Want a phobia?

 Try thistle-o-phobia!

Wars need phobias. They are built on seeing human cultures, politics or religions as dangerous weeds in the flora and fauna of one's own national interests. 

Consider my phobia against Canadian thistle. This phobia became apparent to me because of the recent Islam-o-phobia and the polls demonstrating the power of talk media to spread this bigotry. I think my phobia is less of a hazard to human life on this planet. Now grown into bigotry, it can stay right here on the back 40, out of reach of media pundits.

I have thistle-o-phobia. I wanted to be tolerant and let nature take its course, trusting competing species to out-argue the thistles. But I'm just about to the point of believing the only good thistle is a dead thistle. I let one or two encroach on the economy of my best soil and it's like creeping socialism. Whole colonies have sprung up, crowding out my good intentions for this ground.

Last year, armed with liberation theology, I was determined not to pursue war on thistle-ism. I heard goats and sheep are natural and effective deterrents to thistle ideology, and hoped to try them out on this ground. I would rather harness these local critters with specialized equipment and experience to deal with this vermin. I did not want war.

But there's a problem.

Any livestock on this new pasture will compact the soil. Their hooves and teeth will damage the viability of the forage species I planted. At the same time, thistles just love compact soil with poor oxygen and near-anaerobic conditions. They thrive on ground that stresses out other plants. So, until my hopes for this ground are established with strong enough roots systems so grazers can neither pack the soil nor pull my choice forage species up by the roots, I need to wait. But two weeks ago I grew impatient. I almost got split-hoof critters tramping around in areas that are hotbeds for radical thistle infestation.

Don't get me wrong; I still believe intensive grazing is the best approach. I still believe that ultimately, with good forage competition and healthy soil, diverse quality perennial forages will out-compete even the worst weeds. But it will now have to wait for the supportive environment of a healthy soil and plant economy with established root systems.

Thistles have gotten out of hand. This ideology has taken over five acres and is encroaching on four more. Areas the size of a baseball diamond and larger are now a total thick carpet of evil green. No good forage species could possibly, on it's own, survive in this hostile environment.

So today I committed myself to a war to end the war against thistles. That doesn't mean I will use a scorched earth strategy and try to punish the entire plant population into oblivion. That could backfire, sowing the seeds for more war.

I have just purchased enough herbicide specially formulated to cover the size of my total thistle infestation. I rented the county weed control sprayer, and will take advantage of the unique capacity of Canadian thistles late in the summer to pump carbohydrates into their root systems, building rhizomes that bud and shoot up sprouts in the spring. As the thistles pump the carbohydrates into the roots my herbicide will ride along, in time destroying the thistle root networks. The plant above ground may stay green for weeks. But each warm day will allow the poison into the rhizomes in the roots, gradually killing the whole colony.

I have confidence in this strategy. I tried it last year this time on an intensive colony about three yards by 12 yards on the north border of our back 40. After frost, I seeded orchard grass seed directly into the still-green thistles. This spring, the orchard grass germinated and is still growing. The thistle colony is totally gone. I won one!

My neighbor said it right. Each year the herbicide marketers come up with a new sure-fire approach to the Canadian thistle problem. Each year we see a new outbreak and have to buy the new product. It's been a decades long addiction. The thistles don't care, Monsanto and the other chemical companies win, and the farmers? Well, they lose. Is there a way to win thistle battles? I've put together wisdom and information of the ones who claim the least expertise: local seasoned farmers. I think they are most trustworthy.

Here on the back 40, I enjoy feeding my thistle-o-phobia with my own aggressive defenses. I have no time to watch the media pundits feeding our nation's current Islam-o-phobia.

http://www.bighorncountynews.com/

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David Graber
Hardin, MT