Hopes For Sweet Briar Control

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 9

Hopes For Sweet Briar Control

A hopeful report on sweet briar control was given by Mr E. C, B. Withell, a farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture at Fairlie, during a recent field day in the Mackenzie Country’.

Mr Withell said that the destruction of existing bushes now appeared to be quite feasible, thanks to recent developments in agricultural chemicals. Department of Agriculture and other research workers had found the chemical, Pilchoram, to be vastly superior to 245 T and 236T8A in all trials conducted tn date.

Pilchoram, or Tordon as it was known in the trade, might well spell the end to unsatisfactory attempts at chemical control. Rates, times

and methods of application were still being evaluated, but it appeared that coi,

would be possible at cosh competitive with 245 T and dieseline 236T8A etc.

It appeared that two to four ounces of 2 per cent Tordon granules per basal 6 inch diameter applied under the drip fringe of the bush would give a good kill. The active material was washed into the soil and taken up by the plant’s roots. The costs could be computed at about Is a bush.

As a coverage spray a one to 200 combination known as 75T would also kill briar, but it appeared that the best time of application was in the spring not long after the

emergence and hardening of leaves. Without a doubt coverage spray using efficient ground transport was the cheapest method of control. Recent developments in nethods of application Inluded the formulation of granules or pellets which could be applied readily by hand to bushes in sites inaccessible to apparatus. The motorised knapsack sprayer was another useful device that aided mobility and effectively applied concentrated chemicals in a highly atomised form.

Mr Withell suggested that blocks should be spelled to discourage seedling strikes and to let existing seedlings grow into something that could be seen. It would be possible then to size up the job and get on with it as they could fairly confidently recommend an effective control.