Organic Control for Canadian Thistle

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by DaveD, Jul 28, 2015.

  1. DaveD

    DaveD New Member

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    How I’m winning the battle against Canadian Thistle invasion!
    Since we moved onto the new place to create our Traditional Catholic Homestead we’ve been engaged in an epic battle of good vs. evil! I’m not referring to some esoteric battle of angels against demons, I’m talking about something far more mundane. Our[​IMG] struggle against the scourge of northern rangeland… the Canadian Thistle! We’ve engaged the fight on multiple fronts from invading patches in the pasture, to full scale occupation of the front yard. That’s right the enemy is literally on the doorstep.
    Initially we took up the battle on both fronts, spraying herbicides in the pasture and aggressively mowing the yard. Both techniques proved to be feeble attempts, that didn’t even slow the onslaught. What we ended up with was twisted, and mutated thistles in the pasture that still grew to five feet tall and produced seed… epic fail! In the lawn the result was a thick patch of four inch tall thistles [​IMG]everywhere. These poor results lead me on a quest to determine how to turn the tide in the battle, without endangering the health of my family or the land we depend on to provide nourishment for our bodies. I devised a three pronged approach of selective removal, high mowing/grazing, and loosening the soil.
    What I discovered through my research was that the most effective treatments available to counter the thistle invasion were multifaceted. Many recipes for success call for chemical, mechanical, and physical disruption of the plants in order to turn the tide. This three pronged approach proved to be the most prevalent recommendation for control of Canadian thistle. After witnessing the results of spraying the plants I knew that this was not going to happen again. I resolved to come up with a technique to control the thistles without utilizing chemical poisons. Through observation of the property and interacting with the land I came up with my own multi-faceted approach to controlling Canadian thistle.
    [​IMG]I noticed that the worst patches, including the front yard, were in areas that had undergone pretty severe disturbance and compaction of the soil, either from the construction of the house or logging operations. This lead me to the conclusion that the Canadian thistle was in fact attempting to heal the land by loosening the compacted soil and adding massive amounts of organic matter to the soil from the plants dying back each year. So this scourge of the range was actually a healing force for good! That’s all nice and well, but I still don’t want them growing in the front yard, and I’d rather have perennial grasses growing on the pasture (Canadian thistle does provide something like an 18% protein source for your livestock if you can convince your animals to look past the pointy leaves and tough stalk). My idea was to hasten the healing of the land that the thistle was trying to accomplish… beat ’em to the punch you might say!
    The first stage in the process was to engage in a targeted removal program. I went into the pasture with my scythe and cut individual plants/groves to the ground while selectively leaving behind grasses and brush to compete with the thistles. In the yard the Mother-in-Law went after individual plants by actively digging them from the ground. The idea here is to give the existing plants a competitive advantage in their fight against the thistle.
    The second stage was to convince the livestock that Canadian thistle is delicious. I wanted to get the animals onto the specific areas where the thistle was growing. The idea behind this was to increase soil fertility through deposits of manure and urine and some slight trampling of the area (just enough I didn’t want compact the soil though). I accomplished this by planting buckwheat in the thistle patch. This provides a high quality feed for the animals that lures them into the area I want impacted by their presence. The buckwheat grows quickly and competes pretty well with the Canadian thistle. The livestock moved into the area and indiscriminately consumed both buckwheat and thistle alike. Along these same lines I customized my lawn mower so that it would mow the yard bout 5-6 inches high instead of the standard 2-3. This created a similar effect as moving the cattle quickly through the pastured areas. High mowing/grazing gives a competitive advantage to the grass thus replacing thistle through succession.
    [​IMG]
    The final stage is a two pronged approach of aggressive reseeding of desirable plants like clovers, buckwheat, and perennial pasture grasses along with actively loosening the soil via mechanical means. For the yard we purchased a broad-fork. This goes deep into the soil adds oxygen, and breaks up compaction. The broad-fork works well for the yard, but in the pasture I resorted to planting daikon and tillage radish to loosen the soil. Once again the goal here is to provide a competitive advantage to other plants.
    To recap the three pronged organic management approach that I’ve come up with to combat Canadian Thistle: 1) Selective removal of plants 2) Graze/mow high 3) Open up the compacted soil. If you engage in all three of these approaches the land will rapidly heal itself and the competitive advantage will be turned from the thistle to the more desirable species like grasses and forbs. This isn’t a quick fix (I’m going into the third season utilizing this approach), but you will see incremental results ( I have), and in the long term the land and the environment are going to be far more productive. This approach is more of a holistic cure for the problem of the disturbed/damaged land vs. the symptomatic treatment of killing the Canadian thistle. Curing the underlying problem rather than treating the symptoms.
     
  2. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    the goldfinches love the seeds of these and will spread them around so even when we've gotten rid of a patch of it they can be reestablished. they grow all along the roadsides, nobody is trying to get rid of them, but they do get chopped back once in a while.

    i keep digging them up when they show up in the gardens as deeply as i can eventually they give up. the more root i can get out the better. spraying works after a few applications, but i dislike using herbicides. we don't have large animals for grazing and we don't mow that much grass either. about 5% of the original grassy fields are left, the rest of the area has been convereted to gardens or green manure production.

    it is much easier to deal with in a field as the stalk grows longer and you can pull it or dig it out without too much sticking in the fingers happening. in shorter grass where it spreads more and is shorter i use a longer prongy thingy to dig it and as much root as i can get out.

    one thing they are good for (the pieces removed from the plants) is that they can be used to surround more delicate plants for a few days as the bunnies don't go through them...
     
  3. DaveD

    DaveD New Member

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    I think timing is pretty important in effective control. I also think the thistles have pretty good value as a fodder crop too, you just need to convince them to eat. I've noticed the bees and butterflies really like the flowers to. Thistles are not without merit, they just need to be in the "right"place.
     
  4. pwillis

    pwillis New Member

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    When I was a kid I was responsible for doing battle with the canada thistle. I used a torch and went around to any flowers and burned all the heads off the thistles. Thsi works well for those that are getting fluffy as well since the fuzz burns and it keeps the seeds from flying.
    I kept a map of all the locations of thistles and monitored them for development of flower heads. Once the heads were burnt I dug them up and piled the plants where they could dry. I then burned the plants in piles of sticks or straw over the location of the original thistle soil. This burns seeds that are in the ground surface.
    Then the cycle begins again.
     
  5. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Daved, If you are wanting to control the thistles I can give you the methods I used, they reduced the numbers by 1/2 in a one year period.

    The thistle likes compacted soil so the first thing to do is loosen the soil, I like daikon radish and alfalfa for this stage. The daikon digs deep and when chopped down the root rots and leaves a nice humus which really helps to loosen the clayish soil we have and that our thistles loved. The alfalfa puts down very deep roots (almost 2m) this plant draws up minerals not usually present in the top soils on our place which means new nutrients become available for shallow rooted plants when you chop and drop the alfalfa (in addition to the great food value it has for our livestock). The patch (aprox. .35 hectare) was treated with 1k of daikon seed and 2k of alfalfa seed after I scythed down the thistles to near soil level, no fertilizer or enhancements were used for this test plot. This is the second year of this project and to the mix I have added seven top turnip, brassicas and field peas. All of these plants grow faster than the thistles and end up shading the victim of my wrath so it doesn't grow as quickly, giving me time to come through and pluck the fresh growing tops of the thistles. The whole combination saps energy from the thistle root system and will eventually cause those roots to die. We have kept a small, 7m x 7m area just for the thistles, this area has been surrounded with a 1m deep barrier wall to contain the thistles, I'll let you know how well this idea works once this growing season is past.

    As with other "noxious" plants the more you can create trauma for them, the more likely they are to die off. This approach not only works better than using poisons but it also works longer and is better for building soil that will grow food crops for both you and your animals.

    We also had a full acre of wild black berry canes that are now all but extinct from two years of chopping them off at ground level every time they put up new growth. The forcing them to start over so many times that the roots lost enough of their stored energy that they just gave up the ghost and died off. Interestingly the other patch of black berry, where we pulled them up by the roots, is still coming up in places, this year this one will get the same treatment as the thistle area we want clear for other uses.
     
  6. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    In Australia Barry runs a business spreading a weevil for the thistle. He can be contacted at-
    Weedbiocontrol.com.au
     

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