The more you know about each individual plant, the more effective you can be on eradicating it. As I have mentioned every plant is different. What works for one will not work totally for another.
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One of the first Noxious weeds in the spring to show up will be the Musk Thistle.
Let me share some information with you on this plant.
MUSK THISTLE- Seed begins to disperse 7 to 10 days after a head starts to bloom. Large plants may produce 50 to 70 heads per plant with as many as 1,200 to 1,500 seeds in the terminal head.
Seeds do not have a branched parachute like Canadian or Bull thistles.
Less than 1% of the seed is carried farther than 300 ft from the parent plant. (The distance
between two REA poles.) Up to 95% are usually viable.
A seed weevil that destroys the seed as it develops is now common in most areas where
musk thistle has been a problem. I have noticed them for the past 10 years. They do not kill all the seed in every plant.
These bugs are smart. They aren't going to kill their food source. They leave some seeds to create new plants so they have something to eat the following year.
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Most books I have read say that a rosette develops one year and then bolts the next year.
I don't agree with that. I think I have a species of Musk thistle that can start out as a seed anytime after a good rain and bolt and make seed before a killing frost. I have solid sprayed too many acres with 2,4-D and come back after a rain and found new rosettes coming, that if not sprayed again, will bolt and make seed.
That is why I want to spray a chemical in the spring that provides some type of residual. Grazon is my chemical of choice until I find something better.
Take note, Grazon does not have enough Tordon in it using the rate for Musk Thistle, to be effective on Canadian thistles or Mullien.
A Canadian thistle plant has a different plumbing system. It is a different plant. Mullien is also different. You need to go back a second time with a different application to get these two plants.
Using grazon in the spring I would still spray the next spring with 1.5 qt per acre 2,4-D Amine. Usually in late May to catch other range weeds also.
Grass is your greatest competion for thistles. If your musk thistle is in a grazing area, try rotating your pastures so that you leave more grass. Over grazing helps noxious weeds thrive.
Many people have observed cattle eating the blooms off the musk thistle and take this as a means of control.
From what I've seen, this is another way of spreading it. Cattle stand in the corners of pastures many times fighting flies. That is where you find large quantities of musk thistle rosettes. Where I live the prevailing winds are SE and NW. Those corners always had the largest amount of musk thistle concentrations.
Those seeds were planted with fertilizer.
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When I was a member of the weed board, I always suggested to landowners that if they could not afford to spray all their acres of musk thistle in one year, to at least be a good neighbor and spray back 300 ft from their neighbors fence so your problem didn't spread to your neighbor. Kind of like keeping it contained towards the center of your property.
I myself would do that and then when the rest of the plants were mature I would pull a 30 ft power pole and drag down the rest so they didn't blow.
That worked good only all my neighbors didn't treat me the same and their seeds began to blow over and re-infest my 300 ft of space.
So I went and had a visit with my neighbors and we got that problem taken care of.
I now do some of their spraying to help them out.
I have found that if the neighbor doesn't have time, but will allow me to do it, I eliminate both our problems. If you do yours and your neighbor doesn't do his, You will have to do yours every year, and never get rid of the problem.
Might as well save your time and money and go work with your neighbor.
People working together can get a job done a lot sooner.
The next plant I look for early in the spring is Absinth Wormwood. I will cover this in the next page.
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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt
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Kenny Konechne
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