It’s not often I come down on the same side of an issue as the tree huggers. But this time I have to admit they’re right on. If you’ve been in Harriman State Park you know there is a serious thistle problem. You’ve seen them. They are tall, bushy, with big purple flowers and are absolutely horrible to walk through. They afflict fishermen, hikers, bikers, photographers and anyone else who visits the area. But since I collect medicinal herbs in the area, the last thing I want to see is herbicides sprayed indiscriminately in Island Park.
The Henry’s Fork Foundation (HFF) has come up with a perfect solution: death by bugs. They got a grant for $3,000 from the state of Idaho to release 2,500 small gall flies which, working with stem mining weevils to be released a short time later, will kill the thistles without the use of herbicides. Granted it would have been infinitely cheaper to get a gallon of broad-leaf herbicide and git ‘er done, but this is a very responsible way to accomplish the same thing in a way that doesn’t threaten the rest of the local environment in any way.
If you would like more information on how to get rid of thistles in your area without using herbicides, contact the Henry’s Fork Foundation and they can tell you how it’s done.
There is another method that is natural to eliminate weeds without herbicides “Flaming”, visit the weed dragon website and watch the video. http://www.weeddragon.com
Musk thistle can easily be controlled by cutting them off just below the ground. The bugs control for the first flush of flowers but not the second flush. There is likley not a musk thistle in eastern Idaho without some sort of bio control activity taking place and the weeds are rapidly expanding.
Flaming weeds in the Island Park area is a recipe for fire.
Natural way to control biennial weeds, pick up a shovel and get to work.
I had to check and see if the previous comment came from my dad. For him, everything always came back to the shovel. Try as I might, I can’t seem to escape that. Every time I try to put the shovel down, someone picks it back up and hands it to me.