Thistles/Vinegar

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Someone put this tip on Countryside way back and it really works. Spray thistles with vinegar in the morning on a sunny day and they'll be dead by late afternoon. The better the vinegar the quicker it works. Cleaning with better vinegar is a lot quicker too than with cheaper.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), May 07, 2002

Answers

why do we want to get rid of thistle??? thats great stuff

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), May 07, 2002.

So we don't step on them. So we don't get fined for having them. So we dn't put our hand or bottoms on them when we play in the yard. I realize they have their purpose but not in yards where little kids play.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), May 07, 2002.

you can cut the stem,, peel it,, and use it like celery

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), May 07, 2002.

You can also get fined-$$$ for letting it grow around here.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), May 07, 2002.

FINED??? Do you live within city limits, Cindy? Just curious because I've never heard of such a thing!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), May 07, 2002.


Bren,

Depending upon where you live, anything can be classified as a "noxious weed" or a "non-native, invasive species" and you can get into trouble if they're on your property, regardless of whether it is city or county.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 07, 2002.


Yep ... out here where we are, you either keep them killed out or the county will come out, spray nasty stuff all over your pastures, charge you for "noxious weed control" and can fine you, too.

A neighbor had to go to court a couple years ago - didn't matter that the person responsible for citing him had thistles all over HIS pasture (neighbor took pictures to court with him) ... our neighbor had to pay for what the county was supposed to have done to kill out the thistles, and because he faught it in court he got fined, too. Of course, they didn't SAY he got fined because he took them to court, but that's what's happened in every case I know of so far.

One more case of the "injustice system" at work "for" the farmer!

-- Phil in KS (mac0328@planetkc.com), May 07, 2002.


By the way Cindy ... thanks for the helpful info. Our pigs take care of most of ours, but on the pond dam and a couple other places the pigs can't get to are places we have a time controlling them. Will know what to use this year :-)!

-- Phil in KS (mac0328@planetkc.com), May 07, 2002.

I am just totally stunned!! I really have never heard of such a law. Why thistles? And are there other "weeds" that merit fining?

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), May 07, 2002.

Bren, me too. Gosh, with all the thistles I have on this hillside, I'd be broke paying the fines. I get rid of them in the yard because they grow so tall and I get them in my arms when I weed eat and have sat on a few also. mmmmmmm, I didn't know you could eat them, but I leave the ones on the hill for the birds when the thistles bloom. I might have to fight the birds for a few of em, Stan. Thanks.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), May 07, 2002.


Sheesh, can ya tell it's late and I'm getting sleepy? Was also going to say thanks Cindy for the vinegar tip. Both times I've weed eated it takes me forever before I can get the thisltes washed out of my arms and I'm getting tired of it and it's too darn hot to wear long sleeves!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), May 07, 2002.

It really varies by area--and many are considered noxious, but not to the extent of fining, either. And in some areas, what you would consider a nice plant because it is difficult to grow in one climate would be a noxious weed in other areas--English Ivy, for example.

Your county extension office should know, if you're really curious :-)

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 07, 2002.


Thistles may not be in quite the same league, but when you consider what happens with invasive non-native pest species, the lengths that are having to be gone to now to eradicate them are considerable.

No one gets fined for having loosestrife here -- yet. It was planted as a decorative garden plant and is taking over the wetlands here and crowding out all kinds of beneficial plants. They can't get rip it out fast enough to get ahead of it.

Kudzu was brought to the U.S. as a 'useful' plant for controlling erosion, as a food plant and goat fodder. BAD idea. I'm just glad that it can't survive this far north.

Some folks have been recommending 20% vinegar, available as acetic acid used in photographic process as being faster and more complete in weed killing than 5% pickling vinegar that you buy at the grocery.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), May 08, 2002.


Well, I know there aren't any laws like that here (Heck, they can't even enforce the trash laws that do exist) so I was mainly curious about other locations. I agree, Julie, about the problems some introductions have caused. I've just nevered heard of fining property owners for allowing nature to take its course. There has to be a good reason. Does it have something to do with area farms?

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), May 08, 2002.

Oh, when I have a thistle plant coming up where I don't want it I get my hand-held maddox and just chop the crown of the plant out along with a couple of inches of root. This is while the plant is still young and only a couple of inches tall. That way I can toss the whole thing in the compost or over the fence and I don't have to worry about stepping on the dead leaves which are still ouchy! :o)

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), May 08, 2002.


Blackberries are bad in some areas too (and it is usually recommended to dispose of it by burning, because it easily roots from cuttings), believe it or not, and to answer your other question, it is because of farms (pasture issues) and like Julie F. said, wetlands issues. Horsetail is bad, from a wetlands perspective.

Maybe heating the vinegar will make it work better?

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 08, 2002.


I have a pygmy goat that has horns that grow straight up from his head like one of those mother-in-law tongue plants. We never did like him all that much until we saw him chop up the thistles with his long horns and eat it. Now he's one of our favorites, :). All I could think of was how can he eat that with all those horrible pokey needle like thorns on it? Must taste like celery! ;)

-- Cindy in IL (Ilovecajun@aol.com), May 09, 2002.

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