There has been a lot of broo-ha-ha about the banning of the bracken weed killer Asulam by the EEC from 1 January 2013. Apparently, it will have a major impact on grouse shoots (of which there are quite a few in our vicinity). Just a query: with Asulam being a selective weed killer, it is presumably a fairly modern invention. So how was bracken controlled in the past? I know they used it for animal bedding and fuel and, with manpower being cheaper, was cut by men on the moor, but that must have made very small inroads in large expanses of bracken.

Dear Monika, i'm not sure, but i would have thought it was cleared by burning.

Thanks for your thought, OH, but the burning is carried out here in any case, but that is to keep down the bilberries and to make them put on new growth. I think the burning would have no impact on the spread of bracken.

Up here the heather (ling) is controlled by burning but that's to promote new growth for the grouse to feed on. Bracken was controlled by hand cutting but farm labour is no longer the cheap option and mechanized cutting is impossible in most places bracken grows. Monika's observation is correct about burning as it normally only scorches the surface and would have no impact on the bracken roots.

There's a business not far from here which makes a product called Lakeland Gold which is composted bracken with FYM. They also do composted sheeps wool....both products are excellent organic soil conditioners.

I suspect the EC ban on Asulam is another of those knee-jerk reactions they have when they find something that could be potentially harmful. They tried to ban cadmium pigments in artists paints on account of their toxicity but how many artists have died from sucking their paint brushes?

absolutely ! high time we got out of the EU & made our own minds up regarding chemicals. most of those banned were not dangerous. most toilet bleach & cleaning agents are no more hazardous but do they ban them ? thanks to the EU we now have no amateur control of pea moth , carrot fly & cabbage root fly. only hope is that if we came out then a chemical firm could start to produce a product to combat these ,if not, at least we could safeguard the few remaining chemicals we have left.

Would you trust Defra more than the EU? Defra, not the EU, are the ones pushing hard for an end to the use of peat compost in England!

Hi Alan,
DEFRA has been heavily infiltrated by fundamentalists and is now not fit for the purpose it was intended! It would appear that those in power in DEFRA take their orders from other than the government.
JB.