thistles

[iowafarmer]

grazon works well, but you have to try and spray your thistles before they get so big, if you a have a large pasture you should look into getting an older sprayer that pulls behind your tractor, you get more ground covered rather than spotsprayingwitha 4wheeler if you have large areas of thistles somewhat close together. DONT USE GRAZON ON HAYGROUND AS IT KILLS OFF SOYBEANS AND STAYS IN THE MANURE FOR SEVERAL YEARS AFTER YOU SPREAD IT ON YOUR FIELDS. If its in a thick enough area, nothing will grow in the spot where the manure was heavily spread or stockpiled.

 

[showing71]

Thanks everyone. I think the biggest problem is we are surrounded on three sides by people who either spray only once early in the year or don't spray at all (and we are calling the county on these people). They have never been this big or this seemingly resistant before.

 

[SRBeef]

Is it my imagination or are there more thistles than usual in pastures this year?

I was running the mower over a pasture yesterday afternoon after rotating the cattle out and was surprised to find more thistle than usual in it. Is there something about the weather this year which is increasing the thistle population?

The 5 drops of kerosene method looks like it would be a full time job for a lot of people. Hopefully the clipping before going to seed will help.

I've seen cattle in a rotational grazing system aggressively eating thistle plants when the plants are small.

Jim

 

[Stocker Steve]

Is it my imagination or are there more thistles than usual in pastures this year?

Jim

With the deep root - - thistle handles dry weather better than grass so we seem to get more new plants the year after a dought period.

 

[SRBeef]

Is it my imagination or are there more thistles than usual in pastures this year?

Jim

With the deep root - - thistle handles dry weather better than grass so we seem to get more new plants the year after a dought period.

That explains a lot. Definitely the situation here after a very dry summer and fall last year. Thank you.

 

[hayray]

It seems to be a banner year for canada thistles in my area of the country. I have a infestation that is way ahead of normal in a new alfalfa seeding this year so a few days ago I made a wipe applicator out of galvanized pipe and a couple of cattle rubs connected to a small electric sprayer pump and tank. I tied it to the bumper on my pickup. I used a real heavy concentration of 2-4-D Ester. So far seeing some burn but not much after 5 days so I am not sure if it worked. If not I am going to have to drive over there and mow over the top of the alfalfa because it is real thick like I have never seen before.