NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
August 10, 2000
Canada thistle is rapidly becoming North Dakota’s most widespread noxious weed, increasing at an average rate of 99,000 acres every year, according to Richard Zollinger, extension weed specialist at North Dakota State University.
At the present rate of infestation, Canada thistle will surpass leafy spurge in total acreage by 2002, Zollinger says. The most recent data suggests it already infests more than 900,000 acres, up 300 percent since 1992.
Zollinger says both NDSU Extension Service staff and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture have received numerous phone calls from landowners concerned with lack of Canada thistle control in neighboring cropland, pasture and CRP land.
State law requires every citizen to control the spread of noxious weeds on their land. If noxious weeds are not properly controlled, complaints should be made to county or city weed boards.
Control methods include hand-cutting, mowing, controlled burning and herbicides. Canada thistle is a perennial, so entire plants must be killed to prevent regrowth from rootstock, says Zollinger.
Research on biological control of the weed is under way.
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Source: Richard Zollinger, (701) 231-8157
Editor: Gary Moran, (701) 231-7865