Bracken jungle - Help!

[Nelly]

My boyfriend and I have recently bought a plot of land on the Isle of Skye. It's in a wonderful south-facing position up in the north west of the island but unless I get stuck in with something this spring it will soon turn into a bracken version of the amazon! Please, please someone out there reassure me that it is possible (albeit with lots of hard work) to get rid of the stuff. I realise it may take some time (some years??) but I want to get started on it this year to try and stay on top of things. If there's anyone out there who's already waged a similar battle I'd love to know what you did. Oh, unless it involved pigs or chemicals because we can't use either of those... Scythes? Strimmers? Digging the roots? Giving up and buying a set of stilts?? (Not that option, please!) I know that the most wonderful wildflower gardens and allotments have been created on previous bracken fields but I don't know how! Enlightenment, hints, tips and encouragement would be much appreciated. I'm expecting blisters, whatever the method (and dreaded ticks as well, no doubt). Oh, and we're talking about an acre of the stuff but I'm prepared to start with a small patch...

[Capsid]

I've no experience but this seems helpful

Bracken Control

I like the idea of using pigs!

[snohare]

You've heard the saying, "one year's seeds, seven years weeds" ? Well, the one about bracken goes along the same lines, except it is seven cuts the first year, and on the seventh year one last one.
Cutting bracken back enough to clear ground is possible. It is hot and sometimes sweaty, miserable work, and if you are using flails or scythes you must pay particular attention to making the handles very comfortable to the hand in order to avoid blisters; but you will find all sorts of interesting wildlife in there (hopefully not too many wasps bikes ! ), you will get to know your ground, and you will see a difference in how the ground looks even in the first year. But...and this is the kicker - it all depends on how often you are prepared to cut it/pull it.
As a conservation volunteer with the NTS, I have spent a fair amount of time controlling bracken, always midsummer, and in my opinion that is the wrong time to do it. Start in spring, as soon as the first fiddleheads have risen to a height where they are removable. Keep at it every chance you get thereafter, particularly if it is a wet summer. The rhizomes will rot if exposed to enough moisture, that is one of the reasons that it is better to pull bracken rather than cut it; removing the stem entirely will leave a hole for water to penetrate right down to the rhizome.
If you do decide to pull bracken, there is a distinct method to it that you must employ in order to avoid slicing your hands open. That is to stand upright with the stem in between your knees, back totally straight, arms straight, bend the knees slightly, hold the stem(s) firmly, straighten legs and the stem will pop up by the amount your height raises as you straighten your legs. If you use straightening your bent back to pull them out as is natural, not only will you be less successful because you are pulling at an angle, but you will find it much harder on your back and you will probably cut your hands. Personally I try to use the cheap latex palmed gloves you get in Poundland shops nowadays; but some people don't like them.
In terms of longer-term efficiency, flailing the grown stems is least effective, followed by scything (use the small metal handled "golfclub" scythes, perfectly adequate as long as you keep sharpening them every half hour) and finally pulling up.
Don't do it mid to late summer when the bracken spores are present; they contain a chemical that is toxic by inhalation, particularly in the quantities found in large areas of bracken. The Forestry Commission may be able to give you more guidance on that.
Thinking of all I know, I have two ideas, which I have no experience of anyone trying, but I would be tempted to think of having a go at if I was in your shoes.
Firstly, ground cover matting. I am thinking Damp Proof Membrane here, as that is what I am familiar with, but if you can find a farmer with spare silage/baling plastic, that will be much cheaper I should think, and possibly a lot easier to work with. I have no idea if the bracken would manage to penetrate this materiel, or any other, and it would depend on the ground as to whether DPM etc would lie flat; but it might work. Even cardboard might work, in more than one layer. It would trash whatever is left of the native ecosystem of course, if done large scale; but what you would aim to do is split the ground up into lanes, and gradually weaken each area of bracken even more, year on year. Isolated areas will always either grow or dwindle, so the more of them you have, the more continuous effort pays off.
Secondly, spiking rhizomes with an auger. If pulling stems out repeatedly can damage the rhizome so much - and I've seen what's left of the root once it gets enough holes in it - then could driving a thin strong T- shaped corkscrewed spike into a rhizome and twisting it to physically lacerate the rhizome "cone" not enable moisture and moulds to do much more damage in a shorter time ? Sore on the shoulders I'll bet, but maybe a fine shortcut.
Of course you could just plough it. Sans cattle, I'll bet our ancestors just turned over the top layer of turves and removed the rhizomes, all by hand - mindboggling, eh !
As far as ticks are concerned...be very concerned. How much do you want to risk being ill for the rest of your lives ? I don't know how bad Skye is for Borreliosis burgdorferii. Locals may tell you there is no Lyme's Disease locally, or that they have been bitten countless times and never come to harm. Yes, but borreliosis is now accepted to be spreading horrendously fast within the UK and even more so Scotland, and is often undiagnosed because everyone looks just for the bulls-eye rash; also, the standard tests and treatments are amateurish and ad hoc, to say the least. (A 35% false negative rate for primary screening is not something the NHS should be proud of !) If you want more information on precautions or tips etc, PM me and I will send you the info I have.
Good luck with the midges !

[taff]

not really for getting rid of it but I read somewhere someone used it to keep their strawberries off the ground instead of straw and it worked a treat because the slugs don't like it.

[Snadger]

As far as I know, bracken only thrives on acid soil. Get a soil test done and if it is very acid, the simple addition of lime could be a great help. Growing other stuff on very acid soil will be a problem anyway.
If there is enough topsoil you could just burn the topgrowth off and get a local farmer to plough it for you. , then add dolomite limestone.

If you intend running it as a smallholding get yourself a little grey Fergie or even a rotovator and do it yourself!

From memory, I think bracken spores are carceogenic so beware of walking through it when the spores are airborne.

[stooriefit]

Hi Nelly
Check out the SEER website.over the last few years they have created a very productive garden on a site in Perthshire which I suspect is not dissimilar to yours.
Jock

SEER Centre home of ROCKDUST