Thistles in grassland

[Scribus]

I was thinking that this year has been a 'good' one for thistles, they are everywhere round these parts.

 

[onesiedale]

Looks to have done a good job of battering them down but the thistles are still there. How many years have you treated them like this? Might have saved fuel on topping but if you had sheep they'll still be there to help cause orf.

This is the first year of a concentrated effort to have high impact stocking and daily moves. Hard work, but I think worth the effort. Next year I will have the ground better subdivided with steel wire that will make the grazing cells work a lot easier.
No plans for sheep at this point.

 

[onesiedale]

Did you park them on there tight or just run it as park of your normal rotation?

That's a group of 95. They were getting a break of about an acre/day. First time I've ever grazed the R2s like this

 

[ollie989898]

Those thistles you grazed will be back next year Id put money on it.

Spot spraying is effective. Use dye also.

Doxstar wont kill thistles. If you have docks + thistles +/- nettles then use pastor.

If you can get paddocks down to spot spraying level you are on the right track. Its cheap and deadly effective.

Still mild and growy enough for these products end of September probably ok still unless you are exposed or high up.

If you have a real messy field use forefront.

 

[Buggerallbandwidth]

Others more knowledgeable than me will be along shortly to advise, but I think that a field should be stock free for a period of time after spraying with ThistleX.
So if sheep are coming in the next few days, you might have already missed your chance to spray them this year. Thistle spray usually works best in the growing stage, therefore on the whole I would leave it until Spring now.

If the thistles are too big to treat now ie flowering and seeding, it's best to mow them off. Allow 6 weeks regrowth (if it's wet they will) and then treat full rosettes in September. It is still warm enough and you get better kill if the plants are conserving their energy down to the root system to survive the winter. They take the actives with them and that's your aim - get to the roots.

 

[Chickcatcher]

@neilo Have used the Doxstar for the Docks and hoping for something on thistles