Today we are going to get ready to visit all of our patches of Canada thistle. Now that most plants have flower buds, it is time to spray them with glyphosate (RoundUp). We will mix solution today and spray tomorrow when it is dry and not windy. We plan to mix dye with the herbicide so we will know what we have sprayed. This variety of thistle propagates by seed and insidiously by rhizomes creating an elaborate and extensive root system. We've pulled plants by hand using spading forks to loosen the soil and come up with all sorts of evidence, multiple plants off one root section, old dead plants leading to viable roots. Rhizomes can extend 15 feet and vertical roots 6-15 feet. Uncontrolled, the plants take over everything and and use up virtually all the resources. Tree cover that eventually grows will stop them.
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