Thissels......Need Help!!

[B_Whitetails]

I need help! I have been pulling thissels for days now and some more pop up everyday. I was wondering what in the world i could use to kill them little buggers? Let me know if you guys have any info. Thanks

[redwood_river_whitetails]

round up....but get them before they flower

[J&L Whitetails]

I sprayed my one pen this year with "pasture-pro" I got it at Tractor Supply and sprayed it with a little boom sprayer I put on the back of my polaris ranger. It killed most of the broadleaf, sumac, and thistles. The bad is it will also kill any clover you have. It basically turned that into a orchard grass type of pen.

[Spiderman]

I use broad leaf killer from the farm store. I have a hand sprayer and spot spray on my weeds. It saves lots on the spray over a complete coverage and the deer don't have to eat anything with spray on it. It burns them to the ground and not anything else. Most pulled thistles and weeds come back from the roots. The spray takes out the big ones and little ones down in the grass you don't see. Jim

[B_Whitetails]

Can I just spray the whole pen with this stuff or will that kill everything?

[Spiderman]

The 2-4-D spray will do in the broad leaves and leave the grass. I have used a spray called Post that took the grass out of a clover planting I had...worked good. I wouldn't want the deer to have to eat grass that is sprayed with any chemical so that is why I do the spot spraying of weeds alone. If you have acres of weeds , then you will have to cover them all. Jim

[J&L Whitetails]

The pasture pro will do pretty much the same thing as the 2-4-D, kills everything but the grass's. I did not have any deer in the pen for 2 weeks after I sprayed. I did not want the deer to have the chance of eating any.

[Greg M]

The best product for killing thistle, especially canadian thistle, is called Stinger

[B_Whitetails]

Greg- Where do i get Stinger at? Tractor Supply? Vet?

[Greg M]

tractor supply may have it , but I doubt it. any ag chem retailer in your area that services the farming community shoiuld have it.

[Whitehouse Whitetails]

B Whitetails, Do you have some one near you that is feeding thistle bird seed? A lot of the thistle seed comes from Canada. We never had a problem with it till a few years back when we fed our wild birds around us. There was lots of thistle seed in it. After that it has been an on going problem. We now have it under control. Here are the things we do to keep them under control. Every pen we go in we bring a shovel. We cut them off and take them out right when we see them. We spray a little bleach on them to kill them off. We also chisel plow our pens 2-3 times a year to let the roots dry out 3-4 days on top of the ground. We plant either oats or wheat really heavy to help prevent weeds from coming up. It seems to work pretty well for us. Here are a few pictures of our pasture. The first picture is a breeder buck pen. You can see the new oats coming up in that pen. The other two pictures are our big bucks pens. You can see in the last picture the field has just been chiseled. It was just worked up the day the picture was taken. If you look to the background you can also see the other pen that was just worked. If there are any questions please feel free to send me a message.

John Botts
Whitehouse Whitetails

[CurtisLloyd]

round up will kill thistles just use a small spray bottle, the thistles can have roots 10-12 feet long, the round up will kill the roots if not te just grow back, spray them before the start to flower.

[Robbie]

John - I have grass envy. We are in such a drought here, those pictures just make my mouth water.

[TX Deer]

I was thinking the same as Robbie! I can't get the grass in my backyard to look that good, much less the deer pens!!!!!

[ZZ Whitetails]

I agree on the grass, but remember how cold it gets up there. Not this Texas boy! ZZ

[Spiderman]

Hey up here in the green grass country.....above the EHD belt , the heavy freezes loosen the dark , black soil so everything grows easily. Let's see , cactus , snakes , no grass , snakes , red soil , snakes........:D:p:p:D

[foodplot]

I hit mine with some crossbow last night.

[K-Whitetails]

Spray with curtail, it will kill most weeds but wont kill grass, one pint per 10 gal water.

[Whitehouse Whitetails]

The weather is a bit different up here than it is in TX that is for sure. Have you TX boys been getting any rain down there? I know West TX was dry as a bone last fall when I was down there.

[virgil]

B whitetails, you better just keep pulling or spraying case once they go to seed they spread fast. You better get all the ones outside pen to they will spread seed into your pen also.

[darren]

Buccaneer is a good spray to spot spray on thistles,also whatever you spray get some DREXEL Surf-Ac or the equivelant, this is an inexpensive product that you mix alittle in with the weed killer and it causes the mixture to adhere to the plants. It makes a world of difference. You will see the thistles start to wilt in a couple ofdays.

[Antlershed]

the only weeds my deer wont eat are thistle and poke berry, until the berries mature then BAM, no more berries, they will eat them all in one day.. I agree with robert to an extent. I will allow the thistle and other grasses and weeds to grow tall right against the fence, it helps make a free visual barrier to dogs and other small critters. but inside the fence I weed-eat it down, It will grow back, but I weed-eat a few times throughout the summer so it doesnt mature. I wonder if the deer get itchy when they brush against it? They have hair so they might not, but Man I hate when i brush my arm or leg against that stuff, it feels like fiberglass insulation,LOL.

[outdoorlover318]

I had thistle problem but I took in spud bar and worked all out of the ground. It works best after a rain. If you use roundup you will kill for the year but you do not solve the problem because they grow back again next yeart. the first year you do this it might seem overwheming but now I only have no more than dozen grow each year.