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Parsnip Patrol (dealing with wild parsnips)

8 years ago

Just wondering if there a bunch of people dealing with the same nasty crap that is invading my natives.

Two years ago, I heard about wild parsnips when my wife got a burn blister on her leg. The blister was about the size of a softball cut in half. A neighbor also got second degree burns on her arms every time she went out in the sun. It turned out to be something called wild parsnips. Then, I went up to my lake property to find that my ditch was loaded with it. So that everyone has it clear, get the sap on your skin, and get blistering burns every time you go out in the sun. This is nasty crap!

The first thing I used on it was store-strength Roundup, in a gallon pump-up spray bottle. It worked very well. The parsnips were dead and brown within a week. Unfortunately, as hard as I tried to be careful, the roundup left big scorch marks, killing everything near the parsnips, too.

Last year, I bought a Parsnip Predator (modified shovel). As long as I got to the plant early enough, it was easy to cut it off below the soil. If the plant gets too big, though, the root is like wood. One night, while I was camping up there, it rained hard. The next morning, I put on a long sleeved shirt and a pair of gloves, and pulled them out of the wet soil. They pulled easily. I also experimented with 2,4-D to see if that might be safer for the grasses. It looked at first like it would do the trick. The parsnip stalk curled and wilted. However, it still flowered and seeded, and did so low to the ground with its curled stalk, so it was not visible above the tall grass. I'm now dealing with all of those seeds sprouting. In the fall, I had some triclopyr mixed for foliar spraying of buckthorn seedlings. I took a walk down the road with the sprayer and zapped all of the parsnip that I saw. Those did not come up this year.

Instead of a heavy infestation this year, there were only two plants that bolted, and numerous little ones where I missed the flower last year. Across the road, though, there are hundreds and hundreds of flower stalks. When my neighbor isn't looking, I've been grabbing the parsnip shovel and cutting them down in his ditch. This week, I'll try a rubber glove with a cotton glove over it, spraying glyphosate in the glove and wiping the plants. I think it will kill them.

Be sure to wear the long sleeved shirt, though! Last week, it was 94 deg. F, with an oppressive sun. I skipped the shirt and just thought I'd be careful with the shovel. My arms now look like someone has tortured me with a soldering iron.

Anyone else have any experiences and things to share?

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