Yellow Starthistle Alert!

Hi all. Jeane Kennedy passed this along:

Yellow Starthistle probably arrived in California in the mid-1800’s as a contaminant in alfalfa seed.  It is a member of the sunflower family and belongs to the thistle tribe.  Since its introduction, yellow starthistle has spread steadily and was estimated to inhabit about 8 million acres statewide in 1985.  It is one of California’s worst noxious weeds, infesting parks, rangelands, pastures, hay fields, orchards, vineyards, canal banks, roadsides, and other disturbed areas.

Many residents of the Diamond XX community maintain horses on their acreage.  Horses should not graze yellow starthistle. Prolonged ingestion by horses (86-200 percent of a horse’s body weight) can lead to the fatal nervous disorder equine nigropallidal incephalomalacia, or “chewing disease.”

Come Learn How to Control Yellow Starthistle:

University of California Cooperative Extension Natural Resources Program is offering free workshops in a neighborhood near you.  Starting in Groveland, where yellow starthistle (YST) is creeping onto federal lands and threatening Yosemite National Park, workshops will be held at various times and locations:

Thursday, 2/17, 6:00 p.m. Groveland Ranger District offices

Saturday, 2/26, 2:00 p.m. Groveland Evangelical Free Church

Thursday, 3/10, 2:00 p.m. Groveland Community Hall

CHOOSE THE WORKSHOP THAT’S MOST CONVENIENT FOR YOU

Speakers will discuss YST impacts on California, its biology and control.  Weed identification activities and free hand-outs included.

Now is the time of year to attack yellow starthistle.  Come learn how to control this noxious spreading weed!  If you’d like to schedule a workshop in your neighborhood, call 209.533.6993.