Sticker weeds

[krisrose]

OMG me poor aching back .
Thanks for the input Pat. I was doing the second method, however, it looks like my down fall is that I let the stickers get two big inbetween. I'm thinking a combination of your two methods is what I'm going to have to use. My perennial bed is about 75 feet long and 40 wide. I have areas where little is planted that would lend itself well to the carpet method ( my chickens will have a field day, better plan on keeping a rake handy).
I have used chemicals before without good results but I think I am going to try again. Perhaps if I dug up a batch and sprayed the main root??? My chickens garden with me at times so the chemical have to be limited.
I'm really the only one in the neighbor with this problem. I bet everybody else is on garden sites complaining about me .

 

[patandchickens]

Honestly, neither method is particularly difficult or backbreaking -- the first involves very little labor but a couple years o' sitting around waiting, the second is not hard work, just requires persistant regular 'busywork' (you just chop the thistle off as low below the surface as convenient, you are not trying to actually *remove* all of it each time).

I don't know what would happen if you sprayed the main root directly, but I have a few reservations as I'm really not sure that topless roots are going to absorb or translocate the Roundup very well. You could certainly try and see, if you don't mind using Roundup. But given the amount of work involved, personally I'd just commit to whacking the sprouts off everytime they show up. It really only took one year of doing this in my own garden to vanquish the beast. Note that thistle seems to grow in cooler temperatures than most garden plants so you need to be out there a little earlier, and most importantly also LATER in the fall, than you might normally weed. It's not a big deal though unless it's an enormous area

Good luck,

Pat

 

[krisrose]

Good point about it not absorbing.
Looks like I will just have to make a date with my stricker weeds, see if once a week chopping heads off is enough. I like the carpet idea and did something similiar to kill off grass. I used newspaper layer thick and put mulch on top. Did a great job.
Thanks for your advice!! Kristin