SOW THISTLE

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a regulated noxious weed, is a toxic, branching winter annual or biennial that grows 60-180 cm tall in disturbed areas, such as pastures, roadsides, ditches, and fencerows. Ingestion can cause nitrate poisoning in cattle and sheep. Young plants grow as rosettes. Shiny green leaves have distinct white marbling patterns, with spines on leaf edges and stems. Reproduces via seeds that persist in the soil for at least 9 years.

Sow-thistles are also environmental weeds in Australia. Both the Milk Thistle and the Rough Sow-thistle (Sonchus asper) are considered to be serious environmental weeds in Victoria, where they have invaded at least 13 types of Victorian native vegetation 

In Australia, other alien Sow-thistle species, such as Milk Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), are major weeds of cropping systems, especially in south-eastern Queensland and northern New South Wales, and the importance of Milk Thistle as a weed appears to be increasing

Spray FireHawk Bioherbicide Concentrate: 50 mL/L of water. Respray if required