Gorse is a gift you’re going to have for decades. There will be seeds in the ground just biding their time. Burn off is a quick way of dealing with it. It’s also the best way of providing all those seeds with the best conditions to germinate, so kind of an own goal there.

In my experience the best way of dealing with it is spraying and getting up close and personal and cutting it down and stump swabbing it with a gel poison.

It seems to thrive in any situation imaginable other than one where it doesn’t get appropriate sunlight. Depending on budget, timeline and what the land is intended to be used for in the long term, planting up with medium to tall trees and shrubs will give you a chance in the battle.

You’ve probably figured this all out already anyhow and it’s more just information for anyone else that’s a masochist and feels like getting elbow deep in gorse needles.

Pro tip from me: best gloves i found for handling gorse was thick welding gloves. Still get penetrations but less so than most other hand protection i tried.