ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 16, 2009

WORKSHOP SLATED ON THISTLE CONTROL

BISMARCK – Participants at Thistle Day workshops in Jamestown and Dickinson will learn how to identify exotic and native thistle species and how to control the noxious weed, Canada thistle.

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring urges land managers to participate in one of the meetings, which are sponsored by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and the Stark County and Stutsman County weed boards.

"The workshop speakers will help you identify these plants and will provide you with the latest information on control methods for Canada thistle, including pesticides, bio-control and integrated pest management,” he said.

The workshops are scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon (local time) at the following sites:

• Tuesday, June 23 – Stutsman County Weed Board shop, 1508 4th St NW,  Jamestown
• Tuesday, June 30 – Stark County Weed Board, 497 E 26th Ave., Dickinson.

Rodney Lym, professor of plant sciences at North Dakota State University, will speak at the Jamestown workshop; Greta Gramig, assistant professor of plant sciences at NDSU, will speak in Dickinson. Blake Schaan, NDDA noxious weed control specialist, will speak at both workshops, and representatives of pesticide companies have been invited to participate.

The first 50 people at each workshop will receive a container of Canada thistle gall flies to distribute on infested land unsuitable for herbicide use. The fly (Urophora cardui) lays eggs in the stems of Canada thistle. Large galls develop around the larvae, weakening the plant and preventing seed production. It provides a control option for areas where herbicides cannot be used.

Canada thistle is an aggressive, creeping perennial weed that infests crops, pastures, rangeland, roadsides and non-crop areas. It is one of North Dakota’s worst noxious weeds, infesting more than a million acres in the state.

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MEDIA: For more information, please call Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2233 or tquanrud@nd.gov or Patrice Lahlum at (701) 239-7210 or plahlum@nd.gov.