Bracken

I was interested in your piece on bracken mentioned in the newsletter.  My acid land is plagued with bracken, brambles, nettles and cleavers - a delightful combination - and I have been engaged in the fight since 1986.  The best treatment we have found is outdoor sows who dig up the roots, but now we have no livestock so I have had to try other methods.  If you have the space and equipment rolling the young plants is very effective, but my land is rough and hilly so my Honda strimmer does a good job, but is not a quick fix.  In the old days Asulox was available which I could buy under Grandfather Rights (which ends in November), but that is banned now.

The little shoots contain arsenic I was told, but I have never seen that in writing.  I had also understood that the sporing season was mid August to mid September, but Christine keeps an eye on the plants for signs of spore production.

Malcolm

P.S.  Here is a photo with some of the little darlings in the background.

Thank you for that, an interesting article.  I have looked at the bracken and it is producing spores now so that is strimming finished for now.  Although the land is acid I find that bracken spread under rhododendrom and azalea bushed helps them along.

Malcolm

Thank you for that one also.  The bit about burning bracken is interesting, but if that will turn it into good fertiliser with a higher Ph it is worth a try.  I have a couple of old 45 gallon oil drums... hmmmm.

Because I produce compost on a fairly large scale it does seem to rot down pretty well.

Malcolm

Just be careful when burning the bracken as you don't want to let it get out of control, and I wouldn't use oil to light it for the same reason, plus it could contaminate the soil underneath.

I think Oakridge was thinking about using old, empty oil drums to burn the bracken in   

hi i cut bracken down at the end of september using 3mm strimmer line i put the strimmer down on the  top of the bracken this shreds the stems and splits them in to the ground if theres any regrowth and its mild i give the shoots a dose of SBKbrush wood killer if the weather is mild  if also noticed if its frosty after strimming this knocks the regrowth back the patch i cut is slowly getting less  jezza