Ragwort

[WalkingWombat]

I normally just pull the second year growth up with help from a ragwort fork. In recent years I have been taking a bottle of white vinegar round with me to spray the rossets as well. This has led to a reduction in plants making it to the second year but I think I am often squirting them several times.
I am wondering whether it is worth getting a specific weed killer and stumbled across barrier h. Is it worth the price tag or just a gimmick?

I only get the odd plant so just pull them. If vinegar works - and is as cheap as chips (sorry!) - why not carry on using it?

It’s a 5 acre field with a decent number so going over them several times is backbreaking and some still survive to need digging out the following year. Barrier h is supposedly also natural so I would be paying to save my labour. Just don’t want to shell out and find it isn’t any more effective than the vinegar!

Do not use Barrier H.

It's a registered pesticide for qualified people to use and it's illegal for you to buy it and to use it. It will (probably) kill ragwort, but do you really want dead ragwort in your field? It's safer to have live plants.

Also bear in mind that 'natural' does not mean good or safe - cyanide and arsenic are natural.

Sheep are pretty good at removing small ragwort rosettes if you can get them on there early spring/summer to graze it right down - doesn't need to be the whole field, could strip graze. Then dig whatever is left before it has chance to flower/seed - seeds are viable for around 20 years iirc.

There are lots of fields around us that don’t control their ragwort so the 20 years of seeds rule isn’t much use. I’ve haven’t let any seed on my patch for well over that but it keeps blowing in.
I only use a small part of the grazing in summer so can spray and allow rossets to die without them being ingested, it’s just about working out the best way to do that.