Rush Control – CAFRE BDGs discuss the options

Farmers from the Park, Claudy and Feeny Environmental Business Development Group recently attended a meeting on the farm of Peter McSparron focusing on soft rush control.

Dr Terence Henry speaks to EBDG farmers about rush control.

Mr McSparron had taken part in innovation work led by CAFRE to demonstrate effective methods of rush control.

Dr. Terence Henry, Biodiversity Technologist, Greenmount Campus, CAFRE worked alongside local Agri-Environment Adviser Mary Ann Alexander and Mr McSparron to select a suitable site and oversee the work carried out.

Rush is a herbaceous, low-nutrient plant that is commonly found in heavy soils and in areas of high rainfall. Heavy rush cover has a negative effect on biodiversity and may also lead to land being ineligible for area-based schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme.

At the meeting Terence Henry and Catchment Officers from NI Water, Peter Quinn and Rebecca Allen, spoke to farmers about the importance of controlling rush while also thinking of local water quality. MCPA has been widely used in the past to treat rushes on farmland.

However, this chemical is highly mobile in soil water, with traces being found in water up to six weeks after application.  It is very costly for NI Water to remove MCPA in water treatment plants to make it safe for consumers. As an alternative to spraying rushes with MCPA, weed wiping with glyphosate is a preferable method of control with lower risk to water quality.

The rushes in the field that the group viewed had both flailing and weed wiping with glyphosate used as control methods. The flailing was highly effective in reducing the density of the rush. This would in time improve the biodiversity of the area. When rush crops get too dense, they shade out light to plants that may grow below.

Weed wiping had a very successful kill rate. The only rushes not killed using this method were younger plants that would not have been tall enough for the weed wiper to touch. Mr McSparron had closed cattle into the area before weed wiping so that as much of the grass as possible around the rushes would be eaten down low to the ground.

Glyphosate was applied by a contractor with a carpet weed wiper. From work conducted across other rush control sites, CAFRE has found that glyphosate applied in this way is as effective at controlling rush as MCPA.

For particularly mature, dense rush infestations an effective method of control used at other sites is to cut the rush and then approximately six to eight weeks later weed wipe the regrowth with glyphosate. The younger rush is more susceptible to chemical uptake.  

As rush thrives in soils with a low pH, it is financially wise to get soils tested and apply lime when and where appropriate. It may also be that drains in the fields have become blocked and so maintenance of field drains will also be part of the long-term plan to reduce rush on farm.

If there is anything you have read in this article that you would like more information or advice on, please do not hesitate to contact your local Agri-Environment Adviser through your DAERA office.

Notes to editors: 

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