it has solved more problems than it has caused is a whole new area for discussion.

[markieg31]

We find that sheep eat the young shoots as they are coming up- with no troubles.

 

I watched an environmental film which was showing mosantos grip on America. Not a good picture the film was painting.

[SteveA]

Steve, I am with you as a total cynic, if I am told that something is poisoning us my immediate response is "are we dying like flies? Someone is trying to sell me something I do not need"

 

However I have seen what I have seen and I believe in my own eyes. Many of our fields are in Higher Level Stewardship, we have made a great effort to encourage Hay Rattle, Tormentil, Meadow Vetchling, Adders Tongue Fern among others, I am glad to say with some succcess and if you heard HRH Prince Charles on the radio this morning we are just in the kindergarten of meadow restoration, but the yellow peril still has no place for me. It is a weed and I have been endowed with the certainty that is does not belong in my pastures or meadows, when I see fields infested with it, my thoughts are that someone has let things slip, it is a plant of derelict areas, and as long as the derelict areas more than 500 metres from and ground that that I have to look after then I can get some sleep.

 

Im not some table thumping evangelist, just an everyday Joe, doing what seems to be right and I cant see much middle ground between us, Im all for butterflies and bees, but if we can agree that letting either thistledown or Ragwort seed float on the wind to your neighbor who doesn't want them is generally to be avoided then Im happy.

 

I don't see how Ragwort could become a serious problem in a well managed meadow that is covered in a variety of grasses, plants and flowers because the seeds wouldn't be able to find much bare soil.

 

From what I've noticed, the fields that Ragwort do best on have been over grazed..... leaving lots of bare patches of soil for the Ragwort seeds to grow in. And brown field sites.

 

I'm not saying that a field stuffed full of Ragwort is a good thing either; I see that as a sign that the natural balance has been pushed too far.

 

Cheers, steve

[sueonmull]

I don't see how Ragwort could become a serious problem in a well managed meadow that is covered in a variety of grasses, plants and flowers because the seeds wouldn't be able to find much bare soil.

 

From what I've noticed, the fields that Ragwort do best on have been over grazed..... leaving lots of bare patches of soil for the Ragwort seeds to grow in. And brown field sites.

 

I'm not saying that a field stuffed full of Ragwort is a good thing either; I see that as a sign that the natural balance has been pushed too far.

 

Cheers, steve

 

Pasture management is certainly important and as a very broad generalisation what you say is true Steve. Ragwort germination rates are lower in ‘ideal’ pastures and it is less likely to become established but it will still germinate and if is growing abundantly on nearby ground that makes pasture management all the more challenging. I’ve been doing my own ‘field trials’ over the past few years and contrary to what I had read I actually find more ragwort seedlings in the dense areas of grass than in the bare patches/rabbit scrapes that I’d deliberately left to see what grows.

The majority of seedlings are unlikely to develop to become larger rosettes or even mature plants but they are still toxic and may be eaten ‘hidden’ in amongst longer grasses either fresh or wilted. May be little and often but that is the insidious nature of chronic poisoning. It’s very easy to see flowering ragwort plants, less easy to see the rosettes and even more difficult to spot the early seedlings.

FERA carried out a review of the evidence concerning ragwort impacts, ecology and control options. It is an interesting read highlighting gaps in the data which require further work. Link is here

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCwQFjACahUKEwjc86HCwd3GAhWGWBQKHQ_PAs4&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandd.defra.gov.uk%2FDocument.aspx%3FDocument%3D12217_Reviewofevidenceconcerningragwortimpactsecologyandcontroloptions.pdf&ei=TYSmVZyZIoaxUY-ei_AM&usg=AFQjCNFACEaNBIAQMjggqQL1fIXsqyZksA&bvm=bv.97653015,d.ZGU

It is worth reading the whole document but (at the risk of being accused of quote mining!) if I can point you to page 42 it says “It has been shown experimentally under greenhouse conditions that 35 days post sowing, 30.8% of seeds will germinate on bare ground as opposed to 14.4% on short pasture and 15.2% on long pasture (Phung and Popay, 1981).” OK so it’s greenhouse/ideal conditions but germination is only reduced by half on long pasture compared to bare ground which in the scheme of things is still a lot of seedlings when you consider that, as a very conservative figure, a single ragwort plant can produce 50000 seeds. If only 1% germinated that’s still a fair number.

[Peasgood]

Pull them up and burn them!

Very few returns this year in my fields as a result.

 

Never mind this "all nature is equal" rubbish. Cholera, rats and malaria are nature, I don't want them in my fields either.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Witnessed with my own eyes this very evening....

 

Our neighbour who leases Cornwall council fields adjacent to our place, walking the fields hand pulling Rag.

 

I walk the dogs 30mins after he's left and there's the pile he pulled cast on the verge where his car was parked.

 

Words fail me...,

[mendiplogs]

Witnessed with my own eyes this very evening....

 

Our neighbour who leases Cornwall council fields adjacent to our place, walking the fields hand pulling Rag.

 

I walk the dogs 30mins after he's left and there's the pile he pulled cast on the verge where his car was parked.

 

Words fail me...,

 

Hi all today I seen today a Load of ragwort in with 10 horses in a large field and there is rag wort everywhere 😩😩😩thanks Jon

[sueonmull]

Witnessed with my own eyes this very evening....

 

Our neighbour who leases Cornwall council fields adjacent to our place, walking the fields hand pulling Rag.

 

I walk the dogs 30mins after he's left and there's the pile he pulled cast on the verge where his car was parked.

 

Words fail me...,

 

Me too, that's probably the worst thing anyone can do with ragwort short of putting it directly in a hay rack! So difficult with it being a neighbour - I assume they understand the potential consequences of what they've done?

[sueonmull]

Hi all today I seen today a Load of ragwort in with 10 horses in a large field and there is rag wort everywhere 😩😩😩thanks Jon

 

Unfortunately if you go on the internet (twitter or facebook) you'll find people saying that's not a problem as long as it is a big enough field and there is enough grass for them to eat - good excuse to do nothing in my book and not a good way of educating those livestock owner who know no better.

[mendiplogs]

Unfortunately if you go on the internet (twitter or facebook) you'll find people saying that's not a problem as long as it is a big enough field and there is enough grass for them to eat - good excuse to do nothing in my book and not a good way of educating those livestock owner who know no better.

 

Hi SUE that's just madness mate thanks Jon