A future for rare arable plants

Published source details Still K.S. (2007) A future for rare arable plants. Aspects of Applied Biology, 81, 175-182.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Control weeds without damaging other plants in conservation areas Action Link
	Leave cultivated, uncropped margins or plots (includes 'lapwing plots') Action Link

Control weeds without damaging other plants in conservation areas

At Ranscombe Farm, a nature reserve managed for arable plants in the north Kent Downs, UK (Still 2007), a four hectare field sprayed with glyphosate in September 2005 produced new populations of the rare arable plants blue pimpernel Anagallis arvensis subspecies foemina and ground pine Ajuga chamaepitys the following year. The field had been managed for some years with shallow cultivation in autumn only, and had increasing abundances of perennial weeds such as docks Rumex spp. and couch grass Elytrigia repens. The entire field was sprayed with glyphosate in September 2005, then deep ploughed or ‘disced’ in February 2006.
Leave cultivated, uncropped margins or plots (includes 'lapwing plots')

At Ranscombe Farm, a nature reserve managed for arable plants in the north Kent Downs, UK (Still 2007), two to three kilometres of uncropped cultivated margins yielded populations of one or two species of rare arable plants in the first year of establishment. Two kilometres of margins established in autumn 2004 grew populations of hairy mallow Althaea hirsuta and broad-leaved cudweed Filago pyramidata in 2005. Three kilometres of margins established in spring 2006 supported approximately 10,000 broad-leaved cudweed plants, the second largest population in the UK.