[chilealan]

I have found Bracken growing through into the Vegi Plot from some waste ground next door.
Any suggestions chemical or other to get rid of it.

Many Thanks

[mumofstig]

Don't kill it chop it up for the compost heap..........wonderful stuff.
Just keep cutting top growth off and leave roots to regrow.

Garden organic says

Bracken is a valuable compost ingredient, with relatively high concentrations of nitrogen and potassium.

[LivvyW]

I got a bit of a fright when i read your subject title Chilean.....One of my hens is called Bracken and i thought she'd got out!!!!

[woodburner]

They mentioned bracken on the Natural World program about permaculture/forest gardening. If I heard right it's a good source of potassium.

So now I have bird droppings (AKA chicken poo) for phosphate and compost for nitrogen. All I need now is a patch of bracken! 

[Greengirl]

Thought you had to be careful with bracken - I heard it was a carcinogen.

[mumofstig]

It can cause cancer in animals and populations that eat it.

But no one's suggesting you should eat it! :blink:

[Larkshall]

If you want to get rid of it, systemic weedkiller might work. Don't even think of trying to dig it out unless you are an experienced gravedigger. The roots go down 6 feet.

[Chuffy]

If you want to get rid of it, systemic weedkiller might work. Don't even think of trying to dig it out unless you are an experienced gravedigger. The roots go down 6 feet.

I've got a few bracken plants that pop up on my veg patch.
Roots 6' down eh? I might just dig up the mares tail while I'm at it....

[dougsta]

In my experience systemic weedkiller makes bracken sick but not dead
My roots weren't 6' down so I guess I was lucky
I have also read that the milky slime that comes out of the roots when broken is bad for you - be on the safe side and wear gloves if you handle it.

[ceri green]

bracken is the bane of our lives here.........whatever you do, keew on top of it or it will take over completely!!!
yes the roots do go down a long way, and form a kind of underground carpet, and the amount of trouble it will cause you in your plot will NEVER be worth any amount of minimal benefit it may have!

our veggie plot is reclaimed from part of the field, we have quadruple dug it and pulled out as much of the roots as we could (still finding it 2 yrs later )
the only thing you can say is that bracken actually prefers good soil so you know that the soil will be good for your veggies too.
Asulox is the best killer for it...but it is VERY VERY expensive may need up to 3 applications over a prolonged period (as in years,not weeks) and also only at certain times of year/stages of bracken growth. My OH keeps on top of ours fairly well by strimming it regularly when it is very young, and gradually over a period of a two to three years it has definately made a difference in that it is not nearly as thick and vigoiurous as it was when we started. I think it is something to do with there being a "mother" plant which then throws up babies all over the network so to speak!

hope this is of use to you, coming from a bracken sufferer!