Thistle

Will anything get rid of them? Roundup and hand digging don't seem to work.

I've had luck cutting them off near the base and then squirting the "stump" with Roundup. My thistles may be a different species than yours, but it might be worth trying.

Thanks, Ecrane. Roundup does kill the leaves and stems above ground; Sure enough about 6 to 8 weeks later, more crop up. I never let these flower so they must be spreading by underground means.

I've tried digging up the roots, but they keep coming back. Two years ago they were popping up in about a 6' section of my bed, now it's more like a 15' section.

I've yet to see one come back after I cut it and Roundup'ed the stump (if I just Roundup the leaves then they have come back). As I said my thistles might be a different species than yours, but if you haven't tried this particular approach you might give it a shot and see if it works better.

Thanks, Ecrane. I will.

And so will I!!! I have nothing more to say and that is unusual. LOL A stumping we will go. If shooting the stump works I will send you a pound of coffee since I can't fly to your town just to buy you a cuppa.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it works for your thistles too! I took that approach the first year I was here when I was clearing everything out and making my new beds, and I haven't had any problems with them since. Now I'm generally able to catch them when they're small and still pull up easily--but the first year I was here I had this overgrown hill in my backyard that was filled with thistles and other nasties. I generally try to garden organically but thistles and bermuda grass are the two places I'll make exceptions!

They're back!!! Guess I didn;t get them all. This weekend's project for sure.

Last summer I dug a hugh one of these out of the bed about 30' away from this one. So far I haven't seen that one return. I'll try the Roundup on this one.

Save that one. It's a prize winner with great potential. LOL

You're funny, Doc. It's called a Bull Thistle, apparently quite a problem in Pa. and other places. There's a field across the street that we have to beg the township to coerce the owner to cut. It is full of all sorts of goodies. Burdock Articum keeps making it's way from there to my garden.

Here's "the beast" from last year:

I never knew what that thistle was called. Any local name I may have given it is not proper to identify on a family site. My little patch of them have resisted and thumbed their noses at Round Up. I have gotten rid of some but it took three or four applications in the same or consecutive years to whip the suckers. Seems I would knock out a few and a fact the chemical company does not tell you appeared. Round Up kills green but at the same time and at the same spot excites germination of the same and other pests too. Tat's a dark deep well kept secret. If you edge grass with it watch what happens in about four to six weeks. You will see what I just revealed. To the best of my knowlege 2-4 D in several broad leaf herbicides does not do that but it will not knock down the thistle very well at all. I run 99% organic here but I hold that 1% open so I do not have to be fibbing to anyone. I have an estimated quarter mile of bed edges here. My body does not work well at all on all fours anymore. If I could just train those ground hogs to only eat edge goodies I could be a very wealthy pig seller. LOL

Doc, I'd like to sit in and audit that class!! I know what you mean about using the RU to edge grass. I already discovered that it's a great way to propogate Creeping Charlie.

Hi all, I'm new here but several years ago I lived in Ft. Worth Tx and there was a field behind our home that was covered with purple thistle-like plants. They were just beautiful. They were beautiful in boquets and in the field. Does anyone know what they were? alday

Hi Alday - there are so many possibilities, it's like a needle in a haystack - here are the search results for plants with a common name with the word thistle in the name, and that grow in Texas:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/stateSearch?searchTxt=*thistle*&searchType=Comname&stateSelect=US48&searchOrder=1&imageField.x=88&imageField.y=10

It's not quite as bad as it looks. You might see some similar plants and narrow it down to a certain genus, like Cirsium for example. But some are hard to ID when the plant is right there in front of you. The list has both native and non-natives. Good luck!