Russian thistle removal

[TVS]

Hi-

We have a bad Russian thistle problem. Wondering if anyone has had luck burning the new shoots. Is this a proper way to remove it? Pulling it has been difficult since there is probably over an acre of thistle.

[Solstice]

Worked as a Weed Warrior many years ago for a couple of seasons. Here's what I remember about eradicating Russian Thistle by hand:

—Wait until the plants are several inches or more out of the ground and the soil is fairly saturated before attempting to pull by hand.

—Make sure you get the entire tap root. Failing to do so will be wasted effort as the plants will just regenerate from the portion of the root left in the ground.

—Gather all pulled plants in bags and dispose of properly.

—I doubt burning the shoots would be successful but you might check with County Weed control.

—A neighbor tried to eradicate his 5-6 acres by hand over several years and finally had to resort to spraying his acreage with a herbicide.

—I know it sounds daunting, but a concerted effort on pulling an acre of Russian thistle sounds doable and might end up being your best recourse.

Best of luck!

[moose]

Are rental goats an option?

[TVS]

Thank you for the feedback!

[Mobarika]

Geese love them. Roots and all. Ours dug them up when they started to come up and ate them roots and all.
Rebecca Knight

[cedarsnag]

Thistle Head Weevil... biocontrol, more info online.

[ifish]

I had a bunch of them. I sprayed them early in their growth and they are all gone now. Haven’t returned in a couple of years. But did take 5 or so years of spraying for them to go away.

[maremare]

Pull it out before it flowers, do it every year, & in a couple of years it will be pretty much gone. I have pulled acres of Russian Thistle, it works.
If you have a huge field of it, have it cut & baled, remove it. Then pull all that comes up before it flowers, let natural grasses take over.
I have restored many acres to natural grasses with these methods. I know, hard work, sucks to be you! I have long since irradicated this plant from my land.
ta da!
M. Nemeth

[moose]

We also did the mare way. It worked for us as well

[DoWhatYouLove]

If you get tired of trying to hand pull it, we can spray it for you. Our business name is Sweetgrass Restoration, feel free to look us up online. Text or call 360-220-3649