Email exchange today between myself and Ricky Linex, a
wildlife biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in
Weatherford. (We met at the Riparian workshop last week.)
Hi, Ricky: I
just got in from taking a break at my desk to go pull thistle. I just
see more and more of it. It's IN our meadow and our neighbor's adjoining
lot. At least they mow theirs. We let ours
go for the wildflowers. But I'm just really depressed. We'll NEVER get
it all pulled before it goes to seed. Plus, it looks like some has
already gone to seed at the bottom-most flower nearest the ground. This
stuff is WILEY.
ARE we doing any good by going out there every day and pulling the thistle? It feels pointless. It looks like it's gonna win.
Thoughts? Now excuse me while I go sit in a corner and bawl.
sheryl
P.S.
I LOVE my Master Naturalist classes. But, like I told my husband, now
I'm getting even more things to worry and obsess about. :-)
Ricky's reply:
Knowledge is a scary thing isn’t it? I read your "Does it Matter?" post last night.
This
week, we set up a wildlife contest in Palo Pinto County for FFA and 4-H
students. From the highway, we had to travel 2 miles down a gravel road
to the ranch, then
4.5 miles down a ranch road to the area chosen for the contest. Over
75 percent of the distance along the ranch road had malta star thistle growing
on one or both sides of the road. You first ask yourself, How in the
world did this plant get there in the first
place? If it was along a public highway, I could understand how seed
could have been deposited along the route, but this road has seen little
traffic other than the rancher.
However,
the ranch just completed a large pavilion last month at the end of this
road. Cement trucks, carpenters, lumber delivery trucks, plumbers,
electricians, stone
masons, septic installers and water line installers have all traveled
that road in the past six months. That likely explains how a remote area
could be contaminated by the seeds. If such a remote area can be
affected, what hope is there to keep it out of more
public areas? It is just showing up everywhere this year, like an
explosion of thistle trying to cover the ground that was exposed by the
drought of 2011.
I
walked along a creek in Hamilton County yesterday and saw the thistle
there. If you are looking, you will find this thistle. It must be
the year of the thistle. It may now be time to go to a diversified control using chemicals on
small plants (<6 inches tall) and continuing to pull large plants to
prevent seed production. The weed eater may also work on those tiny
seedlings present after pulling the larger plants. Begin monitoring the mowed areas to see if the thistles continue to
grow with side branches.
Remember what Winston Churchill said during WWII: “We
shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on
the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and
in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
We
must be like the British and continue to fight, never giving up. But
the fighting has to involve more than just one or two caring souls it
must include the entire
neighborhood, the entire city, county and even the state to push back
this threat.
It is a good fight. Keep up the good work.
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