I just saw your channel for the first time today and I am impressed. Your advice on weeding is spot on. I’ve been gardening for 50 years now and I found the best way to keep your garden tidy is the visit every day with a trowel and weed not only is this a very effective way to keep weeds down but you get to know your plants best when you visit them every day.
Here in WA State, it's the Himalayan Blackberry. Invasive, obnoxious, and borderline immortal. Old timers talk about pouring diesel on them, only to have new growth come up a few feet away. Last year I cleared back an acre of them as thick as Colombian rainforest and used an excavator to till up the first 14 inches of soil so I could rake out the root balls. I still have to walk the area daily and pluck up new sprouts. It may well take years, but I'm gonna win this battle.
The soil seed bank of Himalayan blackberry is insurmountable. Tens of thousands of seeds per square foot. You'll be pulling sprouts forever. What I have discovered observing my Himalayan blackberry here in Oregon is that you can shade it out. For example, I have significantly less invasive blackberry under the big leaf maple trees. I have heard that a well managed Hazel coppice will also out compete the blackberry. So, my advice is clear the blackberry, dig the root balls, and then plant tall cover crops. Ensure you maintain cover crops to minimize germination of seed in the top layers of soil. stop tilling, so you don't expose more seed to germination. This solution is speculation, on my part, as I haven't had the opportunity to really implement it yet.
When I moved into my WA property about 3 years ago, I had a very serious problem with these Himalayan Blackberry from the neighbor's property. His land is mostly unmanaged and the blackberry was so thick and tall that they were pushing against our fence and coming right over the top as well. It took some research but what I learn about these blackberry plants is that they have a critical weakness, and that is during fall the blackberry plant will try to store as much energy as possible to their root system. If you hit them with a proper concentration of herbicide like glyphosate in fall, they will quickly absorb the chemical into their root and die off. Herbicides that contain Triclopyr works well against blackberry too, just know that if you spray in spring when the plant is pushing all of its energy up top to produce flowers and fruits, the chemicals won't reach the roots as easily so you'll have to spray again in fall. This is probably why people think the Himalayan Blackberry is practically immortal as most people like to spray weeds in Spring when they are actively growing.
As for dandelion removal, I don't do it. I don't find it to be a problem. The root brings up nutrients. The flowers bring in pollinators. The entire plant is a vegetable lol. I don't weed out lettuce, I don't weed out dandelion.
I've been digging up dandelions for ten years now because I live on the edge of a forest with all native plants, except for dandelions. I had so many that it bothered me, so I've been digging up probably a hundred a year. This year it's about fifty, with most being very small, so I think I'm close. The big ones that go very deep are the toughest because they go deeper than one shovel blade, but if I get most of it except a small deep piece of root, it won't come back. I want all native plants in my yard.
@@charliedoyle7824 understandable. I am a huge native plant buff myself, but this is not a battle I choose to fight. There are bigger battles for me. But yeah if you just keep working at it and prevent them from going to seed you can be very successful getting rid of them. Part of the reason its not a big deal for me. There are plenty of more harmful invasives near me that are also nearly impossible to get rid of lol.
I pull my dandelions and give them to my chickens, who then repay me with lots of eggs with bright orange yolks! Weeds can be useful indicators of problems with your soil, too. There is a UA-cam channel hosted by a guy who is a orchard expert and he talks about what weeds reveal about your soil health. I am sorry but I don't remember his name.
Canada thistle is a real jerk. 😅 I've been battling gigantic thistles for years. Straight vinegar kills the original plant, but they do travel, unfortunately.
Here's a pro tip: When you spot it, cover it with something large (cardboard, burlap, wood). That does two things, it marks the spot for you to come back in a week or two, and it drains the root much faster, as the root pumps out tons of energy growing that plant longer looking for sunlight. So when you come back in a week or two, uncover it and remove it at that point. What you've done is drastically weakened the root the same amount as if you'd manually removed 10 small emerging weeds from the same mother root.
After covering....to drain roots...can you weed wack it??? Also...was thinking if just covering whole area with Black plastic and leave in on for a few months?? I'm INFESTED with Canada Thisle WHOLE 100' x 100' Garden is COVERED in them....I've been fighting it for 4 years...I don't know what to do....HELP!!
@@JTRUTH2025 Covering with plastic is a very good idea, it's called the Stale Seed Bed method. Water it well before covering to encourage weed seeds to germinate, then pin down the plastic well or the thistle will push it up. Leave the plastic on as long as you can, up to a full year if possible. For the first year cover all soil except for your plants with either burlap bags or landscape fabric (can burn holes for your plants).
On paper this works, however if it’s growing in existing plants and hiding within perennial roots of plants you wish to keep alive, this method will not work. Unless you wish to kill all of your plants in order to kill the weed? And perhaps this is what it will take.
My lawn is green weeds. I keep it cut and trimmed and it looks fine as curb appeal. I lost the battle of years working on that grass. I gave up, embraced it, and as long as it’s cut, I’m good
I love our clover, dandelion, and violets. it's so pretty in spring we let it grow some... for the bees... and because the purple, yellow, and white are a really pretty color combination ☺️
Added bonus that your yard won't turn brown as quickly during a drought. Last year during the hottest part of the summer our yard (a mix of dandelions, violets, clover, grass, etc, etc) was still mostly green while all of the surrounding yards that had been carefully cultivated to be only grass turned brown or needed to be watered a ton.
I did this last year and it works! very little to do this year. I wait until after a good rain, dig all the way around it with a shovel to loosen the root and pull it out ☺️
Canada thistle is the bane of my existence! It's in all my raised beds. I was gonna try sheet mulching with cardboard, so glad I watched this, I'll just keep pulling them out! LOL
Pulling the weeds won't stop the wind from blowing in more weed seeds. It never ends. Weeds will always need to be pulled. I refuse to use chemicals to kill weeds.
This is how I finally got my 25 year bindweed problem under control. I had heard that you will only make bindweed stronger if you pull it out so I spent years trying every other method. None of it worked, so I gave up and started pulling it out as soon as it would emerge. Did this every day. Took me two years to get rid of it but it worked! And like you said, I enjoy my garden so much more now.
The thing about vinegar is you have to use garden grade, the regular grocery grade won't be strong enough. It also only works when it's hot out, like 90 degrees plus. It dessicates the plants by dissolving their protective wax coating and causes them to dry out and die basically. This time of year in Michigan it won't work as well.
Like he said, though, you're only killing the top plant. The root goes deep and wide. I've used the higher percent vinegar and yes, it kills the top just fine. But it sprouts up 3 feet away in a few days.
I have been doing the manual weed pulling for 4 years now. When I first moved in here in 2020, it was only a little over a month between my offer and final walkthrough and the difference was shocking. Beautiful garden to overgrown with 4’ of blooming thistles and bindweed. I had to hire someone to remove it and have been pulling weeds ever since. It looks much better now that I don’t let the thistles bloom.
I get the Canadian Thistles and the Bindweed. My experience was that daily physical removal was best, so I'm glad to get confirmation of that! since I was busy last summer with classes, I failed in this, and it was amazing how the weeds in the garden took off! This summer will be catch-up time!
I use the 1cu salt + dish soap added to 1 gal vinegar because the vinegar helped with the smaller thistles, but not as well on the larger ones. I like to keep in a pump sprayer for easy access. I have a large yard and there's no way I can keep up with digging up of all the thistle, but I dig up all around the house.
I use this method but use the ice melt you put on your driveway instead of salt (salt didn’t work for me). I figure if it kills everything green at the sides of our driveway, it should work on weeds too. I’ve only done this on a gravel pad where I don’t want ANY greenery tho, not in the middle of a garden or yard.
I have Canada thistle too and I agree 100% that the only way to defeat it is to be constantly on the outlook for it. I saw that someone else in the comments takes a garden fork and searches out the roots; I do too. You just have to be consistent, but what a satisfying feeling when you win ☺
I am glad to get this information. I was so diligent about weeding at the start of last summer and then got lazy. I will try and keep up on it better this year!
I don't have lots of yard waste to make compost, so I do use things like thistle by making compost tea with it. When they're really well rotted in the tea, they then go in the compost without a problem. I just stick it all in a large black trach can, cover with water, put on the cover and it cooks in the sun. The smell sucks when you open it, but diluted, it is good fertilizer!
Just had a house built and sod put down. The first year was fine, but going on the second year our lawn was infested with Thistle. Use vinegar then dug them all up. Got about 90 percent, but still found a few stragglers. I just wanted to say that I liked how informative you are about this weed and all other subjects you have. Knowing now that I need to get the entire root system out will make me more alert to the possibility of them coming back. Love your channel. New member hocked on your channel. Thank you for sharing such great information with us.
I also pull, but use a garden fork. When lifting, I give the fork a shake to loosen the dirt and then lift out the roots. Need to do this gently as the roots snap easily and you don't want to leave any fragments.
I find that dry ground makes it easier to break roots, so I do most of my weeding after rain n the ground is nice n soft n they pop up so much easier n roots are intact.
I plant dandolions purslane in my garden. Both are Great ground cover. Helps keep the soil from drying out in out hot climate. dandolions bring polinators. Are easy to grow .. And leaves are a great salad addition. Make a tea out of the roots. Purslane also has pretty different color flowers that bring polinators leaves can be eaten in a salads or cooked. Most people consider them weeds. I love them. Fir the easy growth drought tollarent and ground cover in addition to the nutrition.
Last July I started cutting them off at the soil level every week before cutting the lawn. By end Sept, their production had reduced about 80%. Maybe I love a challenge because I'm looking forward to my war on this thistle this summer 😂
Several years ago, we got two dump truck loads of soil, having each load deposited in a different location. While we worked through one pile, the other was covered with a white tarp. When we started working on the second pile and uncovered it, we found thistles had made their way through the soil - over 4' deep at the highest - and were thriving under the tarp. As we dig through the pile to use the soil, we uncover the roots. They are ridiculously fragile, easily breaking apart into smaller pieces. We have to sift the soil before we can use it, but I'm sure root fragments are still getting through the quarter inch mesh on the sifter!
Here’s my take on a major Canadian Thistle problem we have: the mother root is about 6 ft down. Aside from digging down and getting that being diligent is key. I don’t see much difference in using garden strength vinegar (20%) vs pulling except pulling will increase the odds of root fragments. The key is preventing photosynthesis. You are correct that when you pull thistle it energizes the remaining root to proliferate. The way I see it is if you spray the vinegar and kill the tops it will stop the photosynthesis and eventually the mother root will give up. Unfortunately this may take several years. Diligence is key.
Took me three years to rid my backyard of Goat Heads/puncture vine (in New Mexico). The seeds can be dormant for years and wait for a bit of rain or moisture. Physical removal was necessary.
I physically removed goats head from far east edge of east neighbors median for 2yrs to keep it from travelling 2 my yard. Goats head can go thru thin soled shoes. Oww!
I am a longtime fan of composting and strove to keep all organic matter my property produced, even weeds. I composted too many seedy weeds that have caused a big problem. To compound the problem, I couldn't garden (well) for a couple of seasons so things got even worse. THANK YOU for giving wise advice to dispose of weeds that cause significant problems around my property!
Composting weeds is fine. Especially if you dry them out before adding to a pile. I'm not talking about a macho 30day pile but a long term pile you flip through the season every 1-2 weeks. Things will sprout, yes. When you flip the pile you disrupt and smother those sprouts. By the time its broken down to a soil-like state over like 6 months.. its fine. My compost is 90% blackberry vines. I've yet to have one root in my garden. The one thing I've had trouble with is quackgrass. And I have an in-ground garden without an ability to buffer-mulch. Clover creeps in too and can be a nuisance but its easy to cut back and its a great cover over winter. Dandelions are fine. As long as they aren't directly competing with a veggie I don't care.
Bindweed is the bane of my gardening existence and I'm pretty sure it's also communal. Good to know there is a way to get rid of it. I just have to not do what I did last year and give up on it! I'm seeing the effects of that now 😅
My issue too. His suggestion has helped me, but I didn’t realize a daily check is needed… I Was doing it once a week. Easy in the flower bed, hard in the It’s hard to see in the thick lawn though.
For thistle, I use Lontrel. Although a formal herbicide and not organic....but only kills a few types of plants, so it really doesnt hurt many veggies if you had to use in the garden. But I only put 1 drop on each "plant", and let it sit until it dies away and goes into the root. Youll never have thistle again. The way I got it in my garden, as we have a friend that has horses and I thought using horse manure was a good thing, but horse only have 1 stomach (unlike cow/goats) so a lot of the seeds that they eat, dont get digested, and planted in your garden. my 4 beds were 80% thistle....thats why I had to use Lontrel. Didnt kill/bother the asparagus or strawberries
Thistle is my main adversary in my garden. I've been fighting it for over 6 years but have finally turned the tide and am winning the battle. Instead of just removing the top of the plant though I dig down and remove as much of the root as possible.
I agree that pulling is the way to go, i was helping a friend out and she wanted a "weed-free" garden and i told her the only way to do that was to pick the weeds out by hand because even laying barriers down won't stop the wind from blowing new weed seeds on top. She was not happy and decided gardening was not for her. I love getting my hards dirty
I put on my Bose headphones and listen to podcasts (through my phone) while I weed or do garden chores. It really helps when doing the more unpleasant chores like weeding.
Here in South Carolina we have so many invading weeds. One of my biggest enemies is rattle snake weed. To fight it this year I am actually digging out my beds and sifting through the soil to remove as many roots as possible. I didn’t want to disturb the soil this much, but it has to be done. I’m also redoing the pathways between the beds. That will be an all year project.
Salal here on the west coast. It grows right through any weed paper😑we sifted through one of the beds but I’m afraid it still has spores left behind. We’ll see how it does.
If you have a larger patch of Canada thistle I have had luck letting it grow just until it starts to flower. Do NOT let it go to seed. Once the thistle is getting close to flowering watch the weather forecast. You will have best luck if you have more than two really hot sunny days in a row. Cut it off around noon with a weed wacker about 4 inches above the soil. This will stress it out with the heat. The next day water the hollow stems of the thistle thoroughly. The water will go down and start to rot the stem. When the thistle is flowering it is putting a lot of energy into reproducing. This method has worked successfully on a patch of thistle for me. May or may not work if there are only 2 or 3 plants. I’ve had less success with single plants. Edit-after cutting the plants gather them up and take them away. If you leave them on the ground even cut off the seeds may continue to develop.
I think it's less successful on fewer plants because rot sets in more easily in dense groupings of plants where there is less air flow. This is great advice that works on many types of herbaceous plants, you can increase the chances of rot setting in by watering with nitrogen or microbe rich solutions like compost teas, coffee, or even urine. It could be taken a step further by covering with plastic. The wetter you keep the soil, the more easily root or crown rot will set in, so frequent overwatering can sometimes work. I don't think this technique works well with many plants that have deep taproots, for instance, yellow dock. Canada thistle is a tough perennial that can easily regenerate from it's roots, and I prefer to dig it up or at the very least pull out what I can as frequently as possible, there's no faster way to remove a weed from sight anyways.
@@Xzenoph It does sound counterintuitive, but if you ever noticed an area in someone's yard where their dog always goes, it can become a small patch of desert because the "watering" is killing the plants off.
You confirmed my suspicion that thistle came in last year’s mulch! This Spring I laid a thick layer of newspaper before mulch and weeds are fewer - but yesterday I was digging thistle way deep down to get the root. I’ll keep digging til they’re gone! Thanks!
I don't have a garden where I live now but I'm moving to a new place with the room and a huge green house so I'm watching your channel to brush up for next spring, thanks for the content.
Say what you will... but Fire is working! I have vinica and rhizome lateral grasses. I'm trying not to alow the photosynthetic process by destroying the surface leaves with fire and simultaneously not turning up the seed bank. It's working pretty well!
I acquired one bindweed plant from a neighbor's donation to my day lily garden. It has taken TEN years of persistent snipping/removal a dozen times every summer to get rid of it, and even now I check the area to see if it has returned. It's the most tenacious weed I've ever encountered, but my persistence has finally paid off. I think.....
Great tips! Instead of sending those weeds to the landfill, you could leave them in the black garbage bag for a week or so out in the hot summer sun. That will kill them off and then leave them safe to compost. I chop mine up and then leave them in a bucket for a week to dry out before composting. I do get rid of seed heads though.
I had a bad infestation of canada thistle in my yard. Multiple spots that i found mature plants growing. My strategy was with the large plants to glove up and pull them out manually and trying to get as much of the root out with it as possible. Then i covered it with fresh grass clippings to stop it from growing back in that spot. Turns out matted down grass clippings works pretty well to choke out weeds. The smaller ones i burned out once a week with a propane torch. weed seeds cant germinate if they are charcoal. By the end of that summer most of the spots had been successfully killed off. Best tools i have purchased for weed control has been a weed dragon (a propane fuel torch on a long stick) and a belt torch from the hardware store. belt torch has a pull trigger on/off so you don't have to waste fuel on small precision weeding between plants and the weed dragon is great for clearing larger areas like in paths and between rows in the garden. Bunus: fire is organic.
I'm so glad that you came through the procedure, OK. Hopefully, the results will be positive, and you'll get some answers that will help you. Love ya lots!
I spent many years using every thing under the sun to no avail. so I moved to removal for areas where I have not used thick cardboard. I find if I give the removal spot a decent dose of Vinegar it seems to clear a somewhat larger area. Not sure if it some how gets to the root system or its pure luck either way It does seem to help. But cardboard and pulling them are the only effective way to get rid of any weed. Thanks for the video, always fun and informative.
In areas I don’t want dandelions (my front lawn) I walk around and dead head the flowers. Easy & good exercise. After 2 years in my current home, this year I’ve had 2 flowers to dead head so far. Looking at my front lawn now, zero in sight. For the other undesirable plants, among the flower beds, I’m learning early & frequent intervention by pulling them up as youngsters is best. For the grape arbors, chickens and milky spore are winning the battle against the Japanese beetles. A happy accident is as the chickens have scratched under the grapes looking for bugs, the area is being naturalized by spreading purple viola. I love violas.
I have a warm compost where any seeds or roots die from the heat. I think of weeds as more material. I also use weeds in teas to use as fertilizer. All good.
I deal with Bermuda grass. Cardboard sheet mulching doesn't work for long. I've had it grow through over a foot of mulch. This year I decided to dig out the area around my garden and lay down some cardboard and woodchips. We'll see how it goes.
Here on our Farm we've been working on mitigation of Hemlock for last 2 years! Have to NEVER let it go to seed as it has a 2 year seed bank in the soil!
My problem here in MN is Nettle. I’ve been manually pulling them when I can. There seems to be way less of them. But they still are coming up here and there. You motivated me to keep going. Thx.
I previously had Virginia copperleaves, clovers, dandelions, and wandering jews in my garden when I started over earlier this year. Plucking them out and uprooting clover bulbs was the best strategy for me. The wandering jews also tried to take over another bed where I have my corn and other plants.
Hey Luke, lovin' the channel from Kansas City! Quick note - when you put your weeds at the curb, that likely means they're just ending up in the city's supply of compost. Also, ending up your neighbors' compost and gardens if your city has a free or low-cost compost and mulch program for residents.
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I'm doing this also for bindweed - its two years now and they still seem pretty vigorous. But I'm not giving up.
We bought a house after the garden had been left for two summers-the previous owners both died of prolonged illness. Then we did not realize how much a problem Canada Thistle is. Our landscape designer told us to tarp the entire area for three summer months, and patrol the edges daily. Had a heavy tarp down from late September last year, and starting to see the plants come up around the edges. We will see what happens by the end of the summer. We spent last summer digging, but as Luke said, it just comes back stronger.
I have the same issue. Former owner lived here 10+ years. I bought the house when there was snow cover. Turns out there are tons of flower beds that they were too ill to take care of. I was pregnant when I bought the house. I wasn't really able to do anything about the flower beds for a couple of years. If only Canada thistle were something we could eat exclusively as a food we would be set for life. Our neighbors don't have it. I guess that we got it from the bird feeder based on this video.
I have been struggling with Canada thistle for 5 years! I have been ruthlessly pulling it for 3 years, including digging up the entire root system to the best of my ability last spring. VERY frustrating. It has even sprouted up into my patio pavers, meaning I can't access those roots. I hope this battle starts to turn in my favor soon.
A while ago I tried to dig up a Canada Thistle as it had come up in my new garden. It was just one plant so I thought, "I'll just dig it up roots and all, no problem." I followed the roots and dug down almost three feet and then, following the root, another three feet towards the neighbours place before I gave up. It came back a few weeks later. Very tough plant. I ended up doing what you suggested for the next five years but as I couldn't do anything about the neighbours plants I had to dig up each new thistle as it came up. It encouraged the plant to go somewhere else. I never got rid of it but it had almost stopped trying to come into my place before I moved.
Most of the plants that people consider "weeds" are actually edible and highly nutritional. Canada thistle is one of these. I grow most of these "Weeds" on purpose. They are actually a big part of my herbal garden.
I was going thru the comments looking for this kind of statement. Wild edibles. It's a good idea to get to know them and may be important to be able to identify them in case of hard times. We have stinging nettles, Virginia creeper, and creeping Charlie that invade every year. I allow the stinging nettle at the back slope behind my fenced portion of yard bcs it is edible, and a great deterrent for people cutting thru my property from the apartments behind us. If it comes under the fence I try to stop it. The creeping Charlie invades the grass, but I do fight it in the garden plots. The Virginia creeper has been the worst issue of all, its all toxic and I've managed to kill it back these last few years, it also grew on the slope behind the fence and was coming up past all my attempts to weed block. I went gang busters on it a few seasons ago, and it has been easier to deal with since. And i forgot to mention the dandelion and clover all over the rest of the grass.... great wild edibles... The definition of a weed is any plant you don't want in a particular location.
Thistle is mildly toxic to humans snd livestock. The medicinal uses of the toxin(applied in low enough doses to be safe) are not worth the tradeoffs and there are many superior options that do not share the same downsides as cultivating Thistle.
We did physical removal for the last 3 years of this darned Canada thistle. Tried all the other options mentioned, also. Finally, I decided to cover everything in a very thick, good quality landscape fabric. I discovered when pulling them out manually a couple of years ago that I’m very allergic to it, so this was the best option for us. Hopefully this will solve our problem!
East Texas Piney Woods here. I get dewberry and greenbriar vines. Ouchies! They are impossible to get rid of, so I just cut them back to the ground, occasionally digging some of the roots. It's a constant battle! Weeding while going to the garden is a habit well worth developing, and it's a little bit of good exercise.
Wow! I learned so much today! Great video. So glad I recently found your channel and subscribed. I use small animal bedding as mulch. No weeds and no jumping worms!
Interesting. Isn't it actually from Russia to Canada and from there to the lower 48? In my area, puncture vine is pervasive. Use a hoe, scrape it into a pile and bag it as soon as it's identifiable.
I have a big Canadian thistle in my yard. It’s good to know I’m not wasting my time pulling them out. Downside is they are in my neighbor’s yard and they are doing anything about them, so I’ll probably never be rid of them.
Campanula creeping bellflower is my nemesis. Tried black plastic for a year to no avail. It's still going in my ground cover in the shade and pulling to control but it's not gone.
Yep, I never had Canada thistle until I had a large load of wood chips dumped and it took me awhile to get them moved and distributed. By then, the original area was full of thistles and I've been battling it for 5+ years now. Tried the vinegar and even tried black plastic - they just spread! Have been working on your method of continued digging but hard to get out there every day.
I ended up scraping all the topsoil off and sifted out all the roots, i double dug while i was at it. still some got through but they where a lot easier to pull.
When I moved to this house eight years ago, the front yard was a bit of grass, with a bunch of dirt (leftover as part of a construction project,) and a BUNCH of dandelions. There were so many, that I was counting them per square foot rather than how many in the yard. The problem with dandelions is not the cute little flowers, it's mainly that if left alone the plant gets bigger and wider, so it can shade out competitors. The first year I tried just plucking the flowers at the end of each day. (I let the bees munch on them during the day.) That helped, but in the second year I started digging out the dandelions as deep as I could. That helped a lot, and where the second year I was spending 1-2 hours per day digging them up, on my hands and knees (not easy over 60, BTW,) the third year it was only 40-80 minutes every couple of days, (or better 20-40 minutes every day.) Every year since, they have been getting fewer and fewer. This year, I have one or two I need to deal with every day, and most of them are fairly small, compared to what I used to see. So, yes, it's a pain to remove this stuff by hand, vs a chemical concoction. But, it works.
Dandelions are a great helper to loosen hard ground. Their long tap root brings up nutrients and makes the ground better for planting. If you leave them alone a few years (LoL) they will actually go away once their job is done.
To kill your weeds that you pulled out of the ground, break them up into pieces and leave them out in the sun until they are totally shriveled up. I do this with dandelion plants that I dig up. I then put the material in my waste compost pile that is clay soil with organic material that I am disposing. If anything springs up there, I'll notice it and easily remove it again, but so far nothing bad has popped up.
Thistle is great for light flowers on the seeds that can carry them miles in a good wind - watch up wind and know your blowing seeds and try not to till them in!! In northern ohio I have baked a patch out with black plastic three august weeks - found two at the perimeter week four dug them up and 4' of plastic till the next may!
A good soaking rain, leather gloves, pull them out roots and all, if the root broke off I sprayed Round-up in the hole, eventually babies popped up and I gently removed them...Leather Gloves!
I agree, Canada Thistle is best removed by physical pulling. Good gloves help! Pulling them up from the base when they’re still tiny reduces chances of getting poked in the fingers. I use them in compost tea.
Fiskars makes an incredible weed remover. You step on it and lift and it comes out, root and all. Works especially good for these weeds. Less good on dandelion.
The bane of my North Carolina garden is Florida Betony! It is also a communal weed, but also makes tubers. If you leave any little part of a root or tuber, you can't get rid of it.
We are dealing with a weed that looks like ground cover. We pull and pull and it’s back in just a day or two. I have no idea what it is but it’s so invasive! I would use cardboard but my peonies and coneflowers are in the same bed.
The constant removal method is what is finally working for me with dollar weed here in the South. Even just pulling emerging leaves where I can't pull the underground vine is working.
Bindweed is my bane. I did some cardboard sheet mulching to kind of "start over" because previous homeowner let it get out of control and no amount of weeding would help. But it also grows via roots so I know it will come back but hopefully now that I have the cardboard and mulch over it, it will be slow to return and I can stay on top of it.
@@billinburlington5507 I did cardboard, then dirt then wood mulch so it was a pretty thick layer to smother those weeds. I've done it before with success. Great big reduction in weeds
Bindweed is the same as thistle. If it finds a gap in the cardboard it will sprout up between it. The best way that I have found to get rid of these types of weeds is to dig them up with a digging fork. I also try to trace the root as far as I can and dig up all of the root that I can find. This is very labor intensive, but I have tried everything else, and digging them up repeatedly is the only way that works. I have been gardening for over 50 years and have moved several times. Only to have to start over again battling these invasive weeds.
In my garden I'm dealing with pasture weeds since I'm surrounded by pasture. These are serious weeds let me tell you. Kochia, Russian sage, bindweed, and pigweed to name a few, and many drop seeds by the millions. Dandelions are no big deal around these parts. We have bindweed but it's not been that much of a problem. There is also some bermuda grass and it's relentless.
It is a tough weed and it's roots go deep which is good in some ways. But it has seeds like crazy. I find that planting potatoes in rows close together so that you have to hill using a hoe does help keep it to a dull roar.... plus shade helps too. I also dig down beside it so I can break it off as deep as possible. Good info!
a narrow,lightweight ,sharpened trenching shovel is a great weeding tool. You can even cut a "vee" notch (or shallow semicircle) in the front to help corral the target. Its nice because you can go deep, but more often just skil the surface or just under the surface of mulch to cut the weeds. Don't let weeds go to seed and keep in mind that not all of the seed bank will germinate at once. Kochia nd Russian thistle are the big ones out here in Colorado. Baby Kochia can just be rubbed off with your foot.
Because both my neighbor and myself feed birds in the winter, I spread pre-emergence herbicide under the bird feeders and in other vulnerable areas every Spring. This greatly reduces my weeding work. ( Thanks for mentioning corn meal!) However, creeping weeds such as "creeping Charlie" continue to be a yearly problem, requiring a lot of physical work to remove...
Bindweed is the bane of my existence! I can’t look through all the comments (tho I did read some)… does anyone have advice on bindweed? I try to keep up with it early in the season, but I have so much in my modest city garden…
I'm in S Fla. & l get these leggy weeds that have a root that looks like a carrot! I have no idea what it is, but they can take over an entire bed in one week! I spend more time weeding than anything else.
Dandelions are the bane of my yard. Started digging th em out one by one...but as you mentioned...yes I have to get out there everyday because they do the same. Sprout up somewhere else.
I'm in Zone 9b in So Cal and most of my weed issues are with dandelions and spotted spurge. My neighbor behind and upwind from me let's his weeds flourish so my garden is the "lucky" recipient of his weedy largesse. I just keep a Hori Hori on my belt and use as needed.
I have been fighting them for years. I have actually shifted all the dirt in my raised beds, picking every tiny piece .of root by hand and I have not eliminated them completely.
The weed that's giving me the biggest problem right now is mugwort. It grows via thick runners, so it's impossible to pull up without disrupting my strawberries. The mugwort was there first, and has been there since before the garden, so I don't know if there's any way to get rid of it without chopping them down every day. Yes, I know mugwort is edible, but it's also quite bitter, and I haven't found a good use for it yet.
I work in a perrenial garden in southern Michigan and in the past 7-10 days (mid April) have removed a dozen 5 gallons buckets of mostly bitter cress. Bitter cress is a winter annual and if you let it set seed, you will battle it again in august. If you crunch the numbers, will each plant producing hundreds of seeds, times thousands of plants what you have is job security 😂
Pro tip. or actually amateur tip. Don't throw those weeds out. Don't compost them. Throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with some water. let them sit in there for a week or so and decompose. Then you have yourself some liquid fertilizer you didn't have to pay for.
It's a pervasive myth that the tea you are making will fertilize your plants. The best way to to help your soil and unlock nutrients for your plants is finished compost. I used to think the compost tea was the way to go, but learned it's a waste of time.
@@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919 I would love to hear an explanation as to how it does not help, because it certainly does. Plant matter decomposes, those nutrients go back into the ground period. Whether it is finished compost, or chop and drop. It breaks down at different rates, but it all goes back into the soil. Making compost tea with invasive plants creates an anaerobic environment which will kill the roots and allows you to dump that plant matter back into the ground or into compost. If you compost without doing that, those roots are just going to grow and spread.
@@andicarlson5870 Not sure what there is to risk honestly. If its been soaking in an anaerobic environment and sitting out in the sun there is no chance its going to grow lol. If you have ever done this sort of thing, you probably wouldn't be worried about it either.
What that person described is not compost tea. Compost tea is heavily aerated and is made from finished compost and often soil from under healthy perennial. A balance of sugars (generally unsulfured blackstrap molasses) and fats/proteins fish emulsion encourages both fungal and bacterial life. Basically, if you catch a lot of plant diseases at the start and whip up a batch (24hrs) you can generally obliterate things like tomato blight (the good bacteria and fungi outcompete the pathogen) and discourage some pests (applied foliarly). I fertilize with compost, but I back it up with compost teas@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919
I have a weed that has blooms that look like tomato flowers. It makes a small cherry sized fruit full of seeds. But the plant is covered in sharp thorns, the leaves, stem, even down to the roots. It also spreads by roots and leaving just one part of it does the same you described by dividing and multiplying. It's also poisonous and can even kill livestock. If you get poked by one of the thorns it hurts for a week. I dig it up but it keeps coming back and we have it on a lot of our property...acres.
this is how i remove himalayan blackberry, its actually very easy because despite having multiple new shoots as opposed to the one main shoot like you mention, they come back weaker and weaker each time. i only have to go out for 10 minutes on the weekend to remove any new tiny shoots that emerge from the ground in the areas i know have blackberry rhizomes.
I just saw your channel for the first time today and I am impressed. Your advice on weeding is spot on. I’ve been gardening for 50 years now and I found the best way to keep your garden tidy is the visit every day with a trowel and weed not only is this a very effective way to keep weeds down but you get to know your plants best when you visit them every day.
Thank you Luke.
Air , water .soil and the farmers shadow all plants need
Glad you found us!
Here in WA State, it's the Himalayan Blackberry. Invasive, obnoxious, and borderline immortal. Old timers talk about pouring diesel on them, only to have new growth come up a few feet away. Last year I cleared back an acre of them as thick as Colombian rainforest and used an excavator to till up the first 14 inches of soil so I could rake out the root balls. I still have to walk the area daily and pluck up new sprouts. It may well take years, but I'm gonna win this battle.
The soil seed bank of Himalayan blackberry is insurmountable. Tens of thousands of seeds per square foot. You'll be pulling sprouts forever.
What I have discovered observing my Himalayan blackberry here in Oregon is that you can shade it out. For example, I have significantly less invasive blackberry under the big leaf maple trees. I have heard that a well managed Hazel coppice will also out compete the blackberry.
So, my advice is clear the blackberry, dig the root balls, and then plant tall cover crops. Ensure you maintain cover crops to minimize germination of seed in the top layers of soil. stop tilling, so you don't expose more seed to germination. This solution is speculation, on my part, as I haven't had the opportunity to really implement it yet.
I am going to assume that your invasive blackberry is the same as mine (Southern Vancouver Island here) and yes, they are immortal and unkillable.
When I moved into my WA property about 3 years ago, I had a very serious problem with these Himalayan Blackberry from the neighbor's property. His land is mostly unmanaged and the blackberry was so thick and tall that they were pushing against our fence and coming right over the top as well.
It took some research but what I learn about these blackberry plants is that they have a critical weakness, and that is during fall the blackberry plant will try to store as much energy as possible to their root system. If you hit them with a proper concentration of herbicide like glyphosate in fall, they will quickly absorb the chemical into their root and die off. Herbicides that contain Triclopyr works well against blackberry too, just know that if you spray in spring when the plant is pushing all of its energy up top to produce flowers and fruits, the chemicals won't reach the roots as easily so you'll have to spray again in fall.
This is probably why people think the Himalayan Blackberry is practically immortal as most people like to spray weeds in Spring when they are actively growing.
And not even from the HImalays.
That’s the good fight-I commend you 🫡
I love this. No bs, no click bait
As for dandelion removal, I don't do it. I don't find it to be a problem. The root brings up nutrients. The flowers bring in pollinators. The entire plant is a vegetable lol. I don't weed out lettuce, I don't weed out dandelion.
I've been digging up dandelions for ten years now because I live on the edge of a forest with all native plants, except for dandelions. I had so many that it bothered me, so I've been digging up probably a hundred a year. This year it's about fifty, with most being very small, so I think I'm close. The big ones that go very deep are the toughest because they go deeper than one shovel blade, but if I get most of it except a small deep piece of root, it won't come back.
I want all native plants in my yard.
@@charliedoyle7824 understandable. I am a huge native plant buff myself, but this is not a battle I choose to fight. There are bigger battles for me. But yeah if you just keep working at it and prevent them from going to seed you can be very successful getting rid of them. Part of the reason its not a big deal for me. There are plenty of more harmful invasives near me that are also nearly impossible to get rid of lol.
I pull my dandelions and give them to my chickens, who then repay me with lots of eggs with bright orange yolks!
Weeds can be useful indicators of problems with your soil, too.
There is a UA-cam channel hosted by a guy who is a orchard expert and he talks about what weeds reveal about your soil health.
I am sorry but I don't remember his name.
@@ValSMITH-it4lg Stefan Sobkowiak its his name :)
@@ValSMITH-it4lg That is a great use. I wish I had chickens but I don't. So, I just cut out the middle man and eat the dandelions lol.
The Canada Thistle basically laughed at me. I feel you on this! 🤣
Canada thistle is a real jerk. 😅
I've been battling gigantic thistles for years. Straight vinegar kills the original plant, but they do travel, unfortunately.
Painful to remove too!
My weeds taunt me by singing opera.
@@mandy3486 not with grampas weed puller! Your welcome!
They come on with my dogs all day long 😭
Here's a pro tip: When you spot it, cover it with something large (cardboard, burlap, wood). That does two things, it marks the spot for you to come back in a week or two, and it drains the root much faster, as the root pumps out tons of energy growing that plant longer looking for sunlight. So when you come back in a week or two, uncover it and remove it at that point. What you've done is drastically weakened the root the same amount as if you'd manually removed 10 small emerging weeds from the same mother root.
Love it, it really make sense.
Use the plant’s strength to weaken it😎
@@Hupamaster Yup, that's why we're at the top of the food chain, lol
After covering....to drain roots...can you weed wack it??? Also...was thinking if just covering whole area with Black plastic and leave in on for a few months?? I'm INFESTED with Canada Thisle WHOLE 100' x 100' Garden is COVERED in them....I've been fighting it for 4 years...I don't know what to do....HELP!!
@@JTRUTH2025 Covering with plastic is a very good idea, it's called the Stale Seed Bed method. Water it well before covering to encourage weed seeds to germinate, then pin down the plastic well or the thistle will push it up. Leave the plastic on as long as you can, up to a full year if possible. For the first year cover all soil except for your plants with either burlap bags or landscape fabric (can burn holes for your plants).
On paper this works, however if it’s growing in existing plants and hiding within perennial roots of plants you wish to keep alive, this method will not work.
Unless you wish to kill all of your plants in order to kill the weed? And perhaps this is what it will take.
My lawn is green weeds. I keep it cut and trimmed and it looks fine as curb appeal. I lost the battle of years working on that grass. I gave up, embraced it, and as long as it’s cut, I’m good
I love our clover, dandelion, and violets. it's so pretty in spring we let it grow some... for the bees... and because the purple, yellow, and white are a really pretty color combination ☺️
@@micheledupreystrong Very true! My weeds are pretty this time. Loads of wild violets!
My moms back yard is a mix of weeds and bermuda grass I also think it looks totally fine so long as it gets cut regularly
Added bonus that your yard won't turn brown as quickly during a drought. Last year during the hottest part of the summer our yard (a mix of dandelions, violets, clover, grass, etc, etc) was still mostly green while all of the surrounding yards that had been carefully cultivated to be only grass turned brown or needed to be watered a ton.
@@jon27d Yes! True. I didn’t think about that. 👍
I did this last year and it works! very little to do this year. I wait until after a good rain, dig all the way around it with a shovel to loosen the root and pull it out ☺️
Canada thistle is the bane of my existence! It's in all my raised beds. I was gonna try sheet mulching with cardboard, so glad I watched this, I'll just keep pulling them out! LOL
It won't work. I tried it. The damned things thrive in the mulch and get stronger.
bindweed is the Devil as well. Several years ago, I watched it creeping up the curbside all through town...and right into my garden.
@@StevenBishop-c9r Totally agree! Granddaddy of weeds right there. Second to NONE!
Yes, I've heard my weeds laughing at me as well.
Pulling the weeds won't stop the wind from blowing in more weed seeds. It never ends. Weeds will always need to be pulled. I refuse to use chemicals to kill weeds.
Try white vinegar!.
Make the soil a place weeds don't want to grow.
This is how I finally got my 25 year bindweed problem under control. I had heard that you will only make bindweed stronger if you pull it out so I spent years trying every other method. None of it worked, so I gave up and started pulling it out as soon as it would emerge. Did this every day. Took me two years to get rid of it but it worked! And like you said, I enjoy my garden so much more now.
The thing about vinegar is you have to use garden grade, the regular grocery grade won't be strong enough. It also only works when it's hot out, like 90 degrees plus. It dessicates the plants by dissolving their protective wax coating and causes them to dry out and die basically. This time of year in Michigan it won't work as well.
I use grocery vinegar to kill weeds in driveway cracks and it works -
@@sherriianiro747 Yep, true!
Like he said, though, you're only killing the top plant. The root goes deep and wide. I've used the higher percent vinegar and yes, it kills the top just fine. But it sprouts up 3 feet away in a few days.
I have been doing the manual weed pulling for 4 years now. When I first moved in here in 2020, it was only a little over a month between my offer and final walkthrough and the difference was shocking. Beautiful garden to overgrown with 4’ of blooming thistles and bindweed. I had to hire someone to remove it and have been pulling weeds ever since. It looks much better now that I don’t let the thistles bloom.
I get the Canadian Thistles and the Bindweed. My experience was that daily physical removal was best, so I'm glad to get confirmation of that! since I was busy last summer with classes, I failed in this, and it was amazing how the weeds in the garden took off! This summer will be catch-up time!
I use the 1cu salt + dish soap added to 1 gal vinegar because the vinegar helped with the smaller thistles, but not as well on the larger ones. I like to keep in a pump sprayer for easy access.
I have a large yard and there's no way I can keep up with digging up of all the thistle, but I dig up all around the house.
I use this method but use the ice melt you put on your driveway instead of salt (salt didn’t work for me). I figure if it kills everything green at the sides of our driveway, it should work on weeds too. I’ve only done this on a gravel pad where I don’t want ANY greenery tho, not in the middle of a garden or yard.
I have Canada thistle too and I agree 100% that the only way to defeat it is to be constantly on the outlook for it. I saw that someone else in the comments takes a garden fork and searches out the roots; I do too. You just have to be consistent, but what a satisfying feeling when you win ☺
Its deep underground roots are a horror movie!
I hope to never ever have a lone wind-blown seed to land in my garden! 🤞
I am glad to get this information. I was so diligent about weeding at the start of last summer and then got lazy. I will try and keep up on it better this year!
I don't have lots of yard waste to make compost, so I do use things like thistle by making compost tea with it. When they're really well rotted in the tea, they then go in the compost without a problem. I just stick it all in a large black trach can, cover with water, put on the cover and it cooks in the sun. The smell sucks when you open it, but diluted, it is good fertilizer!
Just had a house built and sod put down. The first year was fine, but going on the second year our lawn was infested with Thistle. Use vinegar then dug them all up. Got about 90 percent, but still found a few stragglers. I just wanted to say that I liked how informative you are about this weed and all other subjects you have. Knowing now that I need to get the entire root system out will make me more alert to the possibility of them coming back. Love your channel. New member hocked on your channel. Thank you for sharing such great information with us.
I also pull, but use a garden fork. When lifting, I give the fork a shake to loosen the dirt and then lift out the roots. Need to do this gently as the roots snap easily and you don't want to leave any fragments.
I find that dry ground makes it easier to break roots, so I do most of my weeding after rain n the ground is nice n soft n they pop up so much easier n roots are intact.
I plant dandolions purslane in my garden. Both are Great ground cover. Helps keep the soil from drying out in out hot climate.
dandolions bring polinators. Are easy to grow .. And leaves are a great salad addition. Make a tea out of the roots.
Purslane also has pretty different color flowers that bring polinators leaves can be eaten in a salads or cooked. Most people consider them weeds. I love them. Fir the easy growth drought tollarent and ground cover in addition to the nutrition.
Last July I started cutting them off at the soil level every week before cutting the lawn. By end Sept, their production had reduced about 80%. Maybe I love a challenge because I'm looking forward to my war on this thistle this summer 😂
Several years ago, we got two dump truck loads of soil, having each load deposited in a different location. While we worked through one pile, the other was covered with a white tarp. When we started working on the second pile and uncovered it, we found thistles had made their way through the soil - over 4' deep at the highest - and were thriving under the tarp. As we dig through the pile to use the soil, we uncover the roots. They are ridiculously fragile, easily breaking apart into smaller pieces. We have to sift the soil before we can use it, but I'm sure root fragments are still getting through the quarter inch mesh on the sifter!
Here’s my take on a major Canadian Thistle problem we have: the mother root is about 6 ft down. Aside from digging down and getting that being diligent is key. I don’t see much difference in using garden strength vinegar (20%) vs pulling except pulling will increase the odds of root fragments. The key is preventing photosynthesis. You are correct that when you pull thistle it energizes the remaining root to proliferate. The way I see it is if you spray the vinegar and kill the tops it will stop the photosynthesis and eventually the mother root will give up. Unfortunately this may take several years. Diligence is key.
Took me three years to rid my backyard of Goat Heads/puncture vine (in New Mexico). The seeds can be dormant for years and wait for a bit of rain or moisture. Physical removal was necessary.
I physically removed goats head from far east edge of east neighbors median for 2yrs to keep it from travelling 2 my yard. Goats head can go thru thin soled shoes. Oww!
I am a longtime fan of composting and strove to keep all
organic matter my property produced, even weeds. I composted too many seedy weeds that have caused a big problem. To compound the problem, I couldn't garden (well) for a couple of seasons so things got even worse.
THANK YOU for giving wise advice to dispose of weeds that cause significant problems around my property!
Composting weeds is fine. Especially if you dry them out before adding to a pile. I'm not talking about a macho 30day pile but a long term pile you flip through the season every 1-2 weeks.
Things will sprout, yes. When you flip the pile you disrupt and smother those sprouts. By the time its broken down to a soil-like state over like 6 months.. its fine.
My compost is 90% blackberry vines. I've yet to have one root in my garden.
The one thing I've had trouble with is quackgrass. And I have an in-ground garden without an ability to buffer-mulch. Clover creeps in too and can be a nuisance but its easy to cut back and its a great cover over winter. Dandelions are fine. As long as they aren't directly competing with a veggie I don't care.
Bindweed is the bane of my gardening existence and I'm pretty sure it's also communal. Good to know there is a way to get rid of it. I just have to not do what I did last year and give up on it! I'm seeing the effects of that now 😅
My issue too. His suggestion has helped me, but I didn’t realize a daily check is needed… I Was doing it once a week. Easy in the flower bed, hard in the It’s hard to see in the thick lawn though.
For thistle, I use Lontrel. Although a formal herbicide and not organic....but only kills a few types of plants, so it really doesnt hurt many veggies if you had to use in the garden. But I only put 1 drop on each "plant", and let it sit until it dies away and goes into the root. Youll never have thistle again.
The way I got it in my garden, as we have a friend that has horses and I thought using horse manure was a good thing, but horse only have 1 stomach (unlike cow/goats) so a lot of the seeds that they eat, dont get digested, and planted in your garden. my 4 beds were 80% thistle....thats why I had to use Lontrel. Didnt kill/bother the asparagus or strawberries
Thistle is my main adversary in my garden. I've been fighting it for over 6 years but have finally turned the tide and am winning the battle.
Instead of just removing the top of the plant though I dig down and remove as much of the root as possible.
I agree that pulling is the way to go, i was helping a friend out and she wanted a "weed-free" garden and i told her the only way to do that was to pick the weeds out by hand because even laying barriers down won't stop the wind from blowing new weed seeds on top. She was not happy and decided gardening was not for her. I love getting my hards dirty
I put on my Bose headphones and listen to podcasts (through my phone) while I weed or do garden chores. It really helps when doing the more unpleasant chores like weeding.
Here in South Carolina we have so many invading weeds. One of my biggest enemies is rattle snake weed. To fight it this year I am actually digging out my beds and sifting through the soil to remove as many roots as possible. I didn’t want to disturb the soil this much, but it has to be done. I’m also redoing the pathways between the beds. That will be an all year project.
Florida Betony for me. 😢
Bishop's Weed north of you in 7B! Arg!!!
@@Freedommjw I’ve been told that rattlesnake weed is also known as Florida Betony
@@mariephillips1393 We've got industrial strength bugs here in SC too! 😩
Salal here on the west coast. It grows right through any weed paper😑we sifted through one of the beds but I’m afraid it still has spores left behind. We’ll see how it does.
If you have a larger patch of Canada thistle I have had luck letting it grow just until it starts to flower. Do NOT let it go to seed. Once the thistle is getting close to flowering watch the weather forecast. You will have best luck if you have more than two really hot sunny days in a row. Cut it off around noon with a weed wacker about 4 inches above the soil. This will stress it out with the heat. The next day water the hollow stems of the thistle thoroughly. The water will go down and start to rot the stem. When the thistle is flowering it is putting a lot of energy into reproducing. This method has worked successfully on a patch of thistle for me. May or may not work if there are only 2 or 3 plants. I’ve had less success with single plants. Edit-after cutting the plants gather them up and take them away. If you leave them on the ground even cut off the seeds may continue to develop.
I think it's less successful on fewer plants because rot sets in more easily in dense groupings of plants where there is less air flow. This is great advice that works on many types of herbaceous plants, you can increase the chances of rot setting in by watering with nitrogen or microbe rich solutions like compost teas, coffee, or even urine. It could be taken a step further by covering with plastic. The wetter you keep the soil, the more easily root or crown rot will set in, so frequent overwatering can sometimes work. I don't think this technique works well with many plants that have deep taproots, for instance, yellow dock. Canada thistle is a tough perennial that can easily regenerate from it's roots, and I prefer to dig it up or at the very least pull out what I can as frequently as possible, there's no faster way to remove a weed from sight anyways.
Water the weeds? Lol.
@@Xzenoph It does sound counterintuitive, but if you ever noticed an area in someone's yard where their dog always goes, it can become a small patch of desert because the "watering" is killing the plants off.
I looked it up, Canadian thistle has edible young leaves.
You confirmed my suspicion that thistle came in last year’s mulch! This Spring I laid a thick layer of newspaper before mulch and weeds are fewer - but yesterday I was digging thistle way deep down to get the root. I’ll keep digging til they’re gone! Thanks!
I don't have a garden where I live now but I'm moving to a new place with the room and a huge green house so I'm watching your channel to brush up for next spring, thanks for the content.
Luke, your ability to deliver not so great news and still smile is awesome! I wish you guys were closer to me so I could shop in your store! 😊
Maybe one day!
Say what you will... but Fire is working! I have vinica and rhizome lateral grasses. I'm trying not to alow the photosynthetic process by destroying the surface leaves with fire and simultaneously not turning up the seed bank. It's working pretty well!
Nebraska here. We have bindweed, timothy grass and buttonweed. Among others.
Bindweed is my problem in Michigan too.
@@suzannebinsley5940 In western colorado, too.
I acquired one bindweed plant from a neighbor's donation to my day lily garden. It has taken TEN years of persistent snipping/removal a dozen times every summer to get rid of it, and even now I check the area to see if it has returned. It's the most tenacious weed I've ever encountered, but my persistence has finally paid off. I think.....
Always great videos and vibes. Alot of these weeds are very beneficial so save and dry the roots when you dig them out. Especially the dandelion 😊
Great tips! Instead of sending those weeds to the landfill, you could leave them in the black garbage bag for a week or so out in the hot summer sun. That will kill them off and then leave them safe to compost. I chop mine up and then leave them in a bucket for a week to dry out before composting. I do get rid of seed heads though.
I had a bad infestation of canada thistle in my yard. Multiple spots that i found mature plants growing. My strategy was with the large plants to glove up and pull them out manually and trying to get as much of the root out with it as possible. Then i covered it with fresh grass clippings to stop it from growing back in that spot. Turns out matted down grass clippings works pretty well to choke out weeds. The smaller ones i burned out once a week with a propane torch. weed seeds cant germinate if they are charcoal. By the end of that summer most of the spots had been successfully killed off. Best tools i have purchased for weed control has been a weed dragon (a propane fuel torch on a long stick) and a belt torch from the hardware store. belt torch has a pull trigger on/off so you don't have to waste fuel on small precision weeding between plants and the weed dragon is great for clearing larger areas like in paths and between rows in the garden. Bunus: fire is organic.
I'm so glad that you came through the procedure, OK. Hopefully, the results will be positive, and you'll get some answers that will help you. Love ya lots!
I spent many years using every thing under the sun to no avail. so I moved to removal for areas where I have not used thick cardboard. I find if I give the removal spot a decent dose of Vinegar it seems to clear a somewhat larger area. Not sure if it some how gets to the root system or its pure luck either way It does seem to help. But cardboard and pulling them are the only effective way to get rid of any weed. Thanks for the video, always fun and informative.
In areas I don’t want dandelions (my front lawn) I walk around and dead head the flowers. Easy & good exercise. After 2 years in my current home, this year I’ve had 2 flowers to dead head so far. Looking at my front lawn now, zero in sight.
For the other undesirable plants, among the flower beds, I’m learning early & frequent intervention by pulling them up as youngsters is best. For the grape arbors, chickens and milky spore are winning the battle against the Japanese beetles. A happy accident is as the chickens have scratched under the grapes looking for bugs, the area is being naturalized by spreading purple viola. I love violas.
I have a warm compost where any seeds or roots die from the heat. I think of weeds as more material. I also use weeds in teas to use as fertilizer. All good.
I deal with Bermuda grass. Cardboard sheet mulching doesn't work for long. I've had it grow through over a foot of mulch. This year I decided to dig out the area around my garden and lay down some cardboard and woodchips. We'll see how it goes.
Here on our Farm we've been working on mitigation of Hemlock for last 2 years! Have to NEVER let it go to seed as it has a 2 year seed bank in the soil!
Its everywhere and it hurts lol!
My problem here in MN is Nettle. I’ve been manually pulling them when I can. There seems to be way less of them. But they still are coming up here and there. You motivated me to keep going. Thx.
I previously had Virginia copperleaves, clovers, dandelions, and wandering jews in my garden when I started over earlier this year. Plucking them out and uprooting clover bulbs was the best strategy for me. The wandering jews also tried to take over another bed where I have my corn and other plants.
Hey Luke, lovin' the channel from Kansas City!
Quick note - when you put your weeds at the curb, that likely means they're just ending up in the city's supply of compost. Also, ending up your neighbors' compost and gardens if your city has a free or low-cost compost and mulch program for residents.
I'm doing this also for bindweed - its two years now and they still seem pretty vigorous. But I'm not giving up.
We bought a house after the garden had been left for two summers-the previous owners both died of prolonged illness. Then we did not realize how much a problem Canada Thistle is. Our landscape designer told us to tarp the entire area for three summer months, and patrol the edges daily. Had a heavy tarp down from late September last year, and starting to see the plants come up around the edges. We will see what happens by the end of the summer. We spent last summer digging, but as Luke said, it just comes back stronger.
It comes back stronger until it doesn’t. Keep up on it! :)
I have the same issue. Former owner lived here 10+ years. I bought the house when there was snow cover. Turns out there are tons of flower beds that they were too ill to take care of. I was pregnant when I bought the house. I wasn't really able to do anything about the flower beds for a couple of years. If only Canada thistle were something we could eat exclusively as a food we would be set for life. Our neighbors don't have it. I guess that we got it from the bird feeder based on this video.
I have been struggling with Canada thistle for 5 years! I have been ruthlessly pulling it for 3 years, including digging up the entire root system to the best of my ability last spring. VERY frustrating. It has even sprouted up into my patio pavers, meaning I can't access those roots. I hope this battle starts to turn in my favor soon.
A while ago I tried to dig up a Canada Thistle as it had come up in my new garden. It was just one plant so I thought, "I'll just dig it up roots and all, no problem." I followed the roots and dug down almost three feet and then, following the root, another three feet towards the neighbours place before I gave up. It came back a few weeks later. Very tough plant. I ended up doing what you suggested for the next five years but as I couldn't do anything about the neighbours plants I had to dig up each new thistle as it came up. It encouraged the plant to go somewhere else. I never got rid of it but it had almost stopped trying to come into my place before I moved.
These things showed up in my yard two years ago and I’ve been fighting them ever since. Thanks for letting me what I’m dealing with.
Most of the plants that people consider "weeds" are actually edible and highly nutritional. Canada thistle is one of these. I grow most of these "Weeds" on purpose. They are actually a big part of my herbal garden.
I was going thru the comments looking for this kind of statement.
Wild edibles. It's a good idea to get to know them and may be important to be able to identify them in case of hard times.
We have stinging nettles, Virginia creeper, and creeping Charlie that invade every year. I allow the stinging nettle at the back slope behind my fenced portion of yard bcs it is edible, and a great deterrent for people cutting thru my property from the apartments behind us. If it comes under the fence I try to stop it.
The creeping Charlie invades the grass, but I do fight it in the garden plots.
The Virginia creeper has been the worst issue of all, its all toxic and I've managed to kill it back these last few years, it also grew on the slope behind the fence and was coming up past all my attempts to weed block. I went gang busters on it a few seasons ago, and it has been easier to deal with since.
And i forgot to mention the dandelion and clover all over the rest of the grass.... great wild edibles...
The definition of a weed is any plant you don't want in a particular location.
And medicinal as well!!
You can have mine, free, if you come and dig them yourself! 😂
Agreed on some things, but if it's an invasive spreader that's going to easily go outside the garden and crowd out natives.... :/
Thistle is mildly toxic to humans snd livestock.
The medicinal uses of the toxin(applied in low enough doses to be safe) are not worth the tradeoffs and there are many superior options that do not share the same downsides as cultivating Thistle.
We did physical removal for the last 3 years of this darned Canada thistle. Tried all the other options mentioned, also. Finally, I decided to cover everything in a very thick, good quality landscape fabric. I discovered when pulling them out manually a couple of years ago that I’m very allergic to it, so this was the best option for us. Hopefully this will solve our problem!
East Texas Piney Woods here. I get dewberry and greenbriar vines. Ouchies! They are impossible to get rid of, so I just cut them back to the ground, occasionally digging some of the roots. It's a constant battle! Weeding while going to the garden is a habit well worth developing, and it's a little bit of good exercise.
Wow! I learned so much today! Great video. So glad I recently found your channel and subscribed. I use small animal bedding as mulch. No weeds and no jumping worms!
Stop blaming thistles on Canada lol.🇨🇦❤️
Interesting. Isn't it actually from Russia to Canada and from there to the lower 48?
In my area, puncture vine is pervasive. Use a hoe, scrape it into a pile and bag it as soon as it's identifiable.
@@mrcryptozoic817 yes I love that! Let’s call it the Russia thistle! 🤪
It actually originated from Europe... signed Canadians 😂
O Canada. Last year at my house it was your smoke, this year your thistle!
🇺🇸💙🇨🇦
@@peggyh4805 sorry! Lol 🇨🇦❤️
I have a big Canadian thistle in my yard. It’s good to know I’m not wasting my time pulling them out. Downside is they are in my neighbor’s yard and they are doing anything about them, so I’ll probably never be rid of them.
Campanula creeping bellflower is my nemesis. Tried black plastic for a year to no avail. It's still going in my ground cover in the shade and pulling to control but it's not gone.
I’ve been calling it “creeping hellflower.”
You need a nail. There's a hand tool called silver nail? You can tease out the roots easily with it. Easier when soil is a bit damp, not dry.
Yep, I never had Canada thistle until I had a large load of wood chips dumped and it took me awhile to get them moved and distributed. By then, the original area was full of thistles and I've been battling it for 5+ years now. Tried the vinegar and even tried black plastic - they just spread! Have been working on your method of continued digging but hard to get out there every day.
I ended up scraping all the topsoil off and sifted out all the roots, i double dug while i was at it. still some got through but they where a lot easier to pull.
When I moved to this house eight years ago, the front yard was a bit of grass, with a bunch of dirt (leftover as part of a construction project,) and a BUNCH of dandelions. There were so many, that I was counting them per square foot rather than how many in the yard. The problem with dandelions is not the cute little flowers, it's mainly that if left alone the plant gets bigger and wider, so it can shade out competitors. The first year I tried just plucking the flowers at the end of each day. (I let the bees munch on them during the day.) That helped, but in the second year I started digging out the dandelions as deep as I could. That helped a lot, and where the second year I was spending 1-2 hours per day digging them up, on my hands and knees (not easy over 60, BTW,) the third year it was only 40-80 minutes every couple of days, (or better 20-40 minutes every day.) Every year since, they have been getting fewer and fewer.
This year, I have one or two I need to deal with every day, and most of them are fairly small, compared to what I used to see.
So, yes, it's a pain to remove this stuff by hand, vs a chemical concoction. But, it works.
Dandelions are a great helper to loosen hard ground. Their long tap root brings up nutrients and makes the ground better for planting. If you leave them alone a few years (LoL) they will actually go away once their job is done.
I use a kettle of boiling water to stop them overpowering the grass.
To kill your weeds that you pulled out of the ground, break them up into pieces and leave them out in the sun until they are totally shriveled up. I do this with dandelion plants that I dig up. I then put the material in my waste compost pile that is clay soil with organic material that I am disposing. If anything springs up there, I'll notice it and easily remove it again, but so far nothing bad has popped up.
Dandelion is not a weed, it's a beneficial herb.
Thistle is great for light flowers on the seeds that can carry them miles in a good wind - watch up wind and know your blowing seeds and try not to till them in!! In northern ohio I have baked a patch out with black plastic three august weeks - found two at the perimeter week four dug them up and 4' of plastic till the next may!
A good soaking rain, leather gloves, pull them out roots and all, if the root broke off I sprayed Round-up in the hole, eventually babies popped up and I gently removed them...Leather Gloves!
I agree, Canada Thistle is best removed by physical pulling. Good gloves help! Pulling them up from the base when they’re still tiny reduces chances of getting poked in the fingers. I use them in compost tea.
Fiskars makes an incredible weed remover. You step on it and lift and it comes out, root and all. Works especially good for these weeds. Less good on dandelion.
The bane of my North Carolina garden is Florida Betony! It is also a communal weed, but also makes tubers. If you leave any little part of a root or tuber, you can't get rid of it.
We are dealing with a weed that looks like ground cover. We pull and pull and it’s back in just a day or two. I have no idea what it is but it’s so invasive!
I would use cardboard but my peonies and coneflowers are in the same bed.
The constant removal method is what is finally working for me with dollar weed here in the South. Even just pulling emerging leaves where I can't pull the underground vine is working.
Bindweed is my bane. I did some cardboard sheet mulching to kind of "start over" because previous homeowner let it get out of control and no amount of weeding would help. But it also grows via roots so I know it will come back but hopefully now that I have the cardboard and mulch over it, it will be slow to return and I can stay on top of it.
Thanks… I’ll try the cardboard mulch. Regular wood mulch doesn’t help much
@@billinburlington5507 I did cardboard, then dirt then wood mulch so it was a pretty thick layer to smother those weeds. I've done it before with success. Great big reduction in weeds
Bindweed is the same as thistle. If it finds a gap in the cardboard it will sprout up between it. The best way that I have found to get rid of these types of weeds is to dig them up with a digging fork. I also try to trace the root as far as I can and dig up all of the root that I can find. This is very labor intensive, but I have tried everything else, and digging them up repeatedly is the only way that works. I have been gardening for over 50 years and have moved several times. Only to have to start over again battling these invasive weeds.
I apply 2,4d in solution with a meat injector tool. Thistle roots can be 18 feet deep.
In my garden I'm dealing with pasture weeds since I'm surrounded by pasture. These are serious weeds let me tell you. Kochia, Russian sage, bindweed, and pigweed to name a few, and many drop seeds by the millions. Dandelions are no big deal around these parts. We have bindweed but it's not been that much of a problem. There is also some bermuda grass and it's relentless.
I get mine from my neighbour's yard on both sides. It's frustrating.
I pick mine as well as i do not use any harsh chemicals in my gardens. 🌻🌹🥦🌞
It is a tough weed and it's roots go deep which is good in some ways. But it has seeds like crazy. I find that planting potatoes in rows close together so that you have to hill using a hoe does help keep it to a dull roar.... plus shade helps too. I also dig down beside it so I can break it off as deep as possible. Good info!
a narrow,lightweight ,sharpened trenching shovel is a great weeding tool. You can even cut a "vee" notch (or shallow semicircle) in the front to help corral the target. Its nice because you can go deep, but more often just skil the surface or just under the surface of mulch to cut the weeds. Don't let weeds go to seed and keep in mind that not all of the seed bank will germinate at once. Kochia nd Russian thistle are the big ones out here in Colorado. Baby Kochia can just be rubbed off with your foot.
Yep agree. I'm in sw Kansas surrounded by pastures full of the weeds you mentioned and more. It's crazy how many there are!
There are a bunch of these in my yard. I need to start digging them out.
Because both my neighbor and myself feed birds in the winter, I spread pre-emergence herbicide under the bird feeders and in other vulnerable areas every Spring.
This greatly reduces my weeding work.
( Thanks for mentioning corn meal!)
However, creeping weeds such as "creeping Charlie" continue to be a yearly problem, requiring a lot of physical work to remove...
Round up works great. Use it sparingly and properly.
Bindweed is the bane of my existence! I can’t look through all the comments (tho I did read some)… does anyone have advice on bindweed? I try to keep up with it early in the season, but I have so much in my modest city garden…
I'm in S Fla. & l get these leggy weeds that have a root that looks like a carrot! I have no idea what it is, but they can take over an entire bed in one week! I spend more time weeding than anything else.
Ours is Creeping Jenny. It kills the thistles!! Absolutely hate that stuff. I will try this on that too. 😊
Dandelions are the bane of my yard. Started digging th em out one by one...but as you mentioned...yes I have to get out there everyday because they do the same. Sprout up somewhere else.
I'm in Zone 9b in So Cal and most of my weed issues are with dandelions and spotted spurge. My neighbor behind and upwind from me let's his weeds flourish so my garden is the "lucky" recipient of his weedy largesse. I just keep a Hori Hori on my belt and use as needed.
Dandelion and sowthistle aren't weeds at my house, they are treasured food for my tortoises.
I love this! Thanks for sharing. Yay for your tortoises.
With a sad lack of tortoises, I eat them both myself.
I have been fighting them for years. I have actually shifted all the dirt in my raised beds, picking every tiny piece .of root by hand and I have not eliminated them completely.
The weed that's giving me the biggest problem right now is mugwort. It grows via thick runners, so it's impossible to pull up without disrupting my strawberries. The mugwort was there first, and has been there since before the garden, so I don't know if there's any way to get rid of it without chopping them down every day. Yes, I know mugwort is edible, but it's also quite bitter, and I haven't found a good use for it yet.
Mugwort is also medicinal.
Bind weed is my nemesis. It’s now in my grass and moving to my garden. Every spring I dig up as many roots as I can. It seems to only be growing.
I work in a perrenial garden in southern Michigan and in the past 7-10 days (mid April) have removed a dozen 5 gallons buckets of mostly bitter cress. Bitter cress is a winter annual and if you let it set seed, you will battle it again in august. If you crunch the numbers, will each plant producing hundreds of seeds, times thousands of plants what you have is job security 😂
Pro tip. or actually amateur tip. Don't throw those weeds out. Don't compost them. Throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with some water. let them sit in there for a week or so and decompose. Then you have yourself some liquid fertilizer you didn't have to pay for.
It's a pervasive myth that the tea you are making will fertilize your plants. The best way to to help your soil and unlock nutrients for your plants is finished compost. I used to think the compost tea was the way to go, but learned it's a waste of time.
@@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919 I would love to hear an explanation as to how it does not help, because it certainly does. Plant matter decomposes, those nutrients go back into the ground period. Whether it is finished compost, or chop and drop. It breaks down at different rates, but it all goes back into the soil. Making compost tea with invasive plants creates an anaerobic environment which will kill the roots and allows you to dump that plant matter back into the ground or into compost. If you compost without doing that, those roots are just going to grow and spread.
Not sure I would risk it with Canada thistle.
@@andicarlson5870 Not sure what there is to risk honestly. If its been soaking in an anaerobic environment and sitting out in the sun there is no chance its going to grow lol. If you have ever done this sort of thing, you probably wouldn't be worried about it either.
What that person described is not compost tea. Compost tea is heavily aerated and is made from finished compost and often soil from under healthy perennial. A balance of sugars (generally unsulfured blackstrap molasses) and fats/proteins fish emulsion encourages both fungal and bacterial life.
Basically, if you catch a lot of plant diseases at the start and whip up a batch (24hrs) you can generally obliterate things like tomato blight (the good bacteria and fungi outcompete the pathogen) and discourage some pests (applied foliarly).
I fertilize with compost, but I back it up with compost teas@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919
I have a weed that has blooms that look like tomato flowers. It makes a small cherry sized fruit full of seeds. But the plant is covered in sharp thorns, the leaves, stem, even down to the roots. It also spreads by roots and leaving just one part of it does the same you described by dividing and multiplying. It's also poisonous and can even kill livestock. If you get poked by one of the thorns it hurts for a week. I dig it up but it keeps coming back and we have it on a lot of our property...acres.
this is how i remove himalayan blackberry, its actually very easy because despite having multiple new shoots as opposed to the one main shoot like you mention, they come back weaker and weaker each time. i only have to go out for 10 minutes on the weekend to remove any new tiny shoots that emerge from the ground in the areas i know have blackberry rhizomes.
QUESTION @MIgardner
If we dig up the Thistle and then put corn meal into the hole, do you think it would stop the roots from growing?
Great video. Thanks. What do you recommend to combat quack grass (crab grass) that has infested my yard?