Does anyone know an effective way to kill, with malice and definitely, these little green thistles. I have tried using something called Brush Killer, and it doesn't kill the roots. The roots of these thistles, by the way, are epic. They are conical bulbs, and extremely hard to dig up. The thistles are crowding out the leaves of the hedge, ruining it! Maybe the best "solution" I can hope for has to be, trim, trim, trim, trim????? Just keep cutting this stuff and hope it gets discouraged? I suppose that is what I will try next, unless I get a better idea from someone here. These nasty thistles are all throughout the front half of the hedge. Thoughts? Recommendations? Commiserations? Oddly, I saw a close relative of this plant for sale in Home Depot - it looked exactly the same except it had no thorns!
I commiserate with you. My nemesis is bind weed. No solutions. I just keep at it and just barely keep it in check. Good luck, and maybe someone will have a solution.
Try using a spot specific weed killer. We have a cone that fits over the spray head on a one gallon sprayer, and we can spot kill weeds without damaging surrounding plants. We made our cone from a one liter clear plastic soda bottle with the bottom cut off. The neck of the bottle accepts the spray nozzle, and the bottle keeps the weed killer off other plants. Good luck--this is not a one-step solution, but it has worked for us with persistent weeds.
Go to a farm store and get a 24D weed killer ! Just screen any plant you want to keep ! Its better if applied during summer heat and growth period ! But follow instructions on container ! You may have a problem with the thistles growing in the hedge @ What I would do is find the roots and apply after cutting the thistle ! That would get the 24D down to the roots !
I am having trouble seeing the thistle. Perhaps your north american thistles have a different appearance than ours. Could you point out which plant/s you are speaking of. I only bring this up because the Rx for a thistle may be different than for some other type of plant.
Its not our southern thistle but many call these vines with thorns thistle even though they are not the same variety ! Ours here are singular plants with purple flowers but will spread just the same but easier to eliminate !
Is the thistle that ferny looking plant at the base of your hedge? If so it looks like what we call asparagus fern....( Although it is not an asparagus.) Ours is an indoor houseplant but does not have thorns. I have seen them growing outdoors in Florida, but again, without thorns. How long is that hedge that it is growing in? How attached are you to that hedge? I ask because a drastic solution would be to yank everything out, eradicate the thistle thing for good and start over. Once an invasive has gotten into a hedge, it's the devil to get it out. You have my sympathy.
We are thinking along the same lines, Cayu...except that I would also like to suggest wild asparagus as a further possibility. See this foto from Word Press: You may need to enlarge this foto with your fingers.
I dunno Cayu. I will look that one up. A point is that the plants in the hedge do not have to be thistles. It would be good for this poster if we could discover what plant it is so that the best solution can be carried out. I have to say, that plant sure does look familiar. It’s just the thorns that get me....the thorns. Yeh, the thorns are the sticking point.
the original post was a plant called Sprengeri fern. in warm climates it is horrible. it does have a thorn at each stem junction. nasty tiny piercing thorn. use gloves and pull pull pull. them I suppose maybe a weed killer will work... the other that S posted is Plumosa fern. it also has a thorn at each petiole which is like a razor. much easier to kill in my humble opinion. it can be dehydrated to death but the Sprengeri has little water bulbs to keep it alive for a long time. here is a great photo line up of the different types of fern we normally would have access to. https://leafyplace.com/asparagus-ferns/
we have a vine called "greenbriar" it is a vine. nasty horrible https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/vines/smilax/controlling-greenbrier-weeds.htm
