Freakin' Daisies! What kills 'em?

[Calvincrowe]

I don’t ever remember Shasta Daisies being this bad, they are everywhere! Roundup doesn’t kill them. Crossbow doesn’t kill them. Mowing just gives them flesh wounds, and then they spring back up, fresh as a, well, daisy! Our neighbors do not do a good job of controlling their fields–lots of daisies, tansy, thistle and blackberry, so I feel like an island of green grass and wounded white flowers surrounded by dreck-filled seas of weeds, blowing my way.

Does any herbicide work on these devils??

Our across the road neighbor just mowed 20 acres of “hay” that was mostly a beautiful, gently waving field of white daisies. Poor suckers who bought that crap!

[twofatponies]

Weird! They are super prolific out here this year, too (new england). Maybe they’re all plotting something.

[Calvincrowe]

We had a mild winter, maybe they just lay in wait…until now. Little horrors! Combined with the kajillion mosquitoes we now have, it is a miserable June (July?) we are having. Can’t go out to pull those little ickies without dosing myself with Deep Woods Off first. Grr…

[horsetales]

I have had luck with 2,4-D in Pasture Pro from TSC. My only problem is my worst field this year has a pregnant mare on it, so I’m stuck until next year. My other fields that I could treat, it shriveled the things up.

[wateryglen]

JMHO!

Mowing at the right time definitely makes a dent in them and over the years decreases them from my experience. Bush hog them BEFORE they bloom & before the seed heads are formed. Once they bloom then seed heads have formed and they’ll spread. Then you may have to re-mow before they try to rebloom after the first mow down.

I have experience with this and have seen the result of NOT mowing them over the past 2 years. They are back with a vengeance and do make nice cut flowers for your home!!! :winkgrin: Bring flowers to your friends when you visit!! Call the local florist and offer them free flowers! Make head garlands!

[2DogsFarm]

Gee…I love daisies.
One Woman’s Poison, I guess {shrugs}

You’re right - there seem to be a lot of them this year.
Last year here it was Queene Anne’s Lace - seemed like acres of it!

Weed-B-Gone works for spot-kills, but for a field mowing would probably keep them in check if you cut them down before the flowerheads open.

[Dalemma]

I had a fair amount of daiseys in one pasture last year…I started just pulling them…they seem to have a shallow root system and are easy to pull…at least the ones that I have are…this year no daiseys…just finished pulling a bunch of daiseys on my neighbours fence line so hopefully it will stop the invasion.

Dalemma

[foggybok]

[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;4952122]
I don’t ever remember Shasta Daisies being this bad, they are everywhere! Roundup doesn’t kill them. Crossbow doesn’t kill them. Mowing just gives them flesh wounds, and then they spring back up, fresh as a, well, daisy! Our neighbors do not do a good job of controlling their fields–lots of daisies, tansy, thistle and blackberry, so I feel like an island of green grass and wounded white flowers surrounded by dreck-filled seas of weeds, blowing my way.

Does any herbicide work on these devils??

Our across the road neighbor just mowed 20 acres of “hay” that was mostly a beautiful, gently waving field of white daisies. Poor suckers who bought that crap![/QUOTE]

I feel your pain…this year does seem to be a daisy year… mowing has reduced mine though… I heard sheep LOVE daisies… My neighbor has her own “nature preserve” where she is encouraging the growth of thistle…aaaarrrrgggh.

The daisys don’t bother me as much at all the buttercup! It seems to have learned from the dandelions and when I mow it, it just hides and pops back up again…same with the cat’s ear…

[Calvincrowe]

Liming heavily has controlled the buttercup in my fields (which sat underwater for most of April, May and June:no:). The daisies are everywhere. Our neighbors are beginning to control theirs but one neighbor is a PPF (piss poor farmer) who does nothing to control his noxious weed growth. I look out over 110 acres of blackberry, Canadian thistle, daisies, and tansy with some grass thrown in to tease his poor, thin cows. It sucks.

I am hand pulling daisies on my fence line where the mower can’t get them, I mow religiously to control weeds, but they do like to lay down when the mower comes and then, like magic, pop back up in the tractor’s wake. Little blankety-blanks:mad:

[foggybok]

[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;4961897]
Liming heavily has controlled the buttercup in my fields (which sat underwater for most of April, May and June:no:). The daisies are everywhere. Our neighbors are beginning to control theirs but one neighbor is a PPF (piss poor farmer) who does nothing to control his noxious weed growth. I look out over 110 acres of blackberry, Canadian thistle, daisies, and tansy with some grass thrown in to tease his poor, thin cows. It sucks.

I am hand pulling daisies on my fence line where the mower can’t get them, I mow religiously to control weeds, but they do like to lay down when the mower comes and then, like magic, pop back up in the tractor’s wake. Little blankety-blanks:mad:[/QUOTE]

At least we don’t have tansy…as far as I know anyway…

How much lime is “heavily”. I’ve been told we probably need tons per acre and getting lime around here is not easy…since the farms have moved out, nobody gets lime and it’s really expensive to have someone haul it in from the I5 corridor…I want to lime!

[Calvincrowe]

I go to the closest Wilco or other farm store and buy 50lb. bags and spread it judiciously, as there aren’t any big farms here to have it spread by the “ton” either. I put it in the “damp” spots on the pastures, or where the buttercups grow readily. I only have about 3 acres in grass pasture, so at $9/bag it is $180/ton. We put a ton on our front field this year, which is about 1/3 of an acre. Very few buttercups survived it. But, with our horrible wet spring, I’m sure I’ll need to lime again in the fall.

Mowing is still your best friend, or spot spraying heavy infestations of BC will help.

Tansy SUCKS. It is a class A noxious weed in WA, so it MUST be removed or you are supposed to face a fine. Right…in these economic times, no one is enforcing it, really. And so many city folk move out to the “country” and have no clue what that pretty yellow flower is growing in their yard. UGH.

[pnalley]

Before you kill them how about taking a photo for us southerners. It sounds beautiful.

I recommend goats.

[Calvincrowe]

pnalley–goats won’t eat them either. I don’t think anything does, sadly. I do wish I’d taken a photo of the 30 acres next door–it looked like it had snowed when they all bloomed!! Now, they are baled and will be fed to unsuspecting cows…who won’t eat them either.

It is supposed to 90+ the next 5 days here, so every darn weed will suddenly bloom. Ugh, now I’ll have to get out there with my weed whacking tool and whack weeds.

[Twiliath]

You could try a flame weeder.

[foggybok]

[QUOTE=Twiliath;4964082]
You could try a flame weeder.[/QUOTE]

We tried one…it just killed the gras around the weeds so that the weeds could grow stronger…

[threedogpack]

From:
http://msuextension.org/publications/AgandNaturalResources/MT200002AG.pdf

“Tilling destroys the shallow root system of oxeye daisy, thus it is not normally a problem in cultivated crop fields. However, cultivating is not possible in many pastures, rangelands and roadside areas. It is possible to spread root fragments and seeds within and between crop fields, so cleaning tillage equipment is very important. Repeated tillage or herbicide treatment to resprouted plants may reduce oxeye daisy regrowth.”

“Glyphosate will control oxeye daisy in cropland or where revegetation is planned.” Glyphosate is Roundup I think.

“Grazing, depending on how it is applied, can either exacerbate or suppress oxeye daisy invasions. Horses, sheep and goats will readily graze oxeye daisy, but cattle and pigs avoid it.”

other less harmful methods would be weighted cardboard (will kill .everything. under it), and if it were a problem for me, I’d weight the cardboard with green manure, lots of green manure. Let it sit for 2 years and then till.

[threedogpack]

From:
http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/ipcw/pages/detailreport.cfm@usernumber=59&surveynumber=182.php

“Mulching: The most successful non-chemical method found for removing large infestations in GGNRA is to mulch heavily. Habitat Restoration volunteers at the GGNRA have successfully eliminated masses of mature and immature plants through the application of rice straw. One application 3-4 in (7.5-10 cm) thick when compacted was successful in two plant communities in the Marin Headlands: coastal scrub and wetland. Straw should be applied in fall at the onset of the growing season. One bale will cover approximately 100 square feet. The site should be monitored in early spring. If any live plants are found under the straw, or any light can reach the soil, then another thick layer should be applied before flowering begins in May. Native perennial plants at the Marin Headlands site came up through the straw, while the ox-eye daisy did not. This is because ox-eye daisy is a prostrate plant except for its flower stalks. Ox-eye daisy was observed to rot under the dense mulch maintained throughout the winter.”

[QHBuddy]

Pacific NW Weed Management Handbook
http://weeds.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/weeds

Go through and it will identify the herbicide, application rate - and cautions for each weed/herbicide.

The newest online version is a little confusing to navigate, but do-able.

[SuperSTB]

Send me pictures too Or just send the daisies to me…

and I can send you back some tumbleweeds

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@Calvincrowe

I don’t ever remember Shasta Daisies being this bad, they are everywhere! Roundup doesn’t kill them. Crossbow doesn’t kill them. Mowing just gives them flesh wounds, and then they spring back up, fresh as a, well, daisy! Our neighbors do not do a good job of controlling their fields–lots of daisies, tansy, thistle and blackberry, so I feel like an island of green grass and wounded white flowers surrounded by dreck-filled seas of weeds, blowing my way.

Does any herbicide work on these devils??

Our across the road neighbor just mowed 20 acres of “hay” that was mostly a beautiful, gently waving field of white daisies. Poor suckers who bought that crap!

Resurrecting this thread as I see I’m going to have to do something about the daisies in one part of my pasture before they take over… I know this was 11 years ago haha, but did you find a solution?

I really don’t want to spray them with anything but if that’s how it’s gonna have to be… well then that’s how it’s going to have to be. I was hoping that they were signs like buttercups means low ph and clover taking over means low nitrogen, but in my research I’m not finding that’s the case.

I’m also looking for something to take care of the plantains without killing the alfalfa.