What Did You Do In The Garden?

Might be able to keep the annuals in control with mowing ...

I was pulling a good deal of Carduus pycnocephalus , yesterday. It's in the area that neither the neighbor nor I intended to use this year. However, the sprinklers cover it. Since it was watered and the tractor guy tilled it 6 weeks ago, a shovel loosened the plants easily.

I knew that my rototiller will just kill a few so I had to go after those long roots.

Another neighbor has Cirsium arvense growing at the edge of his lawn. Mowing sure hasn't killed it. That thistle was there last year.

Steve

SprigOfTheLivingDead said:

Do I have to get the roots? I've heard if I can tire it enough it will kill the roots.

My situation: trying to restore a prairie. Right now I have a few acres of wild rye, goatsbeard, reed canary, ... And a lovely amount of thistle.

I always thought thistle was an annual but now I've read different , so I've been pulling it, which is annoying considering

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I have the first kind of thistle and I have 2 solutions for you. Bear in mind that you are working to prevent ANY weed from going to seed on you and repopulating.
1) Dig down with your spade and pop them out. Most of the time they don't grow back.
2) Dig down, (use you reciprocating) saw to cut below ground, insert a square of cardboard, then tamp down dirt on top. You will want to put 4 inches between the root and the top of the dirt.
BOTH of these methods do not involve use herbicide.
I put thistles on the burn pile.
I will post my plan for dealing with weeds separately.
Don't lose heart!!!! I am WINNING my burock war!!!!

Flowerbug is right, what thistle (or maybe nettle) are you trying to get rid of? Canada Thistle is the one I'm most familiar with (it's a pain in many ways) but there are other types. Can you identify what you are dealing with or give a description and maybe photos so we can help with that.

I can remember in the heat of summer as a child walking a pasture with a mattock digging out Canada Thistle before they went to seed. But a neighbor didn't bother so fresh seeds were always blowing in. Like Ducks said, any piece of root or anything that looks like a flower head, no matter how small or immature, goes in the burn barrel.

As I just wrote, I AM winning the burdock war. Yesterday I attacked the 100+ ft of south wall fencing of my north pasture, the part that I look at every day from the porch. Horses are currently off of the north pasture AND the south pasture. Enough edible vegetation has grown up in their around-the-barn turnout that I can work in those areas for the next week.
I am pulling/sawing/removing FIRST weeds that have seeds or are going to seed.
I cut down about twenty 2-4' tall 2nd year burdock getting ready to go to seed. I sprayed them with D-2. You can See the top of the 2 ft deep roots and injuring the plant makes it vulnerable to poisoning. A few years ago the entire fenceline was a wall of burdock, so I am making progress. I will deal with killing 1st year burdock in the Fall, but right now I want to prevent any seed spread.
You see, you can simply mow other weeds that haven't gone to seed and keep them under control until you can deal with them in other ways. It isn't like you have to clear the entire yard bc inlaws are coming...for a week.
I use my bag mower and give the mowed/mulched weeds to my chickens. Whatever they don't eat decomposes into good fertilizer.
I will pull my camera out bc my good friend's business relocated, and she called me about the cardboard, since they have purchased desks and credenzas and the like, and, as you know, E V E R Y T H I N G gets shipped in cardboard. The pile in my lodge (barn's garage) is 4 ft tall. I have plans for ALL of it.

Wooooowwwww....

Thanks for the info. I'm familiar with some of it but that was an awesome amount of helpful data

Canada thistle is the purple headed stuff. It seems to have a single long taproom with smaller lateral roots. It pulls easy enough, just takes a while considering the space

I'll keep away from Birdsfoot. I'm familiar with it and have fought against it and crown vetch in my volunteer activities with the NPS. I'm also already trying to remove a patch of it from a wildflower area i have going.

Sounds like I'm on the right path but might need to only focus on the plants I see developing flowers right now then come back thru later to eradicate the plants.

When I wrote "square" of cardboard, I meant around 4" x 4". DON'T be stingy!!! The cardboard will turn into dirt over time.

Ridgerunner said:

Flowerbug is right, what thistle (or maybe nettle) are you trying to get rid of? Canada Thistle is the one I'm most familiar with (it's a pain in many ways) but there are other types. Can you identify what you are dealing with or give a description and maybe photos so we can help with that.

I can remember in the heat of summer as a child walking a pasture with a mattock digging out Canada Thistle before they went to seed. But a neighbor didn't bother so fresh seeds were always blowing in. Like Ducks said, any piece of root or anything that looks like a flower head, no matter how small or immature, goes in the burn barrel.

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I'm throwing it all on my burn pile

I battled Star thistle which is an invasive variety in Northern Calif. It was next to impossible to eradicate on our 7.5 acres. I used round up, mowed at a certain time right before flowering, and all that, even pulling. It was a pain in the rear.

(I'm so helpful...not....)

One problem with some thistles is that the seed can remain viable on the ground for years. That's why you try really hard to not let it go to seed and why it is so hard to eradicate. Those seeds can float in from a distance and some birds love to eat them and scatter the seeds in their poop. I consider it more of a case of control that total eradication. I know, not real optimistic for a gardener but what would life be without challenges? (Easier!)

Ridgerunner said:

One problem with some thistles is that the seed can remain viable on the ground for years. That's why you try really hard to not let it go to seed and why it is so hard to eradicate. Those seeds can float in from a distance and some birds love to eat them and scatter the seeds in their poop. I consider it more of a case of control that total eradication. I know, not real optimistic for a gardener but what would life be without challenges? (Easier!)

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Oh you're right. They're viable for 20 years or so. I think Mullen is somewhere like 100 years