Plant or weed?

[midget]

I am not all that good at identifying vegetation. We just moved into a new place and are doing some spring work in the landscaping and came across several of these? Plant or weed?

 

[pudly]

Not 100% sure, but it might be Canadian Thistle. Does it have a lot of little thorns around the edge of the leaves? Nasty. Pull out as much of the root as possible. Otherwise, It will spread and just become a pain. Canadian Thistle is considered an invasive weed by Indiana.

 

[mkgr22]

Not 100% sure, but it might be Canadian Thistle. Does it have a lot of little thorns around the edge of the leaves? Nasty. Pull out as much of the root as possible. Otherwise, It will spread and just become a pain. Canadian Thistle is considered an invasive weed by Indiana.

Looks like thistle to me, too!

And you might even be compelled by law to destroy them:

https://www.btny.purdue.edu/WeedScience/2005/WeedLaw05.pdf

 

[HuntMeister]

If it is a thistle I would strongly recommend that you do not pull it out by the root...been there done that. All this will accomplish is stimulating the roots to grow and you will soon be overrun with the nasty little plants everywhere. Thistle has a very large underground root system. Best way I have found to defeat this weed is to either spray it with a weed killer like roundup or keep it cut as low to the ground as you can.

 

[Hardscrable]

Appears to be thistle to me also. If a "young" enough plant, you MIGHT be able to pull out root with plant if moist yo wet soil condition. As they are perennials, if it is an older plant it will have a larger root system. When pulling, any remaining root portion will regrow. RoundUp may or may not work well on it. Round Up tank mixed with something like 24-D will work better ( caution: 24-d is death to flowers, etc. if it drifts to them when applying ). Absolute best results by spraying is if done in late fall when plant is putting nutrients into the root system before winter dormancy. If you only have one plant you can easily deal with it. If you have a large property and have a lot of thistle, proper spraying will be your friend.

 

[Flinttim]

Won't say it's a Canadian thistle but it's a thistle nonetheless. For whatever reason we have a bunch of it that has taken off on the dam of our pond.If you want rid of it spraying is the on ly option. On the upside in it's young tender stage it is an excellent survival food. Strip the thorny leaves off and boil the stems.

 

[midget]

Thank you! I will be nuking it this weekend then...

 

[pudly]

Make sure you get it before it grows vertically and puts out a seed head (like a thorny version of the dandelion seed head).

 

[Old Dog]

Definitely a plant! And a weed is just a plant in an undesired location, so... if you don't want it there then it is a weed. Advice on roundup and 2-4-D is spot on as I do think this is a type of thistle. Good luck with the treatment, oh, you may have to treat again in the fall as sometimes these things just don't want to die.

 

[singlestacksig]

put a bucket over it for a few weeks.. it will die

 

[1861navy]

It looks like Canadian thistle or bull thistle. Like all thistles it's edible, though even I don't reccomend it for that however they(thistles) in general are medicinal. Some better than others; like milk thistle for example is widely used for medicine and sow thistle, has very few spines, is great for eating.

As far as Canadian thistle or any thistle being an invasive weed, garlic mustard and lamb's quarters are way worse in my experience for being hard to kill. As well as garlic mustard killing off native plants in the area. Thankfully they are both edible too, as are most if not all the " weeds" people spend money to spray.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I have agricultural grade weed killer that I bought from a melon farmer in Princeton, IN. That stuff will kill just about anything.

This reminds me that I need to get the preen put out early this year.

 

[oldpink]

The leaves don't look quite right for Canadian thistle.
To me, it looks more like Bull thistle, but I could be wrong.

 

[bocefus78]

Most thistles have a waxy outer layer that resists Chem.

Stomp and twist your foot on said weed before spraying it to help open up the waxy layer for a faster kill.

2,4d
Gly (roundup)
Trimec

Those 3 will all kill it. Don't mix all 3! Pick 1.

2,4d and Trimec are turf safe. Gly is not.

 

[VERT]

Not Canadian. Hard to tell from picture but I think musk thistle. Might be a bull thistle. Musk thistle had a frosted white outer edge that is actually kind of pretty. Either way they are both biennial. They set a rosette in year one and then bolt and flower in year two. Round-up, 2,4-D or Trimec should control it as a spot treatment. Or it can be pulled since it isn't perennial like Canadian thistle. My guess is the taproot will be hard to pull though.

 

[Hardscrable]

I have agricultural grade weed killer that I bought from a melon farmer in Princeton, IN. That stuff will kill just about anything.

This reminds me that I need to get the preen put out early this year.

Not "agricultural grade" just full strength. Most home & garden versions of ag chemicals are basically deluted from original.

 

[nate77]

Definitely not Canada or bull thistle; believe me, I have tons of both.

I'd say it is some sort of flower if it's in your landscaping. I'd let it go, and see what it does. You can always use round up later if it doesn't work out.

 

[Hkindiana]

I have used roundup to remove all Johnson grass and 90% of the thistle on my 162 acres. Now I'm working on the multi flora rose, honeysuckle and locust trees, as well as the last of the thistle.

 

[Leadeye]

Better living through modern chemistry.

 

[pudly]

I have used roundup to remove all Johnson grass and 90% of the thistle on my 162 acres. Now I'm working on the multi flora rose, honeysuckle and locust trees, as well as the last of the thistle.

I'm working on removing a bunch of asian bush honeysuckle now (another invasive). Wish I had known what it was earlier. Now it is a substantial operation. Cut it down and you have to hit the stump with Roundup to prevent it from growing back. I'm sure I'm going to have to keep fighting stragglers for a while.