nettles & thistles

C

Cran

Active Member
Hi,
I have two field with really bad nettles and thistles yet have very good fresh grass on them. Normally top them but this year was thinking of spraying. What would be the best spray to use or is reseeding really the best approach? was hoping to avoid reseeding:confused:
 
Cran said:
Hi,
I have two field with really bad nettles and thistles yet have very good fresh grass on them. Normally top them but this year was thinking of spraying. What would be the best spray to use or is reseeding really the best approach? was hoping to avoid reseeding:confused:
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After reading an article that nettles cut at the correct stage are an excellent source of protein, close the field off and bale it!!! :whistling:
 
Easiest to top them, you'll be doing it anyway.

Sign of good land too apparently, leave them there to annoy your neighbours.:D
 
Cran said:
Yes and Yes I would think, probably limits me considerably
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The ould lad here never does anything with them as he would loose his clover and he would be fairly well up on his sprays so I doubt there is much can be done with them.
 
What would hsppen if you were to hammer thistles and nettles with one of those cover crop rollers I wonder?
Would they bruise enough to kill?

Came to the conclusion last year that cutting doesnt really work. I topped half a field with bad thistles. And spot sprayed the other half. Sprayed half has far less this year.

Or has anyone invented an automatic spot sprayer that can work in grass yet!?
 
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AYF said:
What would hsppen if you were to hammer thistles and nettles with one of those cover crop rollers I wonder?
Would they bruise enough to kill?

Came to the conclusion last year that cutting doesnt really work. I topped half a field with bad thistles. And spot sprayed the other half. Sprayed half has far less this year.

Or has anyone invented a spot sprayer that can work in grass yet!?
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Yea it's called a locker this side of the pond :tt2:
 
jf 850 said:
Years ago.

Did you never see a knapsack sprayer ? :sweat: Get your exercise for the day
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Bin at it with the quad bike sprayer. One bad field is 26ac..... youd almost go for it with the sprayer but its full of clover.
 
Nettles are very easy to kill. A touch of nettle ban will wipe them out. Both them and thistles can be very much curtailed by topping. The place here used have loads of thistles and a few patches of nettles that were over the bonnet of the 135 when I was a chap but years of topping them has almost wiped them out. Thistles also hate compaction and I'm told rolling them will kill them. Never tried that method as I hate the idea of flattening land with a heavy roller. The cattle and machinery do enough of that already.
 
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Was out topping thistles earlier. And started questioning if leaving the cut thistles to rot was the correct thing to do?
Should I be clearing them somehow?
They say thistles only grow on the most fertile bits. Well am I just keeping the fertility of these patches by putting what is essenstially a green manure back?!
 
AYF said:
Was out topping thistles earlier. And started questioning if leaving the cut thistles to rot was the correct thing to do?
Should I be clearing them somehow?
They say thistles only grow on the most fertile bits. Well am I just keeping the fertility of these patches by putting what is essenstially a green manure back?!
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There's not much you can to regards to gathering them up-not a job to be getting excited over! Top and leave to rot, they shouldn't be gone to seed yet. They won't be seen in a few weeks when the new flush of grass takes over. Did a few acres here yesterday with MCPA, will be topping the remains of the thistles after the next grazing anyway so this should clear them off.
MF30
 
MF30 said:
There's not much you can to regards to gathering them up-not a job to be getting excited over! Top and leave to rot, they shouldn't be gone to seed yet. They won't be seen in a few weeks when the new flush of grass takes over. Did a few acres here yesterday with MCPA, will be topping the remains of the thistles after the next grazing anyway so this should clear them off.
MF30
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Not the seeding Im worried about. And was only thinking of the heaviest patches. Rake it up and push it away job.

My concern is more that we are just building the fertility in the soil under these patches. Given lack of grazing arround thistles.
Thus making it an even cushier patch to grow in next year!?
 
MF30 said:
There's not much you can to regards to gathering them up-not a job to be getting excited over! Top and leave to rot, they shouldn't be gone to seed yet. They won't be seen in a few weeks when the new flush of grass takes over. Did a few acres here yesterday with MCPA, will be topping the remains of the thistles after the next grazing anyway so this should clear them off.
MF30
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Don't top them too soon after spraying, give the spray every chance to get down into the roots of you can, lesson learned here before.
 
AYF said:
Not the seeding Im worried about. And was only thinking of the heaviest patches. Rake it up and push it away job.

My concern is more that we are just building the fertility in the soil under these patches. Given lack of grazing arround thistles.
Thus making it an even cushier patch to grow in next year!?
Click to expand...
I've been told that rolling them when there fairly strong but before going to seed will kill them??. I've never actually tried it tbh although did you ever notice that in a field of thistles an area that may have a fair bit of traffic in it in a particular area(drawing in silage for example) thistles won't grow there.
 
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diesel power said:
I've been told that rolling them when there fairly strong but before going to seed will kill them??. I've never actually tried it tbh although did you ever notice that in a field of thistles an area that may have a fair bit of traffic in it in a particular area(drawing in silage for example) thistles won't grow there.
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They don't like compaction of any kind.
 
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