Weeds and Weed Control

Please be considerate and try to control weeds on your plot.

Injurious Weeds

There are certain weeds that are considered injurious, or harmful to livestock and the environment. They are:

Common Ragwort

The Common Ragwort is a biennial yellow flowered plant which can grow to 30–100 cm high. Prolific in seed distribution, a ragwort plant can produce up at 30,000 to 120,000 seeds. Toxic to cattle, horses, pigs, deer, and goats, the ragwort has a high alkaloid concentration which causes liver damage

 

 

Spear Thistle (Bull Thistle)

Spear Thistle is a robust biennial or short-lived monocarpic (flower, set seeds and then dies) perennial that can be a serious problem in grassland and waste and cultivated ground throughout the UK. It also occurs on roadsides, coastal dunes and in woodland clearings. It is frequent on unsown set-aside land and seems to have increased since the 1960s.

 

Creeping or Field thistle

Creeping Thistle is a perennial plant and can quickly spread in grassland areas and borders. Once established, it can be difficult to eradicate permanently. You may find that repeated digging out of roots reduces the problem, but chemical control will provide a quicker solution.

 

 

Broad Leaved Dock

The Broad Leaved Dock is a resilient and common perennial plant found in grasslands throughout the UK. Unaffected by regular climatic variations and all but the most acidic soils, the Broad Leaved Dock can produce around 60,000 seeds a year and flowers from June to October. The seeds can survive for up to 50 years in soil due to a ‘chemical that inhibits microbial decay.

 

Curled Leaf Dock

The Curled Dock is found mostly in meadowland, wasteland, sand dunes, and dry soils. The Curled Dock can be annual, biennial, or perennial, and can produce 3000 to 4000 seeds per plant.  Although said to contribute to animal wellbeing by providing nutrients which would otherwise be absent, it also contains high levels of oxalic acid which could be damaging to stock

 

You must take action to ensure the weeds don’t spread to a neighbour’s plot.

 

RHS Advice on Weed Control

GOV.UK – Prevent the Spread of Harmful Weeds