My multi year battle with pigweed story:

[SD51555]

^ The only guy I know whom celebrates Canadian Thistle. Tsk, tsk, tsk. ;)

That analogy on bacterial soil is interesting.....so much to learn....so little time.

At one time, I was the king of response (bacterial) weeds. It was a painful lesson to learn. Many of you have seen this pic probably a dozen times, but it's one I'll always keep with me to remind me that nature always responds. This is was the final lesson and the last time I maintenance sprayed before I took off down the path to learning why in the hell this was happening.

 

[Wild Thing]

Pigweed thrives in a bacterial soil. At any given moment, soil has a fungal to bacteria ratio. When it gets reset with chemical or tillage, you lose all your fungal, and you start over again at bacterial dominated. Constant living green is what keeps your fungal alive, and it will build ever higher the longer it's green. Keep it green, and it'll no longer be hospitable to pigweed. This is why it has a tendency to explode when soil is continually reset. Nothing else will grow. All the fungal advantaged plants die because the system changes.

It can take a year or two to advance enough to really snuff the bacterial dominant stuff out, but it will happen because the soil changes. I've been hoping to grow a viable thistle patch, and I cannot keep them alive. I've lost my gold finches because of it. I did get a small canada thistle patch where I was digging last year, but it won't last.

I was fine with your post until you got to the sentence on "hoping to grow...thistle..." That stuff is almost as bad as pigweed!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Even pigweed is there for some reason or another. When I was pulling mature plants 2 years ago I noticed something. Every root mass had at least 1 earthworm in the soil surrounding the roots that I pulled.

I'm not saying we shouldn't try to eradicate it, just saying...

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Here is my dillenmna: I don't know if I dare to drive though a good stand of turnips, collards, radish, and rape to drill that rye into the plots?? But.....I have had very poor success in broadcasting any grains (or other seeds for that matter) into my sandy soils without some tillage or at least cultipacking. Maybe having all that rye mulch will provide what is needed to broadcast tha newt rye??? Dunno. I'm inclined to try some of each this year (broadcasting and drilling) and learn from my efforts for next year.

Hopefully having more in the top layer and having decaying OM helps? My parents place north of grand rapids has really sandy soil and the thickest stands of rye thus far were where a rye plot got mowed and not disced after it had viable seed the following summer.

 

[SD51555]

I was fine with your post until you got to the sentence on "hoping to grow...thistle..." That stuff is almost as bad as pigweed!

I'd plant it if I could get my hands on enough viable seed. Three reasons I'm pro-thistle:

1. Monarchs
b. Gold finch
4. Tap roots
2. It goes away when it's work is done (on my place anyway)

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I'd plant it if I could get my hands on enough viable seed. Three reasons I'm pro-thistle:

1. Monarchs
b. Gold finch
4. Tap roots
2. It goes away when it's work is done (on my place anyway)

We've got it bad at home around the yard, garden. How'd you recommend making it go away?

We've got pollinator plantings and all kinds of other weeds around so I'm not too worried about the birds and butterflies.

 

[homerj1]

Roadside thistles' work must never be done.

 

[SD51555]

We've got it bad at home around the yard, garden. How'd you recommend making it go away?

We've got pollinator plantings and all kinds of other weeds around so I'm not too worried about the birds and butterflies.

Answer this first. Was thistle there all along, or did it show up after some disturbance?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Answer this first. Was thistle there all along, or did it show up after some disturbance?

We moved here in July 2020 and there was disturbance in some of the main areas I have in mind immediately so I can't say for sure. Other areas appear to not have had any disturbance for quite a while.

 

[SD51555]

We moved here in July 2020 and there was disturbance in some of the main areas I have in mind immediately so I can't say for sure. Other areas appear to not have had any disturbance for quite a while.

If there was a disturbance, just leave them alone and they'll burn themselves out, unless the topsoil was stripped away or some other catastrophic shock like severe compaction happened.

If there wasn't disturbance and you've got a persistent area (abandoned cowyard, overgrazed hilltop), put a good layer of grass/hay/straw/leaves/wood chips (whatever you can get your hands on) over the area and let it be.

If it's far too big to spread moved duff onto it, mow it off about 4 weeks before frost and seed it over with rye and white clover.

 

[Foggy47]

I'd plant it if I could get my hands on enough viable seed. Three reasons I'm pro-thistle:

1. Monarchs
b. Gold finch
4. Tap roots
2. It goes away when it's work is done (on my place anyway)

They oughta lock you up somewhere. You ain't "right". (grin)

 

[SD51555]

They oughta lock you up somewhere. You ain't "right". (grin)

I know. My ragweed didn’t come up either.


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