Machine Nation

Just heard that Meath County Council have sprayed all the hedgerows along national roads with 2-4-D in order to 'control weeds'.

Apparently, the damage to the hedgerows will be irreparable.

I don't often say this, but whoever is responsible for this should be quite literally taken out and shot.

Where did you hear this seinfeld ? Is it public ?

Never heard of 24D but it looks like nasty stuff.

What's wrong with weeds anyway. They are supposed to grow in hedgerows.

Dandelions, nettles, buttercups, docks, poppies, sour bellies, daisies, primroses, thistles etc... I love them all. Not on my lawn though

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Where did you hear this seinfeld ? Is it public ?

Never heard of 24D but it looks like nasty stuff.

It was on Pat Kenny.

They do have an obligation to eradicate certain weeds like ragwort. If they didn't deal with the weeds then there'd be public outcry about poisoning cattle.

905 wrote:They do have an obligation to eradicate certain weeds like ragwort. If they didn't deal with the weeds then there'd be public outcry about poisoning cattle.

You keep cattle on national roads?

Yeh, but presumably the council sprayed the road side of the hedge. Cattle live on the other side.

Will this stuff damage hawthorn and other hedge bushes ?

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Will this stuff damage hawthorn and other hedge bushes ?

Apparently, the hedgerows have already started dying.

seinfeld wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Will this stuff damage hawthorn and other hedge bushes ?

Apparently, the hedgerows have already started dying.

Jesus. Taxpayers money used to massacre local flora. Presumably the County Engineer allowed this to proceed.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Yeh, but presumably the council sprayed the road side of the hedge. Cattle live on the other side.

Weeds have this incredible ability to spread. Scientists have been working on it for years but all they can say is it might have something to with those 'seeds' (sp?) a weed regularly produces.

Seriously, the main source of weeds in the fields are hedges. It's no use farmers dousing the place in herbicide when the hedges are full of dock leaves and ragwort. They get fined if these plants are found in their fields, in theory. In reality the farmer would laugh the council out of court, seeing as the biggest source of weeds is the roadside.

905 wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Yeh, but presumably the council sprayed the road side of the hedge. Cattle live on the other side.

Weeds have this incredible ability to spread. Scientists have been working on it for years but all they can say is it might have something to with those 'seeds' (sp?) a weed regularly produces.

Ha Ha !

Seriously, the main source of weeds in the fields are hedges. It's no use farmers dousing the place in herbicide when the hedges are full of dock leaves and ragwort. They get fined if these plants are found in their fields, in theory. In reality the farmer would laugh the council out of court, seeing as the biggest source of weeds is the roadside.

Well a farmer can spray heges on his own land as much as he likes. He's paying for it and it's his choice.

We're talking about spraying the roadside of a national route here. Different ballgame.

National route roadsides have weeds too, illegal weeds. And they spread.

905 wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:Yeh, but presumably the council sprayed the road side of the hedge. Cattle live on the other side.

Weeds have this incredible ability to spread. Scientists have been working on it for years but all they can say is it might have something to with those 'seeds' (sp?) a weed regularly produces.

Seriously, the main source of weeds in the fields are hedges. It's no use farmers dousing the place in herbicide when the hedges are full of dock leaves and ragwort. They get fined if these plants are found in their fields, in theory. In reality the farmer would laugh the council out of court, seeing as the biggest source of weeds is the roadside.

This has nothing to do with agriculture. Weeds also grow in people's gardens. Should Local Authorities be sending out crews to spray people's front laws with Roundup?

The NRA wrote to Meath County Council expressing concern about encroachment of verges on national routes. Most Local Authorities would have responded by trimming the verges with a tractor mounted mower.

Not in Meath, however, where some heathen decided that it would be far more effcient just to kill off all the flora on the road verge with sufficiently powerful chemical.

Oh, well that's different. *sulkily*The first post mentioned weeds.

i think the idea is to deal with weeds without killing everything else. and not to spray _all_ hedgerows where there is no evidence of noxious weeds.

905 wrote:National route roadsides have weeds too, illegal weeds. And they spread.

I remember spending hours clearing a field of ragworth - I didn't realise I was doing it under pain of prosecution though! How have these weeds been outlawed? And what are people supposed to do with nettle stings (not to mention other emergencies) if dock leaves are banned?

Quite a lot of what grows along roads can be termed weeds. But ragwort, dock leaves and thistles are the illegal ones, which the authorities have an obligation to kill.

Who says they are illegal ? is there a statute or other instrument to say so ?

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

905 wrote:National route roadsides have weeds too, illegal weeds. And they spread.

I remember spending hours clearing a field of ragworth - I didn't realise I was doing it under pain of prosecution though! How have these weeds been outlawed? And what are people supposed to do with nettle stings (not to mention other emergencies) if dock leaves are banned?

It's terribly poisonous to cattle, who don't recognise it as such. I think it's illegal in the UK too.

This is all the legal info I could get on it:

Because Ragwort is so lethal, it has been illegal to allow it grow on your property. Many years ago, the Gardaí were very vigilant but since responsibility for prosecuting ragwort growers passed from the Gardaí to the Dept. of Agriculture, enforcement has all but ceased. This has led to the spread of the plant throughout the country, leading to our present predicament.

From Mooney Goes Wild of all places!
http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/schoolwatch/ragwort.html

For another perspective: http://www.ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-myths.html

seinfeld wrote:

I don't often say this, but whoever is responsible for this should be quite literally taken out and shot.

You hold him down...

The verges and hedgrows will probably be badly damaged, rumor has it that hundreds of kilometers of roadway have been treated in this way.
I hope this is not true. The Ragworth will be there again next year while many rare plants which actually have found refuge by the roadside will be gone for good, clever fellas in Meath County Council.
To make things worse this is all beacuse of a directive sent to ALL councils on the subject of noxious weed control which was enthuastically implemented by Meath co co.
ALL councils could have done this by now!! as its the best time to apply herbicide for most weeds.

Where is the accountability?

Who will answer for this blatant habitat destruction?

They must have had no training or cared little for the environment for which they are responsible either way this is vandilisim pure and simple A "quick fix" solution implemented by fools who shot first and didnt even know / care about the consequences.

Will we learn? ... NO! Will heads roll? ... NO!

FOOLS

greebug wrote:The verges and hedgrows will probably be badly damaged, rumor has it that hundreds of kilometers of roadway have been treated in this way.
I hope this is not true. The Ragworth will be there again next year while many rare plants which actually have found refuge by the roadside will be gone for good, clever fellas in Meath County Council.
To make things worse this is all beacuse of a directive sent to ALL councils on the subject of noxious weed control which was enthuastically implemented by Meath co co.
ALL councils could have done this by now!! as its the best time to apply herbicide for most weeds.

Where is the accountability?

Who will answer for this blatant habitat destruction?

They must have had no training or cared little for the environment for which they are responsible either way this is vandilisim pure and simple A "quick fix" solution implemented by fools who shot first and didnt even know / care about the consequences.

Will we learn? ... NO! Will heads roll? ... NO!

FOOLS

There may be one person at most with any ecological training in Meath County Council and a busload of engineers. I don't think it has happened in our county as there is no sign of dead stuff along the roadsides. The best thing to do if you are worried is ring your local councillors and ask them to check it out.

I saw it around the backroads of West Clare over the weekend - the burned edges of the grass. Sometimes you hear people expressing pride in themselves that they controlled the weeds in this way. A good job done.

Poisonous basturds.

I've been thinking about weeds a lot since seinfeld started this thread, and because I've been trying to persuade them to vacate my lawn lately.

If the weather is good at the weekend, I'm going to spend an hour photographing loads of weeds. They're all growing like mad this time of year. Also, there are weeds in Meath that I have never seen in Portmarnock, and vice versa.

Can we have a Weed Solidarity day on MN ?