Hoeing Kochia and Russian Thistle Seedlings Out of a Barbed-Wire Fence Line With a Stirrup Hoe: Catch Every Flush From March to September Before They Turn Into Tumbleweeds

Stirrup hoe cutting young weed seedlings along a barbed wire fence line

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Every fall the same fence line on a dry place turns into a wall of tumbleweeds. Each one of those balls started as a seedling you could have sliced off in two seconds back in May.

Kochia and Russian thistle are summer annuals that spread only by seed, and both are easy to hoe out while they are young. Run a stirrup hoe along the disturbed strip under the fence every couple of weeks from March into September, cutting just below the surface, and haul off any plant that has already set seed.

Know the two seedlings

Colorado State University Extension's kochia and Russian thistle fact sheet says both plants reproduce only from seed, so stopping seed set is the whole game. Young kochia shows up as a gray-green, fuzzy mat, and it germinates many times in a season, starting as early as March with the last flushes in August to early September.

The same sheet says kochia has a shallow taproot and can be easily pulled or hoed out at early growth stages, and Russian thistle is easily pulled or hoed out young too. It says to remove tumbleweeds from fence lines and to collect plants that have already started making seed, and it notes that kochia keeps setting seed on branches below mowing height.

The UC Statewide IPM Program's Russian thistle pest note says the seedlings have finely divided leaves that almost look like pine needles. It says the weed thrives where soil has been disturbed, such as fence lines, and that piles of it along fence lines are a serious fire hazard.

Hoeing the strip

  1. Start in March or April, as soon as the gray-green mats or the needle-leaved seedlings show along the wire.
  2. Work the hoe flat, just under the surface. Push and pull in short strokes so the loop blade cuts the root on both passes.
  3. Get right up to the line posts. Most of the seedlings sprout in the scuffed soil at the base of each post.
  4. Leave the cut seedlings to dry on the surface. Young plants without seed do not need hauling.
  5. Repeat every two weeks or so. Each rain brings a new flush until early fall.

A stirrup hoe skims fast along a fence line and fits between the bottom wire and the ground without catching on the barbs.

Plants that got away

  1. Any plant that has flowered or set seed gets pulled whole, roots and all. Wear gloves; older Russian thistle has stiff, sharp-tipped leaves.
  2. Drop it straight into a trash bag or onto a tarp. Do not drag it along the line shedding seed.
  3. Pull every dead tumbleweed out of the wires in fall before the wind breaks it loose.

The mistake that costs most people is mowing or weed-whacking the strip instead of hoeing. Kochia just branches low and keeps making seed below the blade.

Keeping it from coming back

  1. Keep tractor, horse, and foot traffic out of the strip as much as you can. Fresh disturbance is what these weeds want.
  2. Let a cover of perennial grass fill in where you can. The California note says Russian thistle seedlings are suppressed when other plants establish first.

Gear for the job

Harbor Freight and Tractor Supply both carry loop hoes and heavy leather gloves. A tarp with grommets drags tumbleweeds out without scratching up your arms.

If the bottom wire is buried in weeds and shorting out an electric line, this walkthrough on isolating a weed-loaded bottom wire covers the fix.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hardware Cloth Guide: Mesh Sizes, Gauges, and Which Build Each One Fits

Image
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Pick the mesh by the smallest animal you need to stop, then pick the gauge by how hard that animal will push, pull, or chew. 1/4-inch, 23-gauge is the mouse, vole, and vent mesh. 1/2-inch, 19-gauge is the coop, run, and rat mesh. What size hardware cloth do you need for each job? Use 1/4-inch, 23-gauge galvanized hardware cloth wherever mice, voles, young rats, chicks, or snakes are the threat, including vents and soil barriers. Use 1/2-inch, 19-gauge for chicken runs, coops, hutches, and anything raccoons will pull on, stepping up to 16-gauge only where you need extra strength. Never use chicken wire as a predator barrier. UC IPM's rat exclusion pest note says every hole larger than 1/4 inch should be sealed to exclude both rats and mice. It specifies 16-gauge, 1/2-inch galvanized wire cloth for ventilator grills and 19-gauge, 1/2-i...
Read more

How to Attach Hardware Cloth to Wood Frames (Staple, Screw & Batten Spec)

Image
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Staple 1/2-inch hardware cloth into wood every 1–2 inches along every post, plate, and rail, drive exterior screws through fender washers at every corner and every 12–18 inches on long edges, and wrap corners 2–4 inches. Add a 1×2 batten over high-pressure edges. Hardware cloth only stops predators when the edges stay put. Sparse staples, zip ties, and bare cut wires become peel handles for raccoons and cats. When You Need This Use this when you are: Cladding a new coop or run frame and want the fastening spec before the first staple goes in Replacing soft chicken wire or torn mesh that predators already peeled at the edges Hardening an existing hardware-cloth wall where corners lift or mid-span edges flutter Building out walls, doors, or run panels that share the same wood-frame fastening rules Skip this if diggers under the perimete...
Read more

How to Attach Hardware Cloth to Metal T-Posts and Pipe Frames (Tie & Clamp Spec)

Image
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Fasten 1/2-inch welded hardware cloth to T-posts and pipe with galvanized or stainless wire ties every 2–3 inches along every post, add hose clamps every 12–18 inches on round pipe, and lap every vertical join 2–4 inches on a post. Where bare metal will not hold an edge, bolt on a treated wood sister and staple into that. Wood frames take staples; metal does not. Zip-tied mesh looks tight on install day and peels under climb pull within a week. When You Need This Use this when you are: Building or retrofitting a chicken run on T-posts , EMT , or round/square metal pipe and need fastener rules that are not wood staples Replacing zip-tie-only hardware cloth that already shows lifted edges or stretched ties Cladding a cattle-panel or pipe-frame run with 1/2-inch welded mesh for predator closure Closing panel joins and corners on metal post...
Read more