Weed Control

The best way to control weeds is an actively growing, healthy grass sward to out compete weeds. Wet winters, over grazing and poaching usually lead to weed problems in early spring, particularly buttercup. The key to good weed control is spraying when the weeds are actively growing, that means a combination of warmth and moisture. Generally we find that late April/early May is the best time to begin.  However the best time to attack ragwort is a first application in the autumn and a follow up application in the spring.

Ragwort

Ragwort rosettes should be easily visible amongst short grass. If Ragwort is present then we will use a herbicide called Polo which contains 2,4 D.  Headland POLO™ is an effective autumn treatment for ragwort, which should be followed up with further spraying at the rosette stage in spring, before the flower stems start to grow. Recovery will be reduced if the plants are growing vigorously at the time of treatment. Spraying Headland POLO™ is more effective than pulling which is laborious and leaves fragments of root in the soil to re-establish the ragwort plant next season. Cutting back is not only totally ineffective but may actually aggravate the problem by increasing the plant’s palatability to horses.

You will need to keep grazing animals off the paddock for at least 14 days after we have used Polo and until all poisonous vegetation has become unpalatable. We are very confident about using both these herbicides and our skill at applying them and guarantee all applications. If it doesn’t work we will come back and re-spray free of charge, however please note they will only kill actively growing weeds, they will have no effect on subsequent re-growth from seed and some tough plants like Ragwort and established Docks may need a second application. We are happy to supply and apply other herbicides for other particular weed applications or apply herbicides you may have bought yourself.

Application Method

We use a specially modified quad bike with boomless sprayer rig to apply all herbicides, in addition this same rig can be used for spraying fence lines and spot spraying weeds.  Due to the small and light weight nature of the machine we can access nearly every field and with a working width of 15’ without the need for projecting booms can get into the tightest of areas with ease.