On Tue, 28 Jul 1998, Joanne Powell wrote:
> now, what I need from anyone who has any experience with Round-up is the
> effect it's going to have - both long term and short term. Is this going to
> kill the Goldfinches who love thistles? He says it takes about two weeks
> for the thistles to absorb this poison which works its way down to the

Round-up is considered one of the safest pesticides, because it has
almost no effect on most non-target organisms (except green plants). Its
active ingredient (glyphosate) is one on the few herbicides approved for
use in water. (The water formulation is called Rodeo.)

The alternative (other than not farming) would be to plow the thistles
under. Since you're writing from the east side, I'm guessing the thistles
are Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), an agressive exotic common in the
Basin. They are difficult to kill by plowing under, because they have very
deep roots that resprout.

When I did my dissertation research, in Pullman, I battled Canada
Thistle in my plots. I was growing weeds, but not *those* weeds! I used
Round-up to control them, because I could put it on the thistle with an
eyedropper, and it wouldn't affect the neighboring plants. It does take a
couple of weeks to kill the plant.

The goldfinches will likely find another patch of thistles when those
die. There is no shortage of thistle in the Basin.

Farming in the Basin has been more destructive, from a wildlife
perspective, because it's swallowed up so much of the deep-soil habitat
than because of the pesticides used (at least since DDT was banned). If
your neighbor needs income, however, I don't what he could do besides
farming or a grazing lease. Grazing has also been very destructive in the
Basin, because the native plants are poorly adapted to intense grazing.

Kelly (No, I don't work for Monsanto) Cassidy