Creeping thistle can rapidly spread, especially in crop rotations that contain a high number of cereal crops without perennial grass-clover leys. It reduces crop yields by competing for water and nutrients.
Solution
Creeping thistle populations can be successfully reduced by repeat-edly undertaking stubble cultivation after an early maturing crop and cultivating a densely growing catch crop.
Description
Multiple cultivations lead to a repeated physical damage of the thistle. Each time it regrows, it uses further nutrients until it is weakened and a new crop will out-compete it. This method is also effective against other root-spreading weeds such as couch grass and bindweeds.
• After harvesting grains, perform stubble cultivation with a skim plough or a completely flat-cutting wing share cultivator at a depth of 7-10 cm.
• After the thistle plants have re-emerged (maximum 10 cm), repeat the cultivation 1-2 times while
increasing the working depth.
• Sow a dense, fast-growing catch crop such as vetch or fodder radish after the stubble cultivation to
further weaken the thistles.
This method only works on dry soils and in dry weather; in wet conditions, it can lead to an increase in
thistles!
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