Got thisel ?? (4 pics)

[Mothergoat]

I grow Borage for the bees. It re-seeds like crazy, grows wild here. I had surgery one summer and a small stand of thistles scattered seed across my place...I have been battling them for 6 years now, trying to get them under control. They are even too spiny for the goats to eat, and they love wild blackberry vines, for goodness sakes! I keep tansy ragwort under control by yanking it out whenever I walk by a plant, but you definitely need gloves and a dandelion-popper to take out one of these thistle plants. I probably need to put together a work-apron of sorts with pockets to hold all those little tools I need out there, and make it a habit to wear it whenever I go roaming about the place. Anybody have such a thing?

 

[digitS']

I grew up 2 valleys down from the Willamette. That'd be the Rogue.

Not quite the same as the rest of western Oregon but I sure remember the blackberries and Scotch thistles. It looks like you might have Sweet Cicely on the way also but that shouldn't be so bad. In fact, I've noted the invasion of the creeping buttercup here but I don't think it will cause as much trouble as it does apparently in Oregon wetlands. In fact, I can still remember the 1st starlings I ever saw on Oregon powerlines but that's another story entirely . . .

If the Italian thistle wasn't so well established in the neighbor's grape & raspberry jungle I might have a reasonable shot at getting rid of it. To be especially effective, I'd need to use Round-up and I'm not very inclined. Must admit, I use round-up in the flower garden. Since part of the veggie garden has hosted the "dry flowers" (statice, nigella, strawflower, etc.) and I've grown some ornamental corn there, the thistle was attacked with the herbicide.

What I could do is move the flowers around each year and utilize the herbicide amongst them scorched earth technique. Then plant veggies the following year. But, I find that a little dishonest then to say I grow veggies organically. I really need to restrain my tendency to use the herbicides and, certainly, to not spray one year and then show up the next with veggie seeds and seedlings. It will be like shoveling sand against the tide with the thistle plants blooming upwind no matter what I do.

Staying with the dandelion popper (is that what we call it?), looks like the best recourse.

Steve

 

[Mothergoat]

Scorched earth technique...reminds me that my DH picked up a propane torch thingie. You can cook weeds with it. Works great. Not effective enough against the quackgrass, though. Any underground creeping stems deeper than 2-3 inches come right back. I have the wild buttercup Ranunculus too. When we moved here 15 years ago, I thought they were so pretty. I let them grow along the edge of the lawn. Now they are everywhere! Nasty. Toxic to goats, too.

What is Sweet Cicely?

 

[Reinbeau]

There are actually two plants associated with the common name Sweet Cicely. The one I grow, and is most recognized for its herbal and culinary qualities, is Myrrhis odorata. It is an herb that grows in semi-shade (it'll take full sun provided there's even moisture in the soil). It is an anise flavored herb with neat seedpods that you can pick green and taste like black licorice. The leaves can be used in cooking, especially with white-fleshed fish. Some say it's invasive, I haven't found that to be the case in my garden here and I've had it for many years, growing in the same spot.

The other one is an American plant, Osmorhiza longistylis, I have no experience growing it.

 

[Txchikngardners]

Bayouchica - we have that thistle here in southeast Texas, too. I put on gloves and pull it up every chance I get in the yard area. I leave it alone in the woods - our property backs up to a 100 acre 'no hunting' zone and then into a 10,000 acre hunting club so there is plenty of room for them to grow for the bees - I like to keep something around for those little pollinators!

Also, this year I planted yellow jasmine and mandebella for them to share with the butterflies and hummingbirds :bee

p.s. - the chickens love them too - gotta constantly shoo them away from the yellow and pink flowers

Brenda

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

I didn't read all the posts so someone may have warned you already.
The first pic in this this thread, you want that plant GONE GONE GONE!
Those are bad news.
That "pretty flower" spits out over 1000 seeds and left to it's own devices will totally take over your property.
Here in Idaho they call them Canadian thistles, if I'm not mistaken.
I let them to get a foot hold in two areas and it was a nightmare the following couple of years getting rid of them.
They even poke through your leather glows when trying to root them out.
You'll have many new ones next year, from that parent plant since it has already flowered, make sure you get them removed before they flower next year or you'll be crying big crocodile tears.

 

[beefy]

Nuts.

 

[jdypat]

speaking of weeds, ive done experiments with dandelions. i took a plant, put it in a peanut butter jar, closed the lid, sat it in the hot sun and IT CONTINUED TO GROW> Ive cut them down to the ground. the seed pods, or blooms came out in seconds. just seconds. new ones.. over and over in a day i cut them back to the ground and watched as new ones appeared as if by majic. Ive put them in jars of water and closed the lid, they continue to grow.
we need to find what is in them if that was a tomatoe plant or potatoe we'd be able to feed the world. jdy

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Here in Arizona we don't have any thick juicy weeds like that. We have a different kind of weed that looks fammiliar to yours but the flower is white and fuzzy and you can blow off the fuzzy pedals.