Ragwort

[David Crook]

I am curious to ask what people do about Ragwort in their meadows. We hear that ragwort is toxic and should not be included in hay or silage although stock generally will not eat it while it is growing. Yet people will insist on its removal and claim its 'notifiable' - which it isn't. Some useful information can be found here https://ragwortfacts.com/.

Buglife have an info sheet here: https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/downloads/Ragwort.pdf
And if you want to get really engrossed, they have more detailed information about the invertebrate fauna of ragwort here: https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/downloads/Ra ... tail_1.pdf . It really is an important plant for invertebrates - there are at least 30 insect species entirely reliant on ragwort, and a much longer list of species associated with the plant. In addition to this, because of the flowering season of ragwort it is an important source of nectar in mid-late summer.

What do other meadows people do with any ragwort?

[Amy]

My attempted compromise of letting marsh ragwort flower and then pulling it before it seeds, does not work, as a succession of flowers within the same florets mature at different times and you can have buds and seedheads on the same head..

Good and bad points of marsh ragwort, control,
"Cutting hay in mid-June for two successive years can dramatically reduce marsh ragwort in species-rich hay meadows." .....
"When at low densities, marsh ragwort can be hand pulled prior
to cutting to remove it from the hay. If it is pulled when flowering and not before, broken stems and roots will not re-grow..."
https://www.floodplainmeadows.org.uk/si ... eaflet.pdf

[Henry Wainwright]

Well the ragwort flowering season is nearly upon us. Is it my imagination but I think I am seeing more this year than last year in our meadow. Now the dilemma, I always feel obliged to pull ours because our next door livestock farmer religiously comes and digs his out so seeing ours flower in the next door field would antagonise them! Also we get another neighbour to come and cut and remove our hay for their livestock so having ragwort in the hay might make them reluctant to help. At least todays rain will make pulling easier to get the roots out. May be I will just have to be satisfied with enjoying the copious amounts of ragwort that flowers on the central reservation of the A38 (Devon expressway).

[Jane W]

I had a lot of ragwort and also felt guilty because of neighbours with horses. I didn't want to annoy them with seeds floating all around. I went at it at probably completely the wrong time ( after seed were already dried and floating about when you touched the plant) I pulled them out. They came out easily, the roots were shallow. I did a whole field in a couple of days. I composted them. I didn't expect it to really make much difference because of when I'd done it, but I've been really surprised. It really knocked the population right back. 3 years later the population is still small. Now I'll leave them to build up a bit as I realise how good they are for wildlife and how easy it was to control if need be.
I do have lots coming through in the garden from the compost though...so the seeds persist...but they're easy to pull out when small.

[Amy]

Cross ref discussion on the email exchange - SOS Save the Ragwort 13 August 2021