Control of bracken fern using the wick applicator - Agriculture Western Australia. Smothering adjacent species as dead fronds collapse. Producing phytotoxins in the decaying bracken litter. Consuming nutrients and soil moisture.
Bracken fern contains at least two animal toxins.
One causes vitamin B deficiency and the other bone marrow deterioration. The wick applicator smears herbicide from saturated wicks onto tall growing target plants as it passes over them. Application can be continued in conditions too windy for conventional sprayers, and there is no danger of damage to adjacent crops or plants due to herbicide drift. Longitudinal rope-wick applicators are robust and provide a long contact time between the wicks and individual plants. They re less prone to having treated plants protect untreated plants in front of dense infestations.