What methods are most effective for thistle management? The over grazing from the 2012 draught in our area really brought them on last year. We fought hard. Today when out and about I see those dang rosettes EVERYWHERE!
Thistle control?
- Thread starter kucala5
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M5farm
Well-known member
Clip the bloom off and put it in a bag and burn it. 24d does a good jobkucala5":havkjcqs said:
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
Had good luck several years ago hand spraying with a mixture of 2,4d and roundup.
Aaron
Well-known member
Give the ground a good rest and let everything grow for the year. Thistles can't compete with lush vegetation. Pour the fertilizer/manure to it to help it get choked out, then graze it hard in the fall. I've told this story before multiple times, and people didn't believe me. It's how I've got on top of Canadian or milk thistles around here. Bull thistles are a different story. There was an article in one of the beef mags up here recently that said the exact same thing I just did, so I'm not completely full of it.
ga.prime
Well-known member
Grubbing hoe.
Rosettes with Grazon. If you get the rosette you won;t have stalks. May take a couple of years of hitting the rosettes hard before you'll be virtually thistle free. That's as long as more don;t blow in from a neighbor
jerry27150
Well-known member
I have done like aaron before
branguscowgirl
Well-known member
Is it yellow star thistle? Or is that just a California thing? Nothing got rid of yellow star thistle without killing all your grass too. Then they came out with Transline. It worked like a miracle!
I would imagine that it works on all thistles. You could Google it.
I would imagine that it works on all thistles. You could Google it.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Texas PaPaw":uipdx8zs said:
I started that years ago and wiped them out here, I have few that have blown in every year.
Have a 25 gallon spray tank on the mule drive around and wipe them out.
Out here the two main types of thistle is Bull thistle which is easy enough to control by cutting the bud off. The tough one is Canadian thistle which will spread by seed and a root system both. I have had great success with a product called curtail. I believe Dow makes the spray, one dose and it's gone, hit it again next year and good to go until your neighbors thistle hit again ..... Same problem with my neighbors pasture.
ragweed
Well-known member
if its the same bull thistle im thinking of. we had good luck with weedmaster.
ga.prime
Well-known member
Weedmaster will kill any kind of thistle.
Nobody else uses a piece of railroad iron tied to a long chain behind the tractor? Maybe that is just a Louisiana thing because it knocks down the fire ants at the same time. I use a scraper blade on the back of the tractor, it does less damage to the grass than the metal bar. Once they are big enough you scrape em at ground level and they do not come back. The grass grows back faster than spraying, too.
Bestoutwest
Well-known member
kucala5":2qhue1k2 said:We used grazon last year plus lots of digging. The war continues, wish the neighbors hated them as much.. Thanks for the feedback.
Around here the state will make you get after them if it gets too out of control. I know that's not neighborly, but you can sometimes only take so much.
