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Help! Thistle!

9 years ago

My husband and I are battling thistle in our landscaping. We have pulled them out, sprayed, and mulched. We've even poured boiling water on them! Without fail the thistle comes back within a week. This is a new problem and something we would like to remedy. Any ideas??

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Comments (2)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Here's another discussion about the same plant.

You need to dig them out, rather than pulling, because of the running roots.

Mulch or boiling water will not faze them. The bed opus pretty much empty so, personally I would thoroughly dig the entire area - with a fork, not a spade.
Lynn in Parkton, Maryland
9 years ago
The roots of Canadian thistle are unbelievably massive. I tried to kill this for years and finally was successful. The only way we won was - rubber gloves, undiluted concentrated roundup, and a paint brush. If you can paint the plant around the time it is blooming, the roots will be at their weakest. The link below shows you what thistle roots can look like. Good luck.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&ei=eB1HWbDFFIP6-AGo3LbYBw&q=canada+thistle+root+system&oq=canadian+thistle+root&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.0i10k1j0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.1959.14088.0.15073.28.25.3.14.14.0.425.3441.1j23j4-1.25.0..3..0...1.1.64.mobile-gws-hp..0.27.1627.3..0j5j41j0i131k1j0i131i46k1j0i13k1.8pADZUz9Lqw#imgrc=9wYJfVwZHpi9-M:
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