Getting rid of thistles

[Richardin52]

Just read a study where they used Apple Cider vinegar to kill thistles. They said a 5% solution will kill you thistles. 5% is what you buy at the store. They said 20% would kill older thistles. They said one application had a 90% success rate.

Read about it here; http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/vinegar.html

 

[Bigfoot]

I think acetic acid mixed strong enough will kill anything------- plant man or beast

 

[ANAZAZI]

It works well to roll thistles, because the rolling causes them to mould from fungi entering where they are severed.

 

[gonzo]

We got bullthistles here 24D dose the trick on the young stuff I'll have to try vinnigar on the hard stuff.

 

[1wlimo]

This is the best way I have ever used

http://www.c-dax.co.nz/index.php?page=s ... f694j569a4

Use glyphosate, works very well. This machine works better than many as it damages the plant before it paints the chemical on. Better still you are not killing of off the clover.

 

[TexasBred]

I spray every year with Weedmaster. Does a good job but no matter how good a kill you get you'll have to do it again next year...and the next...and the next.

 

[Alan]

As Ms stated, it depends on the type of thistle. We have both bull thistle and Canadian thistle here. Bull thistle is the easier one to kill, if you get it before it goes to seed, i've been told by (I feel a reliable source) that bull thistle only spreads by seed, where as Canadian thistle spreads by both seed and a root system. BTW, Canadian thistle is two to three feet tall not nearly as broad as the bull thistle and has little yellow flowers. I use a Dow product called Curtail, broadleaf killer, may even be 2,4-d, may not, it works great. I spot spray.

Tansy is the hardest to get, the last ten years been digging and pulling, unless it is covered with calapellars (sp). They well eat tansy to a stub.

Alan

 

[ABrauny]

Train your cattle to eat them.

 

[Pablo]

Here is a link to "Progressive Forage" online magazine. On page 18 is an article on how to train your cattle to eat weeds. Thistle is used as the example.

http://www.progressiveforage.com/digita ... n/2012/04/

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I spray 3 to 4 times a year with remedy and brash seems to work just fine but they will come back every year in the same areas of the fields.

 

[1982vett]

I spray 3 to 4 times a year with remedy and brash

:shock:

>>>>>

....Why?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

The county folks visit here every year in the late Spring and spray "ugly" stuff at no charge, and thistle is targeted; we spray for broadleaf weeds. When spray doesn't quite kill thistle, usually just digging it up takes care of the spread here.

 

[regolith]

I spray 3 to 4 times a year with remedy and brash

:shock:

>>>>>

....Why?

If you were spraying for thistles in this country you'd need to go in every six weeks October to April to prevent them seeding.

 

[highgrit]

Chaparral at 3.3 ounces per ac. in the spring or early summer. Or 3 pt. of Grazon P+D per ac. before bud stage.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I spray 3 to 4 times a year with remedy and brash

:shock:

>>>>>

....Why?

Maybe i should have explained more about what i do. i am spraying with a 25 gallon spot sprayer not a whole field and i spray wen i see the first of the thistles and then about once a week 2 or 3 more times this is what works for me. so the way i do it if i did not do it more than once it would do no good at all. i am also spraying a lot of cedars and other brush.

 

[Howdyjabo]

That was really neat about training cattle to eat the weeds. thanks for the link.
I thought I might try it to teach my sheep to eat weeds they tend to leave alone.
I took their advice and checked on what was poisonous first-- other than the thistle everything else we have trouble with(polk,spiney pigweed,burrdock,mint,lambs quarters,buttercups,milkweed) is poisonous
Some of it I know they eat on their own, but I guess its ok as it hasn't killed them yet
I am still going to try and train them to eat the thistle though,they nibble on the tips but it sure would be nice for them to wipe it out for me.

I keep a spray bottle with me, and as I see them while checking calves I spot spray them and the milkweed. If I get lazy and miss some I sure do pay for it the next year. I try to have a zero tolerance policy.

 

[1982vett]

Maybe i should have explained more about what i do. i am spraying with a 25 gallon spot sprayer not a whole field and i spray wen i see the first of the thistles and then about once a week 2 or 3 more times this is what works for me. so the way i do it if i did not do it more than once it would do no good at all. i am also spraying a lot of cedars and other brush.

Got cha...

 

[H and H]

We leased a new pasture last year where 2/3 of it isnt accessible by truck or tractor. I have been spot spraying with a backpack sprayer, but we are loosing the battle against the canadian and musk thistles. Do any of you have experience with an aerial application of Milestone in the fall? Will the nine month residual (label claim) carryover through a hard freezing winter?

 

[Bigdaddy32]

I used to have a problem with thistles.My fields were covered up with them.I had goats and cattle and the goats wouldn't really eat the thistles.One goat however loved to eat the purple flowers off the top.I noticed that the ones she kept munching the heads off of died out during the winter.As an experiment,I started cutting flowers off of a group she didn't have access to.They died during the winter.It seems that the plant puts all it's energy into producing a flower and won't hold back enough to survive the winter.This year I only found 8 plants on 53 acres,and it used to be thousands.Hit them with a bush hog as soon as they flower each time and they'll die out.

 

[dun]

I used to have a problem with thistles.My fields were covered up with them.I had goats and cattle and the goats wouldn't really eat the thistles.One goat however loved to eat the purple flowers off the top.I noticed that the ones she kept munching the heads off of died out during the winter.As an experiment,I started cutting flowers off of a group she didn't have access to.They died during the winter.It seems that the plant puts all it's energy into producing a flower and won't hold back enough to survive the winter.This year I only found 8 plants on 53 acres,and it used to be thousands.Hit them with a bush hog as soon as they flower each time and they'll die out.

Thisteles are a 2 year plant. The rosette grows the first year then the second they flower. They have a trick that alot of the noxious weeds have that if you remove the flower they will grow more flowers, frequently closer to the ground. It all depends on when you cut them as to if they'll reflower.