Fwd: RC: RC: Re: Yellow Star Thistle

["hope lundquist" <wwho20@hotmail.com>]

Hi Kathy: Don't use Roundup on Star Thistle unless you want to kill the 
grass around it also. Roundup kills everything. There is a new spray just 
for Star Thistle that won't effect other native grasses. Check with your 
local Dept.of Agriculture. It is rather pricey tho. Bye Hope

========================================================================
>From: Magnumsmom@aol.com
>To: mabbott@wizwire.com, ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: RC:  RC:  Re: Yellow Star Thistle
>Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 10:57:52 EDT
>
>Hi Mary,
>
>There are many pages about noxious weeds out there on
>internet.  I did a search on google and came up with this
>one that lists many good papers on the subject:
>
>http://www.invasivespecies.gov/profiles/yellowstar.shtml
>
>I pulled my horse Magnum out of his pasture home 4 years
>ago here in the California bay area because he was eating
>the yellow star thistle out there.  I asked my vet about it
>and he said that while it takes a lot of yellow star thistle
>to cause the palsy-like poisoning, once the horse has ingested
>enough, there is no cure.  He said it is very sad... to see a
>horse who wants to eat, but can't.  A horse such inflicted
>will simply starve to death.  No cure.  I asked if we could test
>to see how much toxin Magnum had in his system, and he said
>there is no way to tell.  The only management is to remove the
>yellow star thistle from the pasture, or remove the horse.
>
>There were other things to eat in the pasture.  This was in May
>so there was even green grass.  Magnum was eating yellow star
>thistle anyways.  Once a horse aquires a taste for something
>they will continue to eat it.
>
>I wrote to UC Davis because I found an article about a bug they
>were using to kill it.  I guess the pest works, but you must continue
>to introduce it.  Like fly larve management.  I don't know if you can
>get the bugs, but you should contact UC Davis about it.  I remember
>them telling me I could get the bugs at a certain time of year.
>
>I asked what time of year yellow star thistle dies out, and guess
>what?  It doesn't.  Once it grows in the spring, you have it until
>next winter.  Green.  noxious.  I don't know if the dead plants
>carry the toxin, but I would assume it does.
>
>Yellow star thistle covers our state now.  It is a non-native plant.
>This is one of the reasons there is a push to move to certified weed-
>free hay in our state.  If you drive from corner to corner seeing the
>infestation of yellow star thistle and fiddleneck, it's enough to grab
>the bottle of round-up and start sraying.  After I'd moved Magnum
>out of his pasture (which made him really upset so he paced and then
>suffered a tendon injury that took us almost a year to clear up), I
>found a bottle of honey in the back of our cubboard.  I'd bought it
>at one of those fruit stands out along 120.  It said "yellow star thistle"
>honey... as in the bees made all the honey fron yellow star thistle
>flowers.  Can you imagine?  I felt really ill to my stomach.  That bottle
>of honey went straight into the trash can.
>
>Hope this helps.  There is lots of info on yellow star out on the web.  Me?
>I'd get rid of the stuff and try really hard to make sure it didn't come 
>back.
>And make sure you aren't bringing more in in your hay.
>
>Kathy Myers
>in No. Cal. with Magnum the TB ex-racer
>and Mr Maajistic... resident endurance arab
>
>
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