Poison Hemlock

[Texasmark]

White umbrella flower pattern, elemental nodules with 5 pedals, slick stems, pointed leaf (what there are of them) ends, purplish spots or stripes on stems near the ground.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, after 40+ years of owning/living on this farm, the toxic pest is everywhere.....almost like a crop duster type thing just dumped seeds from an airplane. In looking up the identifying markings on the www, I learned that the plant only multiplies by seeds. Well that might be the case but it's highly unlikely given the overall picture. Seeds either spread by runoff water, or bird droppings. Both are extremely doubtful given the methodology and lack of proper inputs to cause the chaos. Comments?

 

[Tgrasher]

Here, it is spread by mowing. The State DOT road maintenance time their mowing so that the Hemlock and Johnson grass are full of seed. The seed is then distributed up and down the road sides. It really begins to take hold in places that never or hard to mow. Most people don't know about it and some don't care.

 

[Turkeyfoot]

White umbrella flower pattern, elemental nodules with 5 pedals, slick stems, pointed leaf (what there are of them) ends, purplish spots or stripes on stems near the ground.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, after 40+ years of owning/living on this farm, the toxic pest is everywhere.....almost like a crop duster type thing just dumped seeds from an airplane. In looking up the identifying markings on the www, I learned that the plant only multiplies by seeds. Well that might be the case but it's highly unlikely given the overall picture. Seeds either spread by runoff water, or bird droppings. Both are extremely doubtful given the methodology and lack of proper inputs to cause the chaos. Comments?

I got rid of it by mowing and round up. Here in Kansas you see it in lots of farmyard and field edges.

I had lunch last Friday with land manager for three big tracts of tall grass prairie in the flint hills east of Wichita. He told me poison hemlock was the number one invasive that he deals with.

 

[gmccool]

I noticed them here in Iowa about a week ago. It seems like the came out of nowhere. I have never seen so many.

 

[Texasmark]

I'm guessing the significant amount of rain we have had repeatedly is the only thing I can think of. It loves to be around the edges of things....Hackberry Tree trunks, building edges and such. Seems to prefer bare ground areas to do its dirty work.

Went to the feed store and got some Remedy. Seems the 44% active ingredient in Remedy and Glyphosate are the two main killers. Haven't bought herbicides in decades.....witnessed "sticker shock" for the gallon of Remedy.....$99.....had the Kinetic Surfactant from the last time I did this sort of thing. One of the good sides of this is that the Poison Ivy has gone wild with all the rain and it too is everywhere. This gives me an excuse to eradicate it too. Well one thing we all can expect....being farmers always something needing attention......but sometimes I would like to get a break......

 

[Destroked 450]

If the flowers have bloomed it’s to late and it’ll be back next year
If you catch it before the flowers bloom you can spray it, cut it or if just a few plants pull in out of the ground and it won’t come back
We had a small patch in the corner of one field but after a couple of early mowing it’s gong now

 

[Texasmark]

If the flowers have bloomed it’s to late and it’ll be back next year
If you catch it before the flowers bloom you can spray it, cut it or if just a few plants pull in out of the ground and it won’t come back
We had a small patch in the corner of one field but after a couple of early mowing it’s gong now

These have come out of nowhere and are scattered all over the farm. The stems, leaves, and heads are so small that you can't see them until they have bloomed on most of the plants that are around the trees and such. The ones in the fields are a couple of feet tall when blooming. I don't know what I did to deserve this but it's going to be a huge problem and may get into my hay patches and shut down that effort.

With them being members of the carrot family, I would expect them to have a serious tap root and hard to pull out if I tried that. All the things I read on the www say to not touch them......then they come out with all the pitfalls....medical problems, associated with any kind of association. One of the worst warnings is that if they show up in your hay field, baling them doesn't reduce their danger.........great news!!!!!!!!!!

I had a pasture that I allowed a neighbor to use for her horses since her pastures were barren. I had to tell her this morning that I don't want her horses over here any longer as I found some plants in that pasture too......last thing I want is to be responsible for something to happen to her pets. She has 7 and they "light up her life"!

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Scott Farm]

White umbrella flower pattern, elemental nodules with 5 pedals, slick stems, pointed leaf (what there are of them) ends, purplish spots or stripes on stems near the ground.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, after 40+ years of owning/living on this farm, the toxic pest is everywhere.....almost like a crop duster type thing just dumped seeds from an airplane. In looking up the identifying markings on the www, I learned that the plant only multiplies by seeds. Well that might be the case but it's highly unlikely given the overall picture. Seeds either spread by runoff water, or bird droppings. Both are extremely doubtful given the methodology and lack of proper inputs to cause the chaos. Comments?

The interstate runs through our farm and both sides of the road are infested with it for miles. It showed up here(SW PA) for the first time maybe 6-7 years ago in spots but now we are completely overrun. We are constantly spraying a combination of dicamba and 2-4d so we don’t kill grass. We keep 1 gallon garden sprayers in all of our side by sides so anytime we see some around the farm we spray it but it’s an uphill battle with all the seeds coming off the highway.
We’ve lost several cattle over the past few years that were determined to have eaten it. Most won’t touch it but there are a few that for some reason eat it- especially in a drought year where grass is burned up(we have hay/silage available at all times so they aren’t starving).
It’s tough too because it seems there is no set growing season. It just comes in waves. Some areas we’ve already sprayed 4 times this year.
It’s super frustrating as we all have enough on our plates without this nasty stuff.

 

[Texasmark]

The interstate runs through our farm and both sides of the road are infested with it for miles. It showed up here(SW PA) for the first time maybe 6-7 years ago in spots but now we are completely overrun. We are constantly spraying a combination of dicamba and 2-4d so we don’t kill grass. We keep 1 gallon garden sprayers in all of our side by sides so anytime we see some around the farm we spray it but it’s an uphill battle with all the seeds coming off the highway.
We’ve lost several cattle over the past few years that were determined to have eaten it. Most won’t touch it but there are a few that for some reason eat it- especially in a drought year where grass is burned up(we have hay/silage available at all times so they aren’t starving).
It’s tough too because it seems there is no set growing season. It just comes in waves. Some areas we’ve already sprayed 4 times this year.
It’s super frustrating as we all have enough on our plates without this nasty stuff.

Thank you sir for your comprehensive reply. I already agree with you in that it looks like it will be an uphill battle as last year I saw a few flowers in the pasture, not knowing what it was and this year there are areas of it where there was one flower last year. Also thanks for the chemical info as Remedy is like Roundup.....kills everything.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

I live in northern Kentucky. Poison hemlock has spread like crazy here, too. A few years back, it was here and there, just a few plants. It spreads by seed, and each plant has 30,000 or 100,000 seeds, I forget which. It thrives anywhere there is bare dirt. If you broadcast spray 24d early in the growing season, it will control it. Once it has any substantial size, over a foot tall, I like Crossbow herbicide. I like Crossbow better than Roundup because it really clobbers the hemlock plant. The big problem, as I see it, is you controlling it, but your neighbor does not. Then his plants seed your land through wind travel. I am fighting to keep it off my farm, but my neighbors have it and they are up wind of me. I believe the government will someday step in and make people spray for it. It is exponentially worse every year. Not only is it poisonous to animals while growing, it is worse in baled hay because animals will bite into and eat it without hesitation, and also the green plant will make you sick if you touch it, too. Our retired extension agent told me a while back about a farmer who was mowing a big cluster of it, maybe 1/2 an acre, and got sick from the fumes. Keep after it fellows, don't let it spread on your farms. Mark.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

The interstate runs through our farm and both sides of the road are infested with it for miles. It showed up here(SW PA) for the first time maybe 6-7 years ago in spots but now we are completely overrun. We are constantly spraying a combination of dicamba and 2-4d so we don’t kill grass. We keep 1 gallon garden sprayers in all of our side by sides so anytime we see some around the farm we spray it but it’s an uphill battle with all the seeds coming off the highway.
We’ve lost several cattle over the past few years that were determined to have eaten it. Most won’t touch it but there are a few that for some reason eat it- especially in a drought year where grass is burned up(we have hay/silage available at all times so they aren’t starving).
It’s tough too because it seems there is no set growing season. It just comes in waves. Some areas we’ve already sprayed 4 times this year.
It’s super frustrating as we all have enough on our plates without this nasty stuff.

I found a few, 3-4, plants in a shady area where my cows liked to lay around. A few short stems had been eaten, and I noticed one of the older cows not acting right-no enthusiasm for grain, and just basically lethargic. I think she may have just munched on it instead of going out from under the shade to eat. She has seemed better since then, but I believe I got lucky. Mostly cows won't eat things that are bad for them, milkweed is an example, but they get old and lazy, I guess. Mark.

 

[TomA in CA]

We always had it at the ranch near the coast. It grows 6-7' tall. I fought it for years and never got rid of it. Never found it to be terribly toxic, nothing eats it. I remember seeing sheep digging up roots and eating them. There seems to be a dwarf variety here in the foothills that never reaches full maturity.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

Like

We always had it at the ranch near the coast. It grows 6-7' tall. I fought it for years and never got rid of it. Never found it to be terribly toxic, nothing eats it. I remember seeing sheep digging up roots and eating them. There seems to be a dwarf variety here in the foothills that never reaches full maturity.

Here in Ky it grows tall like that too, out in full sun. Mark.

 

[Destroked 450]

I'm in west central Ky and it grows tall here as well, when mowing hay it'll be 6" to a foot taller than fescue hay so easy to see. I carry a pair of gloves in the tool box to handle the weed while I carry it out of the field. In patches I can't mow early applications of 24D works but generally by the time I see it it's time for Cross Bow. Cross Bow is for woody stem plants like briars or bushes and I've never had it damage any grass
What I've pulled up wasn't that hard to do, if you cut in down a few inches above ground it won't sprout back. As said each plant can have 30,000+ seeds so treating or removing it before it seeds is paramount to eliminating it

 

[Texasmark]

I live in northern Kentucky. Poison hemlock has spread like crazy here, too. A few years back, it was here and there, just a few plants. It spreads by seed, and each plant has 30,000 or 100,000 seeds, I forget which. It thrives anywhere there is bare dirt. If you broadcast spray 24d early in the growing season, it will control it. Once it has any substantial size, over a foot tall, I like Crossbow herbicide. I like Crossbow better than Roundup because it really clobbers the hemlock plant. The big problem, as I see it, is you controlling it, but your neighbor does not. Then his plants seed your land through wind travel. I am fighting to keep it off my farm, but my neighbors have it and they are up wind of me. I believe the government will someday step in and make people spray for it. It is exponentially worse every year. Not only is it poisonous to animals while growing, it is worse in baled hay because animals will bite into and eat it without hesitation, and also the green plant will make you sick if you touch it, too. Our retired extension agent told me a while back about a farmer who was mowing a big cluster of it, maybe 1/2 an acre, and got sick from the fumes. Keep after it fellows, don't let it spread on your farms. Mark.

Wind induced seed travel is apparently my problem as I couldn't figure out one "seed" from afar would show up in a virgin pasture. Have the same problem with Milkweed parachutes....but you can't control the neighbors.

On contaminating hay crops, this may be my last year to produce hay for the neighbors and will put me for a loss with IRS and my farm Ad-valorem tax status. I cut the winter hay crop a month ago and I am starting to see sprouts of it in that field....didn't have any problem in that crop. I spent most of the day yesterday, spraying the place but didn't get it all.....more rain coming. Will get back after it when it dries off in a couple of days.

The summer. crop of Sudan is over 3' tall and thick so I don't expect to have any in it.

 

[Texasmark]

I'm in west central Ky and it grows tall here as well, when mowing hay it'll be 6" to a foot taller than fescue hay so easy to see. I carry a pair of gloves in the tool box to handle the weed while I carry it out of the field. In patches I can't mow early applications of 24D works but generally by the time I see it it's time for Cross Bow. Cross Bow is for woody stem plants like briars or bushes and I've never had it damage any grass
What I've pulled up wasn't that hard to do, if you cut in down a few inches above ground it won't sprout back. As said each plant can have 30,000+ seeds so treating or removing it before it seeds is paramount to eliminating it

I went to the local farm store a few days ago and as I mentioned they had Remedy. Surfing today I found out the main difference between it and Roundup and it may have the same ingredient as Cross Bow.....doesn't kill everything but is very effective against Hemlock.