Rushes can be managed by using herbicides applied by either a boom sprayer, knapsack or a weed-wiper. Weed-wipers can manage rushes more efficiently than conventional boom sprayers using less chemical with a dramatic reduction in spray drift. Weed-wipers are only licensed for use with glyphosate, a chemical that has potentially less impact on water quality as it can break down quicker in around 3-7 days compared with MCPA, which breaks down in 3-4 weeks.

Greenmount CAFRE has held demonstrations at Glenwherry Hill Farm where plots of rushes were controlled using a number of different methods:

• Mechanical cutting
• Weed-wiping with glyphosate
• Cutting and weed-wiping the regrowth with glyphosate
• Boom spraying with MCPA

This demonstrated that the area cut and later weed-wiped with glyphosate showed the most effective rush control with minimal water pollution. This method uses a glyphosate product specifically approved for use in a weed-wiper. The percentage of rush cover reduced from 81 per cent in 2014 to 20 per cent in 2015.