Content
Sow thistle is one of the most common weeds found on many continents. Features of the weed instantly filling huge territories can only be amazed.
This weed has similarities to wheatgrass, so simply pulling the weed out of the ground is not enough. The piece of root remaining in the ground quickly gains strength and a new plant will appear on the site. The question of how to get rid of sow thistle forever has been worrying farmers for many centuries. Gardeners are still looking for ways to get the sow thistle out of the garden. To destroy it, most often you have to approach it in an integrated manner.
Sow thistle - what kind of plant
Sow thistle is a tenacious plant. It belongs to the Astrov family. There are several types in nature:
- garden;
- field;
- pink (rough).
All species, except for sow thistle, are perennials. They have a powerful root system. The core, central root in one summer can go deep into a distance of up to one and a half meters. In plants that have wintered more than one winter, the roots can reach four meters. It is clear that such plants are not afraid of drought and frost.
In addition, the weed has well-developed lateral roots that are close to the surface of the earth and occupy a large area.
Each lateral root has a bud capable of producing a viable shoot. If you do not get rid of the weed in a timely manner, a whole plantation will appear after a short period of time. Look at the photo, what a meadow overgrown with a sow thistle looks like.
The flowers of the sow thistle, depending on the species, are yellow or pink. The inflorescence is a basket. All plants have thorny leaves like triangles and thorny stems. They are hollow inside. A white liquid appears on the cut of the stem or leaves. This is milky juice.
Weed bloom is long lasting, almost all summer and until mid-autumn. Within a month, brown or dark yellow seeds with a fluffy tuft are formed in place of the buds. They are carried by the wind at a great distance from the mother bush. The propagation method of the malicious weed is seed or vegetative.
How to get rid of weed
Since the weed is tenacious, this also applies to the pink thistle, it can instantly capture huge territories, which is why the fight against the thistle in the country or in the garden should be uncompromising.
Many gardeners are interested in whether it is possible to get rid of sow thistle at their summer cottage forever. To destroy the weed, you need to act in a complex way, using all known methods of fighting it.
Gardeners should know that weeding every 14 days reduces the resistance of the root, after some time the weed may disappear.
Among the methods of dealing with thistle are:
- chemical, with the use of herbicides;
- agrotechnical or mechanical;
- folk methods of dealing with sow thistle.
Chemistry to help gardeners
If the garden is quickly covered with green pests and it is impossible to destroy them in any way, you will have to get rid of weeds with the help of chemicals. Fortunately, you can buy any herbicides in stores today. Chemistry works flawlessly. But the chemical method leads to the poisoning of the site; it is undesirable to plant cultivated plants in the year of processing.
Having got rid of the weed with the help of herbicides, one should not relax: the seeds can be brought in from a neighboring plot.
Agrotechnical methods
The rapid spread of sow thistle is associated with a decrease in the cultivated area. On collective and state farms weed control great attention was paid. The fields were treated with herbicides, and then allowed to fall under fallow, over the summer it was plowed several times. In this way, they got rid of the unwanted neighborhood of weeds. In addition, large areas were occupied by wheat, and the weed cannot get along with it.
How can you get rid of sow thistle on the site forever, using agrotechnical techniques:
- The destruction of weeds forever can be achieved by digging the earth, but not with a shovel, but with a pitchfork. They dig up the whole root without breaking it off. But it is undesirable to use a hoe or flat cutter to get rid of a malicious weed. You can chop the root into tiny pieces, which will soon sprout, a huge amount of young growth will appear.
- How to deal with sow thistle without chemistry? In large areas, it is difficult to defeat him, the plants bloom and again produce their own kind. In a small summer cottage, you can constantly weed out weeds, prune shoots, not allowing the asot to seed.
- Siderat plants fight well with sow-thistle. These include all legumes, vetch, mustard, lawn grass. You need to sow seeds of helper plants thickly. Sow thistles do not like compacted soil. Then the siderata are mowed and covered with mulch. It can be dense non-woven material, sawdust, debris, cardboard and even newspapers. A high temperature is generated under the shelter. First, the green mass is overheated, followed by the roots of the weeds. Mulching is not removed until spring.
- The question of how to destroy weeds on potatoes forever worries many novice gardeners. The fact is that thanks to this vegetable, you can rid the garden of sow thistle without using herbicides. The fact is that the agricultural technology of caring for potatoes involves repeated tillage. Cutting off the green mass of the weed when loosening the soil and hilling potatoes, summer residents reduce the vital activity of the sow thistle.
The lazy way to control weeds:
Folk remedies
Gardeners are resourceful people. At all times, they have invented methods of weed control without the use of herbicides. I must say that the results of their activities are always amazing. How to remove sow thistle and other weeds forever and ever means that are in every home:
- In the last century, American farmers used alcohol to control green pests in fields and vegetable gardens. Do not be surprised, but this is exactly the case. A month before planting, they treated the soil with ethyl alcohol. The Russians also used this method. Add 150 ml of vodka to a 10-liter bucket. Weeds begin to grow rapidly, they are destroyed long before the sowing of cultivated plants.
- Sprinkle baking soda on places where sow thistle grows. Under the influence of moisture, soda dissolves, "fights" weeds.
- Table salt at the rate of 1.5 kg per square, you need to sprinkle weeds. You can prepare an aqueous solution: dissolve 1 glass of salt in a liter of water and pour over the sow thistle.
- Vinegar essence with salt will also work a miracle. First, the weed is cut, then the root is sprayed. Sow thistle in this place dies off forever.
Conclusion
So, what is a sow thistle and measures to combat it, you now know. Of course, it is impossible to cover everything in one article. You yourself, our dear gardeners and gardeners, understand that we have told only about the most popular methods.
We hope that the article will be useful especially for novice gardeners. If someone has their own ways to get rid of weeds, including sow thistle, forever, you can share with the rest of the readers by leaving a comment.
