[Closed] Best tools to clear 300m of Bracken?

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They have only just started letting me have crayons, do yuou really think they would let me have one of those?

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A few of you with those petrol strimmers the council uses?

Bracken seems to strangle the only strimmer I could get hold of.

Goats?

you need to run a herd of cattle over it

brush cutter

this should do it.

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Nuke it from space.

It's the only way to be sure.

Lol at this thread. As soon as I saw the title I knew what responses there'd be, and I wasn't disappointed. 😀 Bracken's tough stuff, the only thing I can think of apart from an Industrial strength petrol weed-whacker, is a good old-fashioned scythe and a lot of hard work. Napalm is much more fun IMHO, tho'.

You need a scythe or a sickle. Then run a strimmer over it. Other way would be to get a quad or a bike and charge on in.

I did precisely this a couple of weeks ago.

THE finest tool is a cordless hedge trimmer. Seriously.

Stihl brushcutter with metal blade baby.

Bracken

Bracken is a very successful and invasive plant. Although it provides a beneficial habitat to some species in its own right, over the past years it has started to colonise much larger areas. The danger is that it is shading out and killing off the heather, thus destroying the habitat for a much wider range of wildlife. Bracken has minimal feeding value - and it's not too good for walking through either!

The object of bracken management is to control its spread, and the methods used are rather different to those used on the heather. Bracken is a fern that grows from underground rhizomes which have a great ability to regenerate, which means they are difficult to get rid of - if you've ever tried to clear your garden of ground elder or bindweed you will understand the type of problem! Simply burning the bracken has little effect, in fact it can encourage new growth, although it is used for clearing bracken litter. Simply cutting the bracken yearly has no significant effect, although more frequent cutting can weaken it.

Bruising is recognised as the most effective method of controlling regeneration. If the fronds can be damaged so as to bleed sap the buds on the rhizomes are less able to produce rapid growth. Traditionally this was done by dragging a log behind a horse, or cattle allowed to trample on it. Recently a crimping machine has been used to make a more effective job. This has to be done twice a year and is not possible on the steeper gradients.

Spraying with herbicide is also undertaken and, although it was not the first choice of management technique, can be very effective. Indeed large areas of the Quantock Common have been sprayed from the air. A more recent development is the weed wiper, towed by a tractor or quad-bike, which allows closer targeting but is limited by terrain. Unfortunately it is difficult to rule out chemical control where bracken presents a serious threat to the heathland.

CountZero - Member

Bracken ......invasive plant ....destroying the habitat ....killing off the heather...... blah....blah....blah

Oh here we go ......... all the brackenists start raising their ugly heads.

.

......just cos it's common like wot I is.

Actually, bracken spores can cause health issues, and it swamps other plants. Plus in really dry weather there's increased fire risk from it. It's fine when managed properly. There's also the problem of deer ticks in the bracken, which carry Lyme Disease. I'm sure you'd be happy to see the risk of that reduced.

Brush cutter with a blade and attack in stages don't just go to the bottom straight off.

yeah brush cutter, anything to do with [url= http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/ ]this?[/url]

Quad bike towing a big, heavy bar with chains dragging behind

Local farmer and a nettle thrasher.

WTF a nettle thrasher? Nettles are one of the easiest things to cut.

They use them to thrash the nettles and thistles down in fields where they grow in big groups. If you fancy going around several hundred acres of fields pulling them out by hand then let the farmer though it'll save him a job.

Pasture Topper that's the name, although turns out farmers have been wasting their time all these yaers and just needed a Kuco.

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Rather than a scythe i would suggest a hedging hook, the thickness of the bracken will stop even the sharpest scythe, however the hedging hook is long enough and you can get a good swing on it

Well Drac if you called it a pasture topper would of known what you was on about, just never heard of a nettle thrasher. Been cutting grass/weeds in one form or another for the past 23 years. Currently using a 23ton excavator with a weed basket on the end.

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[i]Well Drac if you called it a pasture topper would of known what you was on about, just never heard of a nettle thrasher[/i]

Surely with your vast experience you'd guessed what I meant for me it's distant memory of sitting in the tractor with Uncles and Granddad so couldn't remember it's proper name.

PMSL

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hedge trimmer is by far the best suggestion here.

I used a slightly serrated sickle and managed to clear a path. I should have worn gloves.

I have a slightly red hand and biceps like a baboon.

You had better appreciate the effort when you come to the Big Bike Bash. Just after the 'Hidden Hole Descent' there is the 'Fern and Flip' section.

Jesus - hedge trimmers? Brushcutters? for 300m of trail?

FFS - Maybe for a couple of acres! you'll be suggesting Asulox next.

What you want sonny, is one of these: http://www.stantonhope.co.uk/Tools_26_Equipment_060975_Jungle_Knife.asp

and some of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_grease

simples 8)

14 inch sickle did the job, followed by four bottles of Leffe therapy.

The only way we were able to deal with it on our farm was a particularly nasty herbicide from the local agricultural supplies place. It hasn't grown back anywhere we sprayed.

We graze horses on the fields and as yet none of them have grown extra heads or anything.

My locals get "brackenised" every year, just about now is the worst time, little used trails just disappear. The more common ones only stay clear due to walkers and other trails remain but get quite over grown.

Out for a drive yesterday around Loch Awe in Argyle bumped into a "Bracken Control" tanker parked by a feild, in the field a helicopter was being loaded for spraying.

I'd never thought about this before but bracken control seems to a bit of an issue..

FWIW, you wanted this, unless it was massive mature bracken:

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/v3/lifetime-brush-hook-thinning-and-cutting-axe-421041-p-9545.html

Though that's a horrible price, mine was a tenner.

The other downer about bracken is that the surface part of the rhizome is horrible to ride over, it's just soft enough to really sap your speed and trap the wheel a bit. So I dig them out (though not deeply enough to permanently kill them, that's impractical)- sharp edge shovel, chop and chuck. Time consuming but it's not too bad.

I have a slightly red hand and biceps like a baboon.....

Were you in the woods with your local dogging women again ?
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Not read all the above...

However, the Hit the North tool of choice for cutting through the vegetation was a petrol strimmer.