{"id":1354,"date":"2015-07-30T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=1354"},"modified":"2015-07-25T20:59:47","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T00:59:47","slug":"all-about-thistles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/07\/30\/all-about-thistles\/","title":{"rendered":"All About Thistles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Weedy<\/a>

Weedy Thistle In Flower Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Weedy<\/a>

Weedy Thistle flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

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Some weeds are very nasty and on top of my list\u00a0are the dreadful\u00a0thistles.\u00a0Learn the lifecycles of those in your region and\u00a0the proper method\u00a0to eliminate them.<\/p>\n

Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense<\/em>)\u00a0is a perennial<\/span> species found in many areas of the eastern U.S.\u00a0Other thistles in my region are bull and Russian thistles that\u00a0are biennials<\/span>. Male and female flowers of Canada thistle are found on separate plants, while\u00a0flowers of other thistles are on the same plant.<\/p>\n

Thistles often get their start in abandoned city lots and in uncultivated farm fields. When ready,\u00a0ripe seed pods may release hundreds of windblown\u00a0seeds that land in your garden\u00a0or mine. One\u00a0Russian\u00a0thistle\u00a0(Salsola tragus<\/i>) plant may produce over 200,000 seeds.\u00a0In\u00a0residential areas it\u00a0usually is an uncaring neighbor\u00a0or absentee landowner who allows thistles to spread.<\/p>\n

If you do not catch them early on, it may take years to get rid of them. Here are four methods of managing thistle infestations:.<\/p>\n

Method #1: Never Let Them Seed<\/b>. Prevent thistles from forming flowers.\u00a0Cut them off with a mower,\u00a0hoe, or weed whacker.\u00a0Frequent mowing prevents mature seed\u00a0heads from forming. This is particularly effective against biennial species.<\/p>\n

Method #2: Dig out the root.<\/b> If\u00a0only\u00a0a few thistle plants, dig\u00a0up the entire root system which\u00a0may extend deep into the soil.\u00a0Broken secondary\u00a0roots can produce new plants. This method\u00a0is impractical for large infestations.<\/p>\n

Method #3: \u00a0Herbicides.<\/b> Apply a non-selective broadleaf herbicide to the entire area. Warning:<\/span> all vegetation (good and bad) will die. This method is most effective against large infestations.<\/p>\n

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  • Apply\u00a0herbicides when thistles are actively growing,\u00a0 when\u00a0outdoor temperatures are between 65 and 85\u00ba F.<\/li>\n
  • Phenoxy\u00a0herbicides include these ingredients:\u00a0MSMA, dicamba, MCPA, and 2,4-D. Tradename products like WeedB-Gone\u2122 and Trimec\u2122, containing 2 or\u00a03 ingredients, work best\u00a0with\u00a0multiple applications every 2-3 weeks.<\/li>\n
  • Glyphosate (Roundup\u2122)\u00a0may be\u00a0applied to\u00a0individual thistle plants by swabbing with a paint brush or sponge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Method #4: Pasture Management<\/strong>. Let horses, goats and sheep to graze on\u00a0certain\u00a0thistle species.<\/p>\n

    Additional notes:<\/strong> Some thistle species are listed as invasive in parts of the U.S.. Canada thistle is a valued nectar food source for larvae (caterpillars) of the Painted Lady butterfly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    Some weeds are very nasty and on top of my list\u00a0are the dreadful\u00a0thistles.\u00a0Learn the lifecycles of those in your region and\u00a0the proper method\u00a0to eliminate them. Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense)\u00a0is a perennial species found in many areas of the eastern U.S.\u00a0Other thistles in my region are bull and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1218,747,749,5,720,1154,698,1030,630,904,905,1157],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7878,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions\/7878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}