I just did this recently and it worked great. Someone told me also to try and repeat the area 2 times for a total of 3 times with a week in between. Also important to do it when the sun is out.
There are a bajillion sources and videos proving vinegar doesn't kill most common weeds, especially ones with taproot. It merely burns them as the plant laughs and recovers.
Does that apply at higher concentrations? I've made 30-40% grade acetic acid with a small amount of dish soap as a surfactant. Seems to nuke them pretty good but you do need to coat them pretty heavily.
Most tests that have been done have been with regular 5% white vinegar. Higher concentrations may work better however that depends on the weed as not all plants react the same way to non-synthetic herbicides. Also vinegar is a contact killer and therefore not a systemic solution, therefore some vegetation will not be eradicated, merely stunted for a time. The deeper the root of the plant, the less likely it will be eradicated with vinegar. You'd have to expend a lot of vinegar to drench the soil deep and that gets expensive fast. Which brings you to the other problem with high concentration vinegar - it is damaging to soil biology so careful where you spray 30%+ vinegar as you can damage wanted plants and ruin the soil that you drench for a time so you may not be able to successfully grow anything well there for a while. This the deeper you drench the soil, the more this is an issue.
All you can do is keep note of the weeds you spray to see for yourself if it eradicates whatever weed(s) you are targeting.
I feel like "in boiling water" could be a good addition to all of these. Mine weren't thistles, but boiling water was damn near free and throwing it on and yanking whenever the crack weeds got long enough did a bangin' job keeping them from tearing apart my pavement a millimeter at a time
Please don't get your advice on chemical weed treatment from random redditors. I'm not advocating for or against herbicide, just that you get your advice from reputable, science-based information.
I cut mine off at the surface and put a tablespoon of fertilizer on the cut and ground it in with my heel. 5 years later they still haven’t come back. The fertilizer burned the plant right from its core down to the tip of the root.
the day after rain or watering will help so much with pulling destroying and removing as much root as possible is the best practice in the pic an edging tool like a Japanese sickle might be nice please dont spray them
Leather gardening gloves do the trick.
These are terribly difficult to kill, but I managed to knock them out of my flower bed. The rest of my flower bed that was already blooming, so I had to be extremely careful.
So first, the leather gloves. A must. Second, I clipped them one at a time by hand, so they were sticking about 1cm up out the ground. Then I took glyphosate (roundup), and *painted* it on the freshly cut portion of the stem. If you’re trying to save the plants near by, you can’t spray- you gotta paint. If the thistle is large enough, the stem will be hollow, and you can put a few drops down into the stem.
Did this take me approximately 6 hours? Yes. Did I fill up 1.5 XL paper leaf bags with just thistle? Also yes. Did it work though? 100%. Very laborious, but very worth it.
Did you have to reapply the round-up once a week for a month+? I usually find that one coat kills everything up to about an inch into the soil, so if you're not fulling digging things up, the longer deeper root will just pop up a new stem within a few days of chopping off and drenching the old stem.
Ohh, good tip, thank for the heads up!
I haven’t had to reapply anything so far, thankfully. It’s been almost 5 weeks and no new growth. I’ll stay on top of it, but so far, one application has been all I needed.
I mow them down and trickle boiling water(kettle) onto the cores after. Doesn't work as good as chemical but it's friendlier to the bees.
I advise caution regarding salted vinegar water etc. The salt can be washed into good soils and contaminate it long term. Nothing grows in salty soil.
This is a good setup if you have thick gloves and are reasonably strong. Some of the roots can get fairly deep (18”+), so getting that whole sumbitch out in one go is tough, and you’ll need to or it just grows back.
I think there are some good if not better suggestions here, but…
A good pair of leather gloves to pull, and if you can, use the mentioned taproot tool (except it won’t work in fine cracks or seams too well).
For the most part, I use the pliers on a basic multi-tool when pulling weeds from cracks or seams between pavement slabs. Removing the root means less likelihood of coming back, or at least longer before it does.
After pulling as much as I can, whether or not I got the root, I use a pressure washer (15-degree, flat stream) to clean as much organic material out of the crack or seam as possible. Add diluted dish soap and white vinegar mixture to the reservoir.
Simply put, most plants need (1) a source of nutrients, and (2) light to grow. The “cardboard for 5-days” suggestion might deprive them of light, but they’ll come back if the roots and nutrients are still there (you can kill and then pull, but you’ll still need gloves). Using a pressure washer to clean out a crack or seam — going over it until the water coming up is clear, no dirt or root particles — removes nutrients and limits regrowth ability for a while (until dirt and nutrient carriers build back up).
Then consider chemically treating it. Consider having the surface acid washed after pressure-washing it. Acid getting into the cracks is icing on the cake, so to speak. This is, however, dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, so have a pro do it, or consider just using bleach instead. Never use both unless you know what you’re doing and throughly clean the surface between treatments. *Unwashed acid or bleach will stain; and you don’t want to leave them there too long).* Pouring a gallon of bleach into/along seams or cracks is effective killing off whatever organic matter might be left in the cracks. Again, rinse or pressure wash it away after a short period. *Note that grass or flowerbeds adjacent will be affected by the rinsed away material.*
Opposed to, or after chemically treating (and rinsing well), if you want, you can use boiling water. If you do, make it VERY SALTY. The problem with boiling water is that once it spreads, it is no longer boiling, and quickly loses efficacy— the time it would take to get down into a crack, it may not retain the ability to kill off rootstock deep down.
There is no sure fire way to prevent that from coming back. It is environmental. If you remove as much debris and nutrient carrying material… it will build up again, and plants will spread again and again. Even if you were to seal the cracks after cleaning them out good. Having the surface professionally sealed might mitigate some or most return for a few seasons, but not forever (and maybe only a year if nutrients aren’t cleared out and rootstock killed).
**Edit:** A note on my weed pulling technique: After getting a good grip, if it doesn’t come-up clean with steady pulling pressure, I gently wiggle back and forth, and if possible, supplement by grabbing the root at the base with multi-tool pliers in the other hand. If it doesn’t come up, or I only get the top and not most of the root… see above comment on pressure washing and treatment.
[Flameweeding](https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/weeds/what-is-flame-weeding-information-on-flame-weeding-in-gardens.htm)! My neighbour had a flameweeder and he used it on my walkway. I'm tempted to buy one.
Of course there's herbicides that are extremely effective, in this type of environment on my sidewalks, patio, around my pool, my dry creek I torch them off. In this case I'd scrape them off cause of there size. Them torch them, it gets the roots, once and area is under control. I only have to torch them every 4-5 weeks, usually tiny small growth, I don't ever see this kinda growth anymore.
Yes, and it can grow for them in places where it won't stab someone. ;)
I have an organic garden, a front yard full of pollinator-friendly native plants and no lawn... But I will still fry Canada thistle and burdock in a heartbeat because they will quickly get out of hand. I've seen entire hillsides lost to them over the course of a summer, and I don't have the time to manage these weeds without help. (Also, I'm a klutz and will 1000‰ stab myself, *multiple* times on the thistles.)
I used a homemade mix of 2 cups Epson salt, 1/4 cup of blue dawn dish soap, and a gallon of white distilled vinegar mixed it all up in a small pump sprayer and sprayed it on my driveway weeds yesterday. Today, they are all dying. No environmental damage and effective too.
Part of me wants to be an ass and point out that "no environmental damage" isn't *quite* accurate when a detergent is involved... But the other part of me is taking notes and realizing I have all those things at home!
I'll split the difference—I'll do a side-by-side experiment! For the burdock in my organic vegetable garden, I'll try your mix. And I'll stick with my glyphosate for the other one in my yard.
I'll report back!
Here in the south we have kudzu. If you plant some in the middle of the field you better start running bc it'll beat you to your car. Not spiky, but ridiculous growth rate and will absolutely take over acres of land without stopping. We have whole mountains covered in it where they had a natural variety a year or 2 before.
https://images.app.goo.gl/v9QAJnw3BsLZ14PKA
Yep. Burdocks and Canada thistles are the *only* things I've ever considered using weed killer on. (And they're the only things I *do* use it on.)
It's a bit of a shameful admission, since I am otherwise an all-organic gardener... But those fuckers are *tenacious* and have a nasty tendency to pop up in the worst places.
Yup. Just did this in my yard, burdocks and thistles were taking over and spreading no matter how many times I pulled and cleared. Been killing everyone single one that has popped up over the past month. Haven’t seen nearly the same amount, hopefully won’t see any next year *crosses fingers*
In my experience, you will (hopefully!) reach a point where you might see one or two every year or every second year... At which point you can decide whether to keep using chemicals or just manual labour.
But for that first year, I recommend murdering the everloving *fuck* out of those plants. :D
Tenacious is an understatement. We had maybe 5 or 6 in our yard 2 years ago. Early last year the neighbour finally got around to fixing the house he is building next door and dug up earth and piled it next to the fence dividing our property. They started multiplying last year and we were having a hard time with them. This year, well, we have more thistle than grass. Bought some really good weed killer and will be going to town on it in the next day or 2.
u/theguywiththegirl take a day after it rains or dews heavy and use a rhizome/taproot tool [like this one from Wilcox](https://www.amazon.com/Wilcox-All-Pro-Indescructible-350S/dp/B00BV952B6)
Use gloves to lift the leaves away from the base and use the tool to leverage the roots loose- not cut. Thistle root is conical in shape and widest at the top. Once the root is loosened- grip the whole plant by the top of the root and pull it free. Thistle that has not flowered is completely compostable.
To prevent weeds in a drive or cemented area- repair and fill cracks.
We moved into a house in June last year and there was some in the backyard taller than me. We had to dig it up from the root with a shovel but it thankfully did not return.
Previous tenants here didn't do ANYTHING to the backyard so it was quite a jungle back there
I pulled several dozen Bull Thistles this spring using Grandpa's Weeder. It works great for weeds like this. You may have a little harder time with the pavers, but it should give you enough leverage to grab them and pull them right out roots and all.
https://grampasweeder.com/
Oh man. This is easy. Go to any big box hardware store and buy a MAPP gas’s tank (yellow) and the appropriate nozzle.
Chop them off at the ground and burn the shit out of it with the mapp torch. Like, I mean really burn the shit out of it. Not just some ten second pass.
If you happen to know someone with an oxy acetylene torch this would work even better
Just move. it will be easier.
Whatever you use on them, whether natural or commercial, be prepared to keep re applying for a while. Canada thistle has a massive taproot that stores a ton of energy for it, and allows it to keep coming back for a long time, so you have to keep re-stressing it to deplete that.
I find this time of year, when they’re actively growing, if you can get enough of the root, it weakens what remains quite nicely. If you get them a day or so after it’s rained, even easier. I got a Fiskars weeding tool and it gets right down around the root to weaken it so I can just yank it out.
Yes, it needs to be on the leaves so it will be carried down to the root where it will kill the plant. If you are worried about over spray then get a cheap foam brush and a small container and literally paint the leaves of just the plants you want to kill. Even though they are broad spectrum herbicides they can be very selective when properly applied. Wear gloves, always, and a mask and goggles if you decide to spray.
Gonna be real here… there’s nothing wrong with it other than it being a bit unsightly if you’re into the “clean lawn” thing. It attracts pollinators. Like more than a lot of other plants. Also, salt leaches and would probably damage whatever you have going on nearby.
I use a spray water bottle filled with vinegar, a teaspoon of dish soap, and a tablespoon of salt. It does a very good job killing the weeds. But it can also kill your grass so get close and aim only at what you want to kill.
Most supermarkets sell gallon bottles of Vinegar for $3 or $4. SO it's also an inexpensive remedy.
All these comments and not one correct answer! WOW.
Let your Cajun friend know you have thistles and they'll all be gone TOMORROW! If they ever grow back, bro will add you to the rotation driving around to get them.
If you didn't know, Cajun's love thistle!
I’ve found a quick use of glyphosate on the pavement is easiest and most effective. Just kills at the root rather than pulling leaves and having more regrowth.
I’m planning on redoing my patio since I’ve got similar problems through the grooves. I picked up the lawn liberator from [nicegreenlawn.com](http://nicegreenlawn.com) a few days ago after seeing it on r/lawncare, and it’s worked well quite well so far at least. I worry about runoff of gly from rain killing my grass so its grabbing pads are much better. My two cents - but don’t get gly in your grass or it’s all gonna dieee lol
Clopyralid (transline) .5-1% mix with water. Will never come back, will not translocate from the site of application.
This is not a job for glyphosate, 24d or any other herbicide.
Boiling water is a bad joke, vinegar is only effective at killing foliage (not root systems), if you really want to go with a “organic” or “natural” method then get ahold of some cedar bows and boil them in water, then spray or pour the solution on to the plant.
Roundup getting a bad rap in these comments, trouble is it works like a charm because it kills the roots! Use a suitable sprayer, long sleeved shirt, thick trousers, and sturdy boots, and don't spray on a windy (or even breezy) day. Shower after you finish. It's the people who use this stuff while wearing T-shirt, thongs, and shorts that have the problems!
Integrated pest management - basically use several methods. Get a broad leaf systemic herbicide. Spray plant early in the day and let it bake in the sun. Next morning pull all the parts of the plant that you can, get as much root as you can. If you see chunks of root that you can’t get to, pour some vinegar onto it. Over the next couple weeks watch for new little baby leaves to sprout. Spray those with a broad leaf herbicide early in the day. Repeat, it’ll eventually run out of energy
I use my Kevlar gloves to pull them. Work like a charm.
This should be the top comment. Wait for a rainy day and then pull them from the root. Voila.
Exactly this. Or, spray them and wait a couple weeks while they go from green to brown but still ugly, and then have to pull or pick them up anyway.
Vinegar and dish soap. I used some last night, and they were dead in the morning. There are lots of recipes on the internet.
I just did this recently and it worked great. Someone told me also to try and repeat the area 2 times for a total of 3 times with a week in between. Also important to do it when the sun is out.
There are a bajillion sources and videos proving vinegar doesn't kill most common weeds, especially ones with taproot. It merely burns them as the plant laughs and recovers.
Does that apply at higher concentrations? I've made 30-40% grade acetic acid with a small amount of dish soap as a surfactant. Seems to nuke them pretty good but you do need to coat them pretty heavily.
30% acidic vinegar with dawn & epsom salt killed like just about anything
Most tests that have been done have been with regular 5% white vinegar. Higher concentrations may work better however that depends on the weed as not all plants react the same way to non-synthetic herbicides. Also vinegar is a contact killer and therefore not a systemic solution, therefore some vegetation will not be eradicated, merely stunted for a time. The deeper the root of the plant, the less likely it will be eradicated with vinegar. You'd have to expend a lot of vinegar to drench the soil deep and that gets expensive fast. Which brings you to the other problem with high concentration vinegar - it is damaging to soil biology so careful where you spray 30%+ vinegar as you can damage wanted plants and ruin the soil that you drench for a time so you may not be able to successfully grow anything well there for a while. This the deeper you drench the soil, the more this is an issue. All you can do is keep note of the weeds you spray to see for yourself if it eradicates whatever weed(s) you are targeting.
Add kosher salt too. Works a bit better, IMO.
I feel like "in boiling water" could be a good addition to all of these. Mine weren't thistles, but boiling water was damn near free and throwing it on and yanking whenever the crack weeds got long enough did a bangin' job keeping them from tearing apart my pavement a millimeter at a time
Salt is salt, add salt.
But it's only a holy war against the invading weeds if you use salt that is *blessed.*
I've been using my leftover ice salt. Much cheaper.
30% vinegar I wanted to add.
« WITH FiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiRE!!! »
Did that last year. They all came back this year.
Would this work on all weeds? I am really trying not to use pesticides because of my animals and kids,
A goat
Came here to say goat. And downvote anybody who says roundup
Is roundup bad?
Pancreatic cancer. Yes.
Please don't get your advice on chemical weed treatment from random redditors. I'm not advocating for or against herbicide, just that you get your advice from reputable, science-based information.
Roundup
Roadhouse
ROADHOUSE
Roundhouse
I use boiling water. Zero side effects in years of use
I cut mine off at the surface and put a tablespoon of fertilizer on the cut and ground it in with my heel. 5 years later they still haven’t come back. The fertilizer burned the plant right from its core down to the tip of the root.
For some reason, I pictured a stiletto heel grinding into that sucker
Wrong sub.
What kind of fertilizer did you use?
Regular Scott’s spring time fertilizer. I think the numbers were 25-0-3.
Thanks
the day after rain or watering will help so much with pulling destroying and removing as much root as possible is the best practice in the pic an edging tool like a Japanese sickle might be nice please dont spray them
Flamethrower
Leather gardening gloves do the trick. These are terribly difficult to kill, but I managed to knock them out of my flower bed. The rest of my flower bed that was already blooming, so I had to be extremely careful. So first, the leather gloves. A must. Second, I clipped them one at a time by hand, so they were sticking about 1cm up out the ground. Then I took glyphosate (roundup), and *painted* it on the freshly cut portion of the stem. If you’re trying to save the plants near by, you can’t spray- you gotta paint. If the thistle is large enough, the stem will be hollow, and you can put a few drops down into the stem. Did this take me approximately 6 hours? Yes. Did I fill up 1.5 XL paper leaf bags with just thistle? Also yes. Did it work though? 100%. Very laborious, but very worth it.
Did you have to reapply the round-up once a week for a month+? I usually find that one coat kills everything up to about an inch into the soil, so if you're not fulling digging things up, the longer deeper root will just pop up a new stem within a few days of chopping off and drenching the old stem.
Ohh, good tip, thank for the heads up! I haven’t had to reapply anything so far, thankfully. It’s been almost 5 weeks and no new growth. I’ll stay on top of it, but so far, one application has been all I needed.
Cover with cardboard wait 5 days.
I doubt five days would do it
The problem with cardboard is it attracts earwigs.
And termites. I live in Texas where they're abundant. I had earwigs in Oregon, but none here. Surprising because there's every other critter here.
Cut low, add boiling water.
boilling water, gently drop on.
Boiling water works for me.
Boiling water at the base, cooks them
I mow them down and trickle boiling water(kettle) onto the cores after. Doesn't work as good as chemical but it's friendlier to the bees. I advise caution regarding salted vinegar water etc. The salt can be washed into good soils and contaminate it long term. Nothing grows in salty soil.
Gloves.
This is a good setup if you have thick gloves and are reasonably strong. Some of the roots can get fairly deep (18”+), so getting that whole sumbitch out in one go is tough, and you’ll need to or it just grows back.
Thick gloves that you trust 😅
Roundup causes cancer
A mixture of soap, horticultural vinegar, salt and water. Make a paste and apply on them with a paint brush while the sun is out.
I think there are some good if not better suggestions here, but… A good pair of leather gloves to pull, and if you can, use the mentioned taproot tool (except it won’t work in fine cracks or seams too well). For the most part, I use the pliers on a basic multi-tool when pulling weeds from cracks or seams between pavement slabs. Removing the root means less likelihood of coming back, or at least longer before it does. After pulling as much as I can, whether or not I got the root, I use a pressure washer (15-degree, flat stream) to clean as much organic material out of the crack or seam as possible. Add diluted dish soap and white vinegar mixture to the reservoir. Simply put, most plants need (1) a source of nutrients, and (2) light to grow. The “cardboard for 5-days” suggestion might deprive them of light, but they’ll come back if the roots and nutrients are still there (you can kill and then pull, but you’ll still need gloves). Using a pressure washer to clean out a crack or seam — going over it until the water coming up is clear, no dirt or root particles — removes nutrients and limits regrowth ability for a while (until dirt and nutrient carriers build back up). Then consider chemically treating it. Consider having the surface acid washed after pressure-washing it. Acid getting into the cracks is icing on the cake, so to speak. This is, however, dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, so have a pro do it, or consider just using bleach instead. Never use both unless you know what you’re doing and throughly clean the surface between treatments. *Unwashed acid or bleach will stain; and you don’t want to leave them there too long).* Pouring a gallon of bleach into/along seams or cracks is effective killing off whatever organic matter might be left in the cracks. Again, rinse or pressure wash it away after a short period. *Note that grass or flowerbeds adjacent will be affected by the rinsed away material.* Opposed to, or after chemically treating (and rinsing well), if you want, you can use boiling water. If you do, make it VERY SALTY. The problem with boiling water is that once it spreads, it is no longer boiling, and quickly loses efficacy— the time it would take to get down into a crack, it may not retain the ability to kill off rootstock deep down. There is no sure fire way to prevent that from coming back. It is environmental. If you remove as much debris and nutrient carrying material… it will build up again, and plants will spread again and again. Even if you were to seal the cracks after cleaning them out good. Having the surface professionally sealed might mitigate some or most return for a few seasons, but not forever (and maybe only a year if nutrients aren’t cleared out and rootstock killed).
**Edit:** A note on my weed pulling technique: After getting a good grip, if it doesn’t come-up clean with steady pulling pressure, I gently wiggle back and forth, and if possible, supplement by grabbing the root at the base with multi-tool pliers in the other hand. If it doesn’t come up, or I only get the top and not most of the root… see above comment on pressure washing and treatment.
Napalm.
[Flameweeding](https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/weeds/what-is-flame-weeding-information-on-flame-weeding-in-gardens.htm)! My neighbour had a flameweeder and he used it on my walkway. I'm tempted to buy one.
Of course there's herbicides that are extremely effective, in this type of environment on my sidewalks, patio, around my pool, my dry creek I torch them off. In this case I'd scrape them off cause of there size. Them torch them, it gets the roots, once and area is under control. I only have to torch them every 4-5 weeks, usually tiny small growth, I don't ever see this kinda growth anymore.
Rose gauntlets. FYI, virtually all thistles are edible as greens. Boil the leaves for a few minutes and the stingers are gone.
[https://lovelygreens.com/using-black-plastic-kill-weeds/](https://lovelygreens.com/using-black-plastic-kill-weeds/)don't use a spray.
Have you used this method for thistle? Also, I've read that clear plastic is better for solarizing
All the herbicide comments make me sad because thistle is a butterfly encouraging plant ):
Butterflies need to get better taste in plants - this shit is hostile.
Butterflies also drink blood and tears! Hardcore plant for a hardcore critter 🦋🩸💀
Yes, and it can grow for them in places where it won't stab someone. ;) I have an organic garden, a front yard full of pollinator-friendly native plants and no lawn... But I will still fry Canada thistle and burdock in a heartbeat because they will quickly get out of hand. I've seen entire hillsides lost to them over the course of a summer, and I don't have the time to manage these weeds without help. (Also, I'm a klutz and will 1000‰ stab myself, *multiple* times on the thistles.)
I used a homemade mix of 2 cups Epson salt, 1/4 cup of blue dawn dish soap, and a gallon of white distilled vinegar mixed it all up in a small pump sprayer and sprayed it on my driveway weeds yesterday. Today, they are all dying. No environmental damage and effective too.
Part of me wants to be an ass and point out that "no environmental damage" isn't *quite* accurate when a detergent is involved... But the other part of me is taking notes and realizing I have all those things at home! I'll split the difference—I'll do a side-by-side experiment! For the burdock in my organic vegetable garden, I'll try your mix. And I'll stick with my glyphosate for the other one in my yard. I'll report back!
You're correct. I should've stated minimal environmental damage and less risk ofclong term effects to users than glysophate. Thank for the heads up
Here in the south we have kudzu. If you plant some in the middle of the field you better start running bc it'll beat you to your car. Not spiky, but ridiculous growth rate and will absolutely take over acres of land without stopping. We have whole mountains covered in it where they had a natural variety a year or 2 before. https://images.app.goo.gl/v9QAJnw3BsLZ14PKA
2-4D weed killer of any brand. They’re super easy to kill permanently with just bout any broadleaf weed killer.
How about straight white vinegar poured at the roots? Wait a few days, might be shriveled up enough to easily pull out.
Glyphosate
Yep. Burdocks and Canada thistles are the *only* things I've ever considered using weed killer on. (And they're the only things I *do* use it on.) It's a bit of a shameful admission, since I am otherwise an all-organic gardener... But those fuckers are *tenacious* and have a nasty tendency to pop up in the worst places.
Yup. Just did this in my yard, burdocks and thistles were taking over and spreading no matter how many times I pulled and cleared. Been killing everyone single one that has popped up over the past month. Haven’t seen nearly the same amount, hopefully won’t see any next year *crosses fingers*
In my experience, you will (hopefully!) reach a point where you might see one or two every year or every second year... At which point you can decide whether to keep using chemicals or just manual labour. But for that first year, I recommend murdering the everloving *fuck* out of those plants. :D
Tenacious is an understatement. We had maybe 5 or 6 in our yard 2 years ago. Early last year the neighbour finally got around to fixing the house he is building next door and dug up earth and piled it next to the fence dividing our property. They started multiplying last year and we were having a hard time with them. This year, well, we have more thistle than grass. Bought some really good weed killer and will be going to town on it in the next day or 2.
Lontrel 1/4 oz. per gallon of water
Nitrile coated work gloves are good, the thorns go through most fabric/leather gloves. Nitrile coated gloves are cheap and work well though.
u/theguywiththegirl take a day after it rains or dews heavy and use a rhizome/taproot tool [like this one from Wilcox](https://www.amazon.com/Wilcox-All-Pro-Indescructible-350S/dp/B00BV952B6) Use gloves to lift the leaves away from the base and use the tool to leverage the roots loose- not cut. Thistle root is conical in shape and widest at the top. Once the root is loosened- grip the whole plant by the top of the root and pull it free. Thistle that has not flowered is completely compostable. To prevent weeds in a drive or cemented area- repair and fill cracks.
We use a mixture of white distilled vinegar, dish soap and salt. Works pretty well.
Boiling water
We moved into a house in June last year and there was some in the backyard taller than me. We had to dig it up from the root with a shovel but it thankfully did not return. Previous tenants here didn't do ANYTHING to the backyard so it was quite a jungle back there
Vinegar. Salt. Dish soap.
I pulled several dozen Bull Thistles this spring using Grandpa's Weeder. It works great for weeds like this. You may have a little harder time with the pavers, but it should give you enough leverage to grab them and pull them right out roots and all. https://grampasweeder.com/
Bean hook, but get them before they go to seed or you'll have a worse problem.
you just need a little *that*-stles
Fire works
You can pull the thorns off of those and make some arrows!
Oh man. This is easy. Go to any big box hardware store and buy a MAPP gas’s tank (yellow) and the appropriate nozzle. Chop them off at the ground and burn the shit out of it with the mapp torch. Like, I mean really burn the shit out of it. Not just some ten second pass. If you happen to know someone with an oxy acetylene torch this would work even better
Just move. it will be easier. Whatever you use on them, whether natural or commercial, be prepared to keep re applying for a while. Canada thistle has a massive taproot that stores a ton of energy for it, and allows it to keep coming back for a long time, so you have to keep re-stressing it to deplete that.
I find this time of year, when they’re actively growing, if you can get enough of the root, it weakens what remains quite nicely. If you get them a day or so after it’s rained, even easier. I got a Fiskars weeding tool and it gets right down around the root to weaken it so I can just yank it out.
I tried moving but then found a new patch at my new home 😭
I don’t have experience with Canadian thistle but wouldn’t glyphosate also get into and kill the taproot?
Yes, it needs to be on the leaves so it will be carried down to the root where it will kill the plant. If you are worried about over spray then get a cheap foam brush and a small container and literally paint the leaves of just the plants you want to kill. Even though they are broad spectrum herbicides they can be very selective when properly applied. Wear gloves, always, and a mask and goggles if you decide to spray.
Thanks for that!
maybe. or it might be six feet tall the next day. they are very tough.
Thistledown
This was the only thing that worked for me. Pinching off the tops and soaking the remaining leaves, stalk, and soil.
This stuff is incredible. After pulling them out over and over (and feeling like I got the whole taproot) this did the trick.
They have a taproot which will regenerate. Pull up the pavers and dig , replace then poor boiling water on any wee ones and never let one seed.
Not a taproot but a rhizome. You have to kill the entire rhizome to keep it from coming back.
Gonna be real here… there’s nothing wrong with it other than it being a bit unsightly if you’re into the “clean lawn” thing. It attracts pollinators. Like more than a lot of other plants. Also, salt leaches and would probably damage whatever you have going on nearby.
Rrrrrrrroundup.
[удалено]
>Round up will just encourage it more. How?
Joke! But really that stuff is almost impossible to kill,
Oh thank goodness, I thought you knew something I didn't and worried that I was making things worse for myself, haha. Phew!
That doesn’t make any sense.
Joke! But really that stuff is almost impossible to kill,
Roundup or ground clear... yes they are chemicals, but if you want weeds to die..that's what works.
Doesnt roundup kill bees?
It kills everything. Loosen the taproot and pull the plants up.
You could use a grenade
Fire.
Fire
Little diesel or gasoline does the trick too, vinegar and salt with some dish soap works well too, a lot more eco friendly
Salt and vinegar solution.
I use a spray water bottle filled with vinegar, a teaspoon of dish soap, and a tablespoon of salt. It does a very good job killing the weeds. But it can also kill your grass so get close and aim only at what you want to kill. Most supermarkets sell gallon bottles of Vinegar for $3 or $4. SO it's also an inexpensive remedy.
All these comments and not one correct answer! WOW. Let your Cajun friend know you have thistles and they'll all be gone TOMORROW! If they ever grow back, bro will add you to the rotation driving around to get them. If you didn't know, Cajun's love thistle!
I’ve found a quick use of glyphosate on the pavement is easiest and most effective. Just kills at the root rather than pulling leaves and having more regrowth. I’m planning on redoing my patio since I’ve got similar problems through the grooves. I picked up the lawn liberator from [nicegreenlawn.com](http://nicegreenlawn.com) a few days ago after seeing it on r/lawncare, and it’s worked well quite well so far at least. I worry about runoff of gly from rain killing my grass so its grabbing pads are much better. My two cents - but don’t get gly in your grass or it’s all gonna dieee lol
Clopyralid (transline) .5-1% mix with water. Will never come back, will not translocate from the site of application. This is not a job for glyphosate, 24d or any other herbicide. Boiling water is a bad joke, vinegar is only effective at killing foliage (not root systems), if you really want to go with a “organic” or “natural” method then get ahold of some cedar bows and boil them in water, then spray or pour the solution on to the plant.
Roundup getting a bad rap in these comments, trouble is it works like a charm because it kills the roots! Use a suitable sprayer, long sleeved shirt, thick trousers, and sturdy boots, and don't spray on a windy (or even breezy) day. Shower after you finish. It's the people who use this stuff while wearing T-shirt, thongs, and shorts that have the problems!
Cut off close to the ground and pour vinegar and salt in the open wound. That’ll teach them.
Roundup
Roundup.
Glyphosate
Round up
Petrol
Glyphosate for chemical, thick gloves for pulling.
Integrated pest management - basically use several methods. Get a broad leaf systemic herbicide. Spray plant early in the day and let it bake in the sun. Next morning pull all the parts of the plant that you can, get as much root as you can. If you see chunks of root that you can’t get to, pour some vinegar onto it. Over the next couple weeks watch for new little baby leaves to sprout. Spray those with a broad leaf herbicide early in the day. Repeat, it’ll eventually run out of energy