There is no doubt that our Goldilocks season is continuing, with the recent rainfall coming just in time. Every time we get a bit dry, we seem to get some rainfall, and the district looks a picture for it.

But, with the good comes the ugly, and at present that comes in the form of Thistles. We have Spear Thistle, Slender Thistle, Variegated Thistle, Nodding Thistle, Saffron Thistle and the elusive True Scotch Thistle proliferating around the district, which will make a real mess of pasture productivity if left unchecked.

There are plenty of good registered herbicide options as well as cultural methods (eg Chipping or Slashing) to take care of these thistles, each with a different damage profile to legumes.

The warmer than average winter weather has seen these weeds take off and they are more advanced than they would be this time of year in a normal year.

Remember with Thistles, the smaller they are, the easier and cheaper they are to control with the least amount of damage to legumes. Now is the time to get organised and remove them from your pastures. With the local ground sprayers all busy, don’t leave it too long to book in as there will be some waiting times.

For your aerial applications, Fleet Helicopters are in the district at the moment, so if you need your thistles controlled from the air, book in ASAP whilst they are around.

For slashing, leave them a bit longer, as you want to the plant to pre flowering, as to drastically weaken the plants reserves to reshoot and come back.

‍

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.

Block quote

Ordered list

1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3

Unordered list

• Item A
• Item B
• Item C

Text link

Bold text

Emphasis

^Superscript

_Subscript