# organic weed control



## robert23239

I remember as a kid the whole family went to the pasture on some summer evenings to pull thistles and other weeds. I don't ever think my dad sprayed the pasture and all the main weeds were pulled by hand. I know thistles seem to spread fast in the right area.

Now today I have a thorny weed in the hay field which I am trying to go organic. To me it looks like some kind of locust weed. So what can I do to help to get rid of this besides pulling them all out.

Happy Holidays

Rob


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## swmnhay

Goats maybe???????


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## hayfarmer

2,4-D is very effective on broadleaf plants. It is most effective during spring growth. At the 3-4 leaf stage a low rate can be used. It is organic in that it contains carbon and hydrogen. It does not contain inorganic substances such as arsenic.


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## Barry Bowen

I have had some old timers suggest spraying vinegar for thistles. Do know, have not tried it myself, but probably will not hurt anything. With some weeds, like thistle, letting them get right to seed production ,and then cutting them down works. They will still grow some after the cutting, but will not come back the next year. This is not 100% effective, but does pretty well most of the time.


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## UpNorth

If you have the time available covering the plants in salt should kill it. I wouldn't recommend applying to the whole field, but having a bucket and applying salt by hand to the individual plants should kill them-my mother has done this for years in her yard.

I also like the goat idea, not sure what they won't eat, but I've heard of guys using them to clear thistles out of pastures.


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## Barry Bowen

Upnorth,

What do you mean by covering plant with salt. May use this idea in a small flower garden for my wife. Do you mean wet the plant and put some ganular salt on, or can you make a salt water solution and brush it on or something?


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## UpNorth

My mother literally "salts" thistles in her yard with morgans table salt applied directly to the plant.

Many of the earliest herbicides were salts in water. I think robert23239 could try a salt water mix if he used a hand sprayer in a backpack or a atv tank. I don't know what a good rate of mixing would be. Its it's only a few plants then maybe the "salting" without water is worth a try.

If robert is not organic yet I'd think about getting a herbicide recommendation, thorny weeds are tough to kill as they get woody very quickly. A thistle has a lot of fleshy plant exposed and the salt just really messes up the osmotic (water moving along ion gradient) potential.

Not sure where you are robert but spraying hard to kill weeds in the autumn before the snow flies is usually pretty effective because the plants are sending everything into the roots. It might to late to spray if you're already snow covered.


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm

Just my opinion, but I would suggest that you identify the exact plant, then try to understand that plant and when it's most vulnerable. Most plants are susceptible at some time in their growing lives to something such as ground disturbance, mowing/grazing etc. Also you should determine what environment encourages the plant, such as bare ground, over grazing, or a monoculture simple stand environment etc and try to change the environment to get rid of the actual problem that is bringing the unwanted plant in. In my pastures I've noticed that as I grazed plants out of my pasture, other unwanted plants moved in and oppositely where we timed grazing correctly we are able to bring back native tall prairie grasses into our pasture.


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## UpNorth

Chris,

Very well put, I agree.


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