Rushes

OliverD

Active Member
Any advice is welcome on this.

Have a field that years ago grew oats for a number of years and then was used for silage for years. Over last few years has been grazed with little to none fertiliser and no slurry.

Rushes have started to come up in places and bad enough in a few places.From soil analysis it doesn’t read as needing lime.

Anyway I plan to lime it and slurry it now and start putting out a 18-6-12 with sulphur in the spring.

Is there anything else I should be doing?
 
Any advice is welcome on this.

Have a field that years ago grew oats for a number of years and then was used for silage for years. Over last few years has been grazed with little to none fertiliser and no slurry.

Rushes have started to come up in places and bad enough in a few places.From soil analysis it doesn’t read as needing lime.

Anyway I plan to lime it and slurry it now and start putting out a 18-6-12 with sulphur in the spring.

Is there anything else I should be doing?
If it doesn't need lime, don't put out lime. All you're doing is raising the soil pH and reducing nutrient availability and grass growth and paying for the privilege. I would only apply lime to that ground if I was reseeding to neutralise the acids from the breakdown of the older grasses in the soil

Once the pH is OK, what's the P and K levels like? You need to be pushing them up to index 3 on that ground. Well fertilised ground will grow more grass and compete better with rushes and any other weeds in the ground. Also, cut that ground at least once per year for silage if you can and twice a year is even better as that will use up any reserves the rushes built up and will almost be rid of them in 3 years.

Spraying is another option but I'll leave someone with more experience of spraying than me to answer that question.
 
Welcome Oliver.
It would sound like it's run down. What were the soil test readings?
 
Thanks everyone.

The NPK index is 122 from the soil test and a local old fella was telling me it grew oats as long as he could remember. We took it out of silage and probably neglected it a bit to be honest. Have the slurry ready to go - good and heavy and have dung as well.

Thanks for the tip on cutting it - only when we didn’t cut it did he problem show up
 
As mentioned above spraying the rushes works well. And if you look after the ground after spraying it . With fert / slurry the rush that will come back will be minimal .
 
Land that's used for silage won't have rushes. There not able for the low cutting a silage sward has and it wipes them out after a few cuts/years.
 
I have a field that I reseeded a few years ago and took two cuts of silage of it since. It was always grazed before that. There was always rushes on the lower bit and none on the higher bit that was a few inches of soil on top of rock. I had to stop cutting the lower bit the rushes got that bad and there are rushes appearing on the dry bit where there was never any before:scratchhead: I'm not convinced that cutting is any good.
 
If it grew oats then it can’t be bad in terms of soil quality.

I’m surprised that it doesn’t need lime if there are rushes there, especially after such a dry year.

Are there drains that need attention? Blocked drains might be making it wetter than it should be.
 
Continually cutting them wont get rid of them anyway I mulch places a few times a year and they stay growing.
Theres a dairy farm over the road that have a field with alot of rushes in it.
Everytime the cows come out of its topped.
There still growing as long as I remember.
Theres a reason they grow and its either acidic soil or waterlogged
 
I have a field that I reseeded a few years ago and took two cuts of silage of it since. It was always grazed before that. There was always rushes on the lower bit and none on the higher bit that was a few inches of soil on top of rock. I had to stop cutting the lower bit the rushes got that bad and there are rushes appearing on the dry bit where there was never any before:scratchhead: I'm not convinced that cutting is any good.
Thats unusual now. I've a few fields here with rushes and topping them every year was a waste of diesel and time. This year I cut them to the skut with the mower and there fairly thin and sparse now. There's one very wet corner and it never grew anything but rushes and since introducing the mower there's grass with a few rushes and not the other way round. 18:6:12 is also the only fert for this type of ground.
 
. If you look ahead you can see a triangular bit that wasn't mowed when the rest was as there was and old fence and other bits in it. The whole field was like that bit. It was drained last year and mowed and slurried this year.
IMG_20181013_162308.jpg
 
I'd agree with @Mf240 and I'd also spread a bit of slurry on it. Rushes don't like being farmed, nutrients, lime and a mower will give them the hint, got rid of them here that way anyway, and no spray used.
 
If it grew oats then it can’t be bad in terms of soil quality.

I’m surprised that it doesn’t need lime if there are rushes there, especially after such a dry year.

Are there drains that need attention? Blocked drains might be making it wetter than it should be.
Wouldn't oats being grown there point a bit towards a lower pH. Oats are more tolerant of lower pH soils than Barley, if my memory is serving me well?
 
I'd agree with @Mf240 and I'd also spread a bit of slurry on it. Rushes don't like being farmed, nutrients, lime and a mower will give them the hint, got rid of them here that way anyway, and no spray used.

Had to use spray here but definitely agree with you Bruce and MF240, a heavy coat of dung here worked wonders.
 
Well we mowed the bad parts and then horsed the MCPA on. Put 2 tonne lime on all over it and more in the part parts last Wednesday. Plan monday to put on as much slurry as we can get on it and will close it up and see how it is in the spring. Will let ye know if still above ground
 
Well we mowed the bad parts and then horsed the MCPA on. Put 2 tonne lime on all over it and more in the part parts last Wednesday. Plan monday to put on as much slurry as we can get on it and will close it up and see how it is in the spring. Will let ye know if still above ground
Just on the slurry thing, is it recommended to put out slurry after spreading lime? I think you have to wait about 3months before you can spread slurry, where as if you spread slurry first then you can spread lime 10days later
 
Your right dstig. The theory is you lose a lot of the nitrogen by spreading straight after lime but we’re up against it here deadline wise. We did it before a few years ago and was chatting with the uncle about it and he didn’t think we lost too much by it. We have loads of rushes on the ground from mowing them and he tells me they’re great source of nutrients and should balance out any loss.
 
Got the slurry on today, drowned them in it and it good concentrated stuff. Have closed it up and see how we go. Have a few sheep and will put them in it after Christmas.
 
Got the slurry on today, drowned them in it and it good concentrated stuff. Have closed it up and see how we go. Have a few sheep and will put them in it after Christmas.
Anything that poaches it usually makes them grow.
Did you say you limed it.
I see where cattles hoof goes down a rush comes up
 
I seen areas where we patched land with cattle in the past and 2 years later it was full of thistle. Takes a bit to get rid of them. We have wet enough land in places and have to mind it.

Here is one - am I better going with 18-6-12 or 10-10-20 in the spring for the land with the rushes. Don’t need to graze it too heavily next year and Need the slurry for elsewhere. Any advice appreciated.
 
Either or are very good fertilizers on that type of land. 2 or3 bags to the acre of 10:10:20 in the spring and top up with 18:6:12 during the summer if the grass needs a push. Straight N doesn't really respond as well I've found on marginal ground whereas the 2 mentioned above usually get great results.
 
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