Should I Burn??

Bryce Frazier · Mar 9, 2015

Mom told me that this week I am allowed to burn my 2 acre hay field...

It is mostly canary grass, but there is brome, timothy, and orchard in it as well.

I see LOTS of guys around here burning ditches and stuff, but they don't burn the whole meadow. They are just doing weed control right??

The only weed I have is the Thistles in one part of it... HATE those things!! Will burning get rid of them?!

Bryce

Aaron SEIA · Mar 9, 2015

Burning won't kill a thing. It just gets rid of last years "trash". What will get rid of thistles is a good shot of 2,4-D or any similar pasture type spray. Roundup works well too. Mix in a small garden sprayer and start spot spraying.
AaronSEIA

T in NE · Mar 9, 2015

Fire will kill pretty much anything not native as
long as it gets hot enough. Trouble is getting it
hot enough without losing control of it.

RayP(MI) · Mar 9, 2015

Thistles are perenial. Roots and underground part of plant will probably not be killed by surface fire. May kill off some seeds and above ground foliage. But they'll me back in the spring.

Bryce Frazier · Mar 9, 2015

Spraying is out of the option...

We as a family don't want that stuff on our field, and I don't have a way of applicating it!

36F30 · Mar 9, 2015

(quoted from post at 15:16:28 03/09/15) Spraying is out of the option...

We as a family don't want that stuff on our field, and I don't have a way of applicating it!

Thistles are bi-annual except for the Canada thistle. If you don't want to spray them then you have to go out and dig them. Thistles are noxious weeds and by law must not be allowed to seed out, and hay with viable seed in it is illegal to transport.

Glen SW Wi · Mar 9, 2015

If no chemicals then you will just have to get out there and pull them after they come up and the ground is wet. Don't let then bloom. Might take a few years of doing this to finally get rid of them unless you have a neighbor who doesn't kill off his.

Wheatfarmer · Mar 9, 2015

Burning doesn't help unless you have a lot of old grass trash that you need to get off. Thistle can be controlled the best with 24D, or roundup. We have found the best way is as it flowers cut heads off and put in trash, Cut stem off and spot spray. Each year there will be less. After three years you will only find a plant or two. We controlled a whole 45 acre patch. You just have to keep at it. Our biggest problem was Musk Thistle.

David G · Mar 9, 2015

Burning at the RIGHT time can be effective in weed management, the broad leafs should come up before the grasses, that is the time to get them. You do need a good bed of dead grass to get the fire hot.

Gary Mitchell · Mar 9, 2015

Seemed like when I was a kid that I spent the better part of my life packing a grub hoe around our 2 big pastures chopping up thistles by the root. gm

CKain(MI) · Mar 9, 2015

if you pull, get the root. best is to dig it out.

Den N Ms · Mar 9, 2015

Thistles are perenial and you have to get the root or they will come back up.Dig with a grub hoe or a spade.if any seed is left on them cut it off with pruners and bag before digging,so not to scatter seed,then burn them.

farmerwithmutt · Mar 9, 2015

Have you noticed thistles don't grow on roadside? The university tried to grow them and couldn't. I find the best way to get rid of them is good thick grass stands. Also watch your timing when cutting them let them get close to blooming before cutting then they can't head out and develop seed before frost .There is an old saying about this and the date but I can't remember it now but it works.
Burning will help remove trash and make it easier to cut.i would cut maybe a round or two and use that as a backstop for the fire

Phil-mar Farms · Mar 9, 2015

My mother told me she would go out in the pasture with her grandma and a bucket of salt and a hoe.[1920s]. Great grandma would chop off the thistle and ma would put salt on the root. The sheep would eat the root to get the salt. These same sheep ate all the poison ivy on my grandpa's farm. I did't see any until I went to Boy Scout camp.

Bob Harvey · Mar 9, 2015

You 'might' be successful spot burning with a 'Tiger' torch. Has to get hot enough to burn the root. Luck !

JD Seller · Mar 9, 2015

They are burning just to get the dead debris off the grass. It will green up faster and cleaner. Also some types of prairie grass seed requires a burn to actually germinate. Burning will have zero effect on thistles.

Since you can't/won't use chemicals than pulling or hoeing are about your only choices in thistle control.

Like some of the other fellows posted. thistles are considered a noxious weed. In most states you are required to control them on your property. Also you not supposed to sell hay that has thistles in the hay.

I wish you luck because I have hay and pasture fields that would be over run with thistles if I did not spray them regularly to keep the thistles under control.

If it is a very small area then you maybe able to keep them under control by hand but you will need to starve the root system out by not letting it have much leaf area/time. It will take years to do as well.

Brady V · Mar 9, 2015

Ditches are burned to clear them of the vegetation that impedes water flow. To control thistle, you need to know which species you have. Canada thistle is virtually impossible eliminate without chemicals. It can be controlled with constant mowing or insects that your local Weed and Pest district or State University should be able to help you obtain. Trying to kill canada thistle with a shovel just makes it mad.

schumy ia · Mar 9, 2015

burned off three acres full of sandburs a few years ago , thinking it would help. when the smoke cleared, all that was left was the prettiest burs you ever saw

armand tatro · Mar 9, 2015

Build a hog tight fence around the thistle patch and pasture hogs on it for 3 or 4 years. Armand

ss55 · Mar 9, 2015

Which type of thistle do you have? Bull thistles and Russian thistles are easy to control by chopping them off at or below ground level to starve the root. As others have said, don't let them bloom.

Canadian thistles are very difficult to kill without strong chemicals like Tordon. 24-D just dries the top but has little effect on the root. Try digging up a healthy thistle root to see how deep they go. Burning won't kill Canadian thistle roots.

cjunrau · Mar 9, 2015

Canada thistle you just have to cut it off and put water down the stem and it will die. Doesn't hurt to use a syringe with salt water in it.

Mike M · Mar 10, 2015

I'd sure hate to be the guy that started that fire. If it goes out of control it could burn thousands of acres.

Bryce Frazier · Mar 10, 2015

Well, these thistles seems to come back every year, they don't spread out very fast, and are really in two "spots" in the meadow.

IF they are healthy and take off, they will grow up 2 1/2 - 3 feet tall, and have a few tiny purple flowers on them.

We also have those HUGE thistles! They get the massive purple flowers on them, but we chop those down as soon as we see them.

Anyway, these little thistles HATE the lawn mower, that will pretty well wipe them out, and when the grass (hay) grows up around them, they start to die out!

I think I might try burning a patch of them... Worth a shot just to see what will happen huh? We have water tanks we put on the 4 wheeler, and then our creek is like 4 feet away from where I want to burn.... Run away shouldn't be a problem!

Thanks! Bryce

Should I Burn??

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