organic rush control
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:31 am
a year or so ago i asked on the forum about this subject. I've researched it quite a bit and put a few ideas into practice and thought i would pass on what was successful for us. One of our fields about 10 acres was a mix of about an acre or two of peatbog at the bottom and the rest a sea of rushes or rashes as we call them. After the bird nesting season and b4 the rush went to seed we called in a neighbour to top the rushes then 8 weeks later we repeated. The horses were then left to graze this field to get down the good grasses around the rush plants that had been topped. In spring as the rushes were starting to grow again we put on our three aberdeen angus who seem to love the new shoots of rush nevermind the docken as well. The cows are making a lovely job of cleaning up this pasture and reclaiming it. The difference over a year has been remarkable.
On a smaller scale in our established pasture we have a few rushes dotted about. In about 50 of them the OH first trimmed them down to the ground then attacked them with a mattock, flipped over the entire rootball back into the hole, cut an X in it then shoved a seed tattie in. We got some tatties with this method plus it broke up and killed the rush leaving behind a nice bit of compost in each hole. Last winter we planted trees in the holes and no sign of stray rash popping up.
On a smaller scale in our established pasture we have a few rushes dotted about. In about 50 of them the OH first trimmed them down to the ground then attacked them with a mattock, flipped over the entire rootball back into the hole, cut an X in it then shoved a seed tattie in. We got some tatties with this method plus it broke up and killed the rush leaving behind a nice bit of compost in each hole. Last winter we planted trees in the holes and no sign of stray rash popping up.