The Last Few Months of Bracken on Horseshoe Pass 2019

Welcome Back!

Sit back - Coffee (beverage) in hand - This may take some time.

For all the new people, please go back and check my previous posts. This will help make what follows more sensible.

Now, 2019 - this is year 3 of my activities removing bracken from the area I targeted on our land at the top of the Horseshoe Pass in Llangollen, Wales, UK.

The research that I completed before I started to tackle this work, in a systematic way, back in 2017, projected that this year's bracken would be in the area of 10% of the original population.

As I write we are approaching the middle of July 2019 and I should say that, in general, this is a reasonable reflection of what I have observed this year. In addition I have learnt, through experience, the lesson the Darwin was teaching a few hundred years ago.

Competition for resources will define survival

Previous watchers will be aware that the process of bracken "management" has several phases some of which run concurrently.

Phase 1 - Remove Bracken
Phase 2 - Replace Bracken
Phase 3 - Go to Phase 1

My target is the removal of the bracken and it's replacement with another form of vegetation that will, if possible, promote diversity of vegetation and wildlife while, and this essential, providing a stable surface that will not suffer from any additional erosion due to the bracken (including litter) removal.

This means that while removing the bracken it is just as important to ensure that the replacement vegetation encourages diversity and improves top soil stability and run-off resistance. Given that the rysome lies 100-200mm below the surface it would be good if the replacement vegetation could occupy the same space. I have yet to find an ideal solution to this so, in the mean time I have resorted to replacing the bracken with grass. This is not ideal but appears to have had the desired result on the areas I have treated over the last 3 years.

Point of Special Interest

Given that the success in the areas I have treated (managed) have now released a certain amount of time during the day. I should now mention that I have noticed that the margins of the areas I have treated, that adjoin badly infested areas, have been slightly more difficult to manage - vis more bracken growth.

This is very likely to be due to the rhizomes passing between the fields. To that end I have decided to attempt to remove the bracken from the adjoining field that my wife and I own.

The last 4 weeks has seen me aggressively removing bracken in this field and, I have found that access to to the rhizomes themselves has been much easier than in previous years in the other areas. I may be wrong but I think it very likely that the sheer volume of precipitation may well be the reason for this opportunity.

So far in an area of approximately 100 square metres I have managed to rip out approximately 200 metres of rhizome. I am not sure as to the consequential damage I have caused the remainder of the rhizome but given the large number, between 50 and 70 new growth shoots, I believe my task next year in this area may well be considerably easier than that of my previous endeavors.

My only issue now is quite how to dispose of all the material removed. I would like to reduce the impact on the environment so if anyone has an idea as to how I might dispose of it, without burning, I would be very grateful.