Question for anyone who anyone who has to manage acreage?

baggins11

This is a question for Davesnave or anyone else with experience of managing a few acres.  We have a field and on our boundary we are having lots of weeds etc encroaching on our field.  Its ivy, nettles, bramble mainly and the field next door has lots of it on their boundary too which is left to run rampant.  

This area of weeds has spread wider into our field in the last year and we are in the process of removing as much as possible and we are thinking of reseeding the area.  My question is how do you manage the boundaries on a ongoing basis so that you don't have weeds taking over.  We have time to clear it during lockdown but normally we wouldn't have time to weed such a massive area.

We don't have any livestock on our field so that probably doesn't help.  Anyway any advice is welcome.

Justagardener

Do you want the boundary completely clear or just grass?

baggins11

There are 2 stock fences one at our side of the boundary and one at the other side with some mature trees and all the overgrown stuff in between the fences. Ideally I would like grass all the way to our stock fence but weeds and the ivy and bramble that is in the middle section has taken over and killed the grass on the boundary and is moving inwards to the field. So we just want the easiest way of managing it.

RAS

A photo would really help.

Justagardener

How about using a selective weedkiller, it kills everything except grass

baggins11

Would a selective weedkiller damage the trees and the bits of hedge/bushes that we want to keep in the middle of the 2 bits of fencing?  Or if a hedge/bush is big enough will it not be affected by the weedkiller?  The strip we would be treating would be only a couple of feet away from the trees and bushes.  We also have dogs so would we have to keep them off the field for a while?

I didn't get round to taking a pic today but I can try and get one tomorrow.

Davesnave

With grazing, it's usually better if you can alternate small livestock with the taking of a hay crop and some periods of rest. In the resting times it's helpful to apply manure and roll the field too, but all this involves equipment which those with a small acreage might not have. I get around this by renting my fields to a local farmer who has the tractor, the manure spreader, the sheep etc. He likes my land because it's drier than his in winter. He knows I will monitor the sheep carefully, feed them if necessary and report any problems, so I'm still hands-on, which I enjoy.

I've been hands-on with the grass and the hedges since we took over the place 11 years ago. Then there were docks everywhere, thistles in about 25% and ragwort + bracken for 200m along the whole top field margin to a distance of about 10m. The hedges were untouched and the only fences were temporary electric ones.

To get the land under control, I used a backpack sprayer loaded with selective weedkiller, as justagardener suggested, and hit weeds in a very personal way. I could have had a guy with an ATV spray the same stuff wholesale, but I wanted to retain the wild flowers....and I'm cheap! Over a few years of that, plus taking hay and grazing, the coarser grasses died out and the weed burden diminished greatly. Now I can deal with all the docks and thistles in a fraction of the time it used to take and very little chemical is needed.

With regard to hedges, here the blackthorn creeps out underground and pops up, but it either gets zapped when I'm weed killing in April/May or cut with the hay. The sheep keep the hedge grass and any ivy under control. The bracken is a separate issue and I treat that about once every 3rd year with Asulox, a specific bracken control. I don't worry a lot about nettles in the hedge or brambles. Brambles actually succumb quickly to the selective weedkiller I use most.

That's about it, but I haven't mentioned the hedge trees, which I deal with in winter. I can manage about 50m each year of hedge-laying, and for that the new battery chainsaws just can't be beaten.

Do you know who owns your hedges? It's often a bone of contention where farm land is concerned......a neighbour farmer and I have found we don't know exactly where our boundary is, so we assume that if we plan to do anything major with the hedge, we tell the other and seek agreement first.

Davesnave

baggins11 said:

Would a selective weedkiller damage the trees and the bits of hedge/bushes that we want to keep in the middle of the 2 bits of fencing?  Or if a hedge/bush is big enough will it not be affected by the weedkiller?  The strip we would be treating would be only a couple of feet away from the trees and bushes.  We also have dogs so would we have to keep them off the field for a while?

Selective weedkiller kills/damages everything, except grasses. There's an animal exclusion period of 7 days for a chemical like Grazon. You are supposed to hold a qualification to buy pro weedkillers. I do now, but I didn't when I started this lark!

baggins11

Thanks Davesnaves for the very detailed posts! It is much appreciated. I dont know who owns the hedges as it was stated unknown when we bought the house. The farmer who owns the field next door seems to think it is us as a tree fell (in the middle of both fences) onto his fence and he said the tree was ours.

I am not a sheep lover but the reading I have done suggests that it is probably the best way forward.  I was thinking about getting goats but I don't think they would have as beneficial impact on the land.  Whatever has got to be better than what I am doing at the moment.

You mention battery chainsaw - we were due to buy a new petrol one next week. Would you recommend battery instead and if so what brand/price range? I know batteries are so much better these days but I am nervous about getting a battery chainsaw!

Davesnave

I have a Stihl MSA 200C with a 14" bar for my hedging work. It's not cheap, at around  £500 but it does the business and it's very safe if handled with respect. I like to hear if something's coming when on the road hedge. I don't like messing around mixing 2 stroke. It's a small saw with a very thin chain, but it will take down trees as thick as the bar, Frankly, any larger ones would be beyond the safe scope of an amateur like me anyway. Being light, it's also good for hedge laying. I used to use a traditional billhook, but the Stihl is so much quicker.

Battery life is 45mins, but it takes a few hours to discharge in normal use, so I just plug it in over lunch.

In the yard I have a mains powered Makita which was about £150. The 16" Makita will cut the largest logs as it is fixed to a Portek saw horse, but the Stihl is nimble and faster on the small ones.

If you want sheer power, go for petrol

baggins11

I do like the sound of that. More than I was intending to spend but I also would rather not bother with 2 stroke if there is a suitable alternative. It's nice to have a piece of equipment you can get on and use without too much faffing. 

Being lighter would be a definite plus for me as I would like to be able to use it myself safely.  I made this mistake when I bought a really heavy petrol strimmer.  My husband usually uses it now as I find I can't use it for long before my back complains.