Yellow Star Thistle

["Jeanne Slominski" <EnduranceMorgan1@home.com>]

The spray is called Transline. And, yes, it is expensive, but it does work! A little goes a long way - very concentrated. Also takes care of the purple star thistle, among others. One does need to be consistent, though.

 

Just haven't quite figured out when is the best time to spray. Seems the various thistles have different growing times.

 

Transline says you can spray and leave the horses on the pasture. Not sure I'd want to actually do that.

 

Hope this helps - Jeanne

----- Original Message -----

From: hope lundquist

To: Magnumsmom@aol.com

Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net

Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 2:53 PM

Subject: RC: Fwd: RC: RC: Re: Yellow Star Thistle

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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