Bracken - Control

Control

Various techniques are recommended by Natural England to control bracken either individually or in combination:

• Cutting — once or twice a year, for at least 3 years
• Crushing — using rollers, again for at least 3 years
• Livestock treading — during winter, encouraging livestock to bracken areas with food. They trample the developing plants and allow frost to penetrate the rhizomes.
• Burning — useful for removing the litter, but may be counter-productive as bracken is considered to be a fire-adapted species
• Ploughing — late in the season followed by sowing seed
• Herbicide — Asulam is selective for ferns, and Glyphosate is not but has the advantage that the effects can be seen soon after application. They are applied when the fronds are fully unfurled to ensure that the chemical is fully absorbed. Natural England recommends that only Asulam can be sprayed aerially, Glyphosate requires spot-treatment e.g. using a weedwiper or knapsack spray.

Selective sprays like Starane, Access, Metsulfuron 600WG etc. work well but only if sprayed in late autumn so the rhizomes store food for winter and hence absorb the poison.

• Allowing plants to grow in its place, e.g., the establishment of woodland, causes shade that inhibits bracken growth

• Pteridium aquilinum

• Fronds of the bracken fern