I have noticed this year rapeseed is growing on every countryside road edges near were I live and there are no close fields of rapeseed. Is this to do with the warmest day in February on record? Is this to do with a very warm summer last summer. Is this due to a genetic modification of the rapeseed plant, Has anyone alse noticed this?

Rape appears late Apil mid May, previous years those areas may have had rape in the fields that’s about it.

We noticed it yesterday around Gloucestershire. No idea why it’s happened, but years ago, when the anti GM movement claimed there would be overspill of GM crops into the wider countryside their fears were dismissed.

Some of it might be rapeseed but some of it could also be wild mustard.

Probably seed lost during transport blown from tractor trailers lorries and even combines and balers moving around. The seed is very small and can leak easily.

Mustard is similar in appearance, tiny seeds etc but much less common.

Sinapis arvensis is often mistaken for Brassica napus

Sinapis arvensis is often mistaken for Brassica napus

You took the words right out of my mouth.

This is 100% not wild mustard, I live in leicestershire and its flowering on every countryside roadside so not from a a spillage. Its never been there previous years. Maybe its come from a wind storm last year?????
Shall I post some photos?
This is a mystery to me.

What characteristic of rapeseed would have been genetically modified to cause it to spontaneously appear on roadsides in Lincolnshire?

Taking of flowers by the roadside – I’d never noticed the beautifully named ‘danish scurvy grass’ by the road before now- it only grows (away from the coast) in the foot or so by the roadside that gets salty from road gritting

that has found its way hundreds of miles in land so it’s obviously easy for seeds to spread along traffic routes for quite a distance

Hmmm! Something very odd going on indeed, is rape seed used in the manufacturing of spam?

would have been genetically modified to cause it to spontaneously appear on roadsides in Lincolnshire?

addition of legs or wings.

Looks like I need to post some photos, this is not a spam post.

I have lived in my area for 50 years and never seen an abundance of rapeseed on hedge rows like this year.

None of the fields near where I live have ever had rapeseed planted.

Why are you posting with 2 names?

Regarding GM, as i recall it wasn’t the GMness that gave transitory powers to plants, but the ability of rapeseed itself to easily spread which therefore undermined Monsanto claims that it wouldn’t spread wider than their test fields.

So in this case I’m suggesting it is rapeseed spreading from its intended area.

I still reckon its most likely Brassica juncea or Sinapis arvensis, the two are actually quite tricky to tell apart.

Lots of it alongside roads around here, I can confirm it’s a bugger to strim

Overspill from last year’s harvest, climate conditions can make it more successful in some years more than others. It’s been a cold start to April, so maintenance teams have had late gritting runs as opposed to early verge mowing, (the immediate edge gets mown in the first run out and would prevent the oil seed rape from flowering plus the grass has been a bit slower so not causing immediate safety issues). No conspiracy to see here, move along, sorry.

Hmm, think I saw some in unusual places too when out riding the other day. Did strike me as a little odd but not enough to warrant a change to my pace. Gonna need to retrace my route and grab some piccies.

Does beg the question though. Why did OP use two accounts in this thread?

I’ve noticed it on verges in the Cotswolds recently. Never seen it there before in decades. So it is spreading. Or the verge has not been mowed in time to stop it growing.

Well if you live In Leicestershire I live in neighbouring Derbyshire and rape seed is in fields everywhere so more than likely that it has blown I’ve rand spread rather than some unlikely conspiracy.

Everyone else posts pretty much cover it – wild relatives, escapees from transport (very common), late mowing, largely a warm dry winter. Rape and wild relatives are also fairly salt tolerant compared to many verge plants so late gritting and low rainfall will be suppressing any competition.

Definately not anything to do with GM though. The Monsanto “spreading issue” referred to was that it was resistant to glyphosate herbicide for intensive farming purposes thereby making it hard to control by spraying with the usual glyphosate herbicides commonly used in commercial areas. It doesn’t make it move further and only has any effect where spraying is used to control. Mowing/fire/etc kills it the same as normal!

I don’t know my brassica from my sinapis but we’ve got what looks like rapeseed growing on our street.My neighbour told me what it was and it certainly looks like it to me.I scattered various wild seed mixes last year so could well have been in the mix.

Often on the verges here in Derbyshire – but right on the edge of the road, not further in. Slightly odd, first year I’ve noticed it

Ragwort.

Lots on the roadside verges here too in Norfolk and I assumed it was because it’s grown extensively around here and part of the rotation on the estate and others, so figured it was spillage from the Bailey trailers or the lorries that take it out of store. Interesting that I also hadn’t noticed it in such proliferation in years past.

The farm manager did tell me that if you scattered the seeds in a garden, it will never go away, so it’s probably here to stay.

Anyway, it’s pretty when flowering… more importantly, what’s the latest with the OP possibly posting with two names?? Much more interesting..

Curious. Not ragwort or mustard that we saw today. Drove through Herefordshire and Gloucs this arvo and noticed the same phenomena as OP, Mrs Rider commented also. Rape has a blue/green leaf/stalk and the verges were full of it, looking sturdy in even the narrowest roadside spaces. A bumper crop gone wild everywhere, both with or without nearby crops. Having lived in rural Shropshire for a years among rape fields I’ve never seen it quite like this. Bloody stinks. Also many more chicken megafarms cropping up in Herefordshire. The megacheesy and thick pong of chicken manure was made extra-BOIK when combined with the stank of rape. Monocultures are certainly changing our landscape.

Noticed it around here as well, due to the dry summer the seeds were somewhat smaller than normal and we had a job keeping the buggers in the trailer. As far as I know GM is not commercially available but that’s not to say there aren’t any trials being carried out. If it’s any consolation many farmers are thinking of abandoning it as part of their rotation since the flea beetle is playing havoc with it. Also wondered if the mild winter meant less road salt which would of killed the young plants. Councils round here always did a verge cut at the end of March to use up their budget but that’s a thing of the past. On the plus side the bees love it.

Often on the verges here in Derbyshire – but right on the edge of the road, not further in. Slightly odd, first year I’ve noticed it

There’s a clue, right there. The seeds are small, easily spilt during transport and harvest, then sprout along verges. Plants flower, flowers die, turn to seed, slipstream from passing traffic carries the seeds from the flower head, thus spreading plants further along the road. Rinse and repeat.
I have cowslips in my garden, started with one tiny plant with one flower stalk roughly seven or eight years ago, they now number in the dozens, with no help from me.
I’ve also got snowdrops, two varieties of decorative flowering onion, holly and primroses, all of which appeared from nowhere.
There’s also an uncommon variety of grape hyacinth suddenly appeared; there’s masses of it in local gardens, mine is completely different.
The appearance of rape oil plants alongside roads shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, it’s using vehicle slipstreams to spread itself along the highway networks.
This was the single cowslip, in May 2013…

This is how they look now – there are others out of frame.

How the first one got there, I have no idea, I don’t know of any growing anywhere within a mile or more, so possibly carried by strong winds, or more likely by a bird.
If a single cowslip can just appear in an urban garden, then it’s litt wonder rape oil plants can spread easily along roadside verges.

Bugger, missed the edit time limit to replace the second photo with the correct one!

are to CountZero as

is to CFH.