bull nettle

[joeg]

does anyone have any thoughts on killing bull (stinging) nettle in a pasture?

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Won't goats eat it?

[Soils Alive]

All weeds are an indicator of soil problems. Notice next time how each pasture seems to be dominated by one or two weeds. When this occurs we have to ask ourselves why does this plant have an advantage over other plants. Each weed has a condition it thrives in so that no matter what deficiency or condition a soil has a plant can cover the bare soil. Bull nettle is normally an indicator of compaction and the soil has gone anaerobic, meaning there is very little oxygen available. Aeration would ge a good first step along with using some bio-stimulants to get the biology moving in a postive direction.

Hope this helps. :D

Michael

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Soils Alive said,

Quote: All weeds are an indicator of soil problems.

I would change that to the following..

"all plants are indicators of soil chemistry, biology, and environment."

[sweetscent]

My folks moved out to the country between Joshua & Cleburne in the fall of 1969. My dad tried everything to get rid of the bull nettles, but the only thing that seemed to work was to cut them down & put an empty metal can over the stump & stomp it down. That worked really well, for about 30 years. Just recently he's noticed them coming back & out of curiousity dug down on a few. Every one had the rusted remains of a can around the base. He's on very sandy soil, lots of goat pellets for fertilizer, not compacted, but only about 10"-12" of soil above a limestone bedrock. He's organic by benign neglect, but does have a lot of native plants in the pastures. Any thoughts, y'all? One of the wildflowers of Texas reference books, by a very thorough lady whose name is impossible to pronounce, states that the seeds of the bull nettle were sought out by the Indians as a tasty food. Anyone have any info on that scary thought?? :?:

[Connie Tassin]

I grew up in the sand hills of South Texas. We had Bull Nettle galore!

The coffee can technique was our only solution. We'd hoe the nettle up and as much of the root tuber as possible; cover with a can and cover back with the sand.

Last year Mom found a coffee can down in the horse lot and picked it up. Next time she looked, there was a bull nettle there! Twenty years later, and still going strong.

I'm not sure anything can kill Bull Nettle.

[Pop Moon]

Believe it or not but the bull nettle seed is very tasty. You wait till the dry and start to crack open. Using gloves to harvest but they taste between a brazil nut and macadamia nut. Good raw or toasted. I would love to find some to harvest.