The past Saturday volunteers continued the war on Italian Thistles (Carduus pycnocepalus) in a clearing off the trail on the east side of pHake Lake. In the past this area had a fine stand to Italian Thistles, as well a patch of very scary looking Bull Thistles (Cirsium vulgare). Last year, volunteers removed all the visible Bull and Italian Thistles from the clearing, but seeds were still likely present in the soil, so we wanted to re-treat the area this year, removing any new thistles that might have sprung up.
The good news is that in the clearing itself we saw no Bull Thistles and only scattered Italian Thistles, which the volunteers quickly removed.
A few thistles lurking under an Artemisia in the area we cleared last year. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Now you see them, now you don’t! Good-bye, thistles! ©Nancy Hamlett.
There were, however, quite a few thistles growing around the periphery of the clearing, in areas we hadn’t year, so we attempted to make sure we removed thistles from the full extent of the infestation.
Tim Cox roots out thistles under shrubs while Bryan Visser (HMC ’13) carries thistles to the discard. ©Nancy Hamlett.
Once this area was cleared, we were able to move on to areas that hadn’t been treated last year — under an oak tree on the other side the trail and further north along the trail.
Wow! Look at the roots on that thistle! It was growing on in leaf litter under the oak. ©Nancy Hamlett.
We cleared all the thistles under the oak….
Before: Italian thistles springing up under an oak tree. ©Nancy Hamlett.
After: The area under the oak tree with thistles removed. ©Nancy Hamlett.
…and we think we got all the Italian Thistles on the east side of the lake. If this year’s progress is any indication, we may be able to eliminate them from this area in another year or two.