We have a couple of weeds we are trying to identify-and today we found out what one is-jimson weed! Nothing eatis it and we have plenty of other good forage...but the goats like to lay under it for shade...

What is the best way to get rid of this? The plants are large! but we don't want to use chemicals if we can avoid it.

the other weed is not where animals can get at it-but it is also huge and I remember it getting berries last year. These are TALL plants-taller than me (5'7") I have thought maybe poke-that is supposed to be plentiful here...but I have heard that people eat it!

Thanks, sarah

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), July 20, 2001

Answers

Hi, Sarah. We had Jimson weed years ago, brought in somehow in a load of feed and it started growing in the pastures. We just cut it down and destroyed it when we found it. It didn't seem that aggresive here, but maybe it's the not the climate for it. It took a few years, but it finally disappeared. I know it's poisonous and we were upset for awhile, but the cows never touched it. The smell of it is pretty rank, as I recall, so your goats are probably savvy enough to leave it alone.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@imcnet.net), July 20, 2001.

Poke is only edible when young, before the stem turns reddish at all, and even then I'd consider it a "hardship" food - one that you eat when the alternative is not eating. It can still be poisonous to sensitive people, or if you don't change the boiling water enough. SOunds like poke, though, and good luck getting rid of establilshed plants - those roots will go deeper than a politician's pockets, even at a young age. A truly large monster will often have a root several feet down, and will hang on for dear life, most likely breaking off below the soil line and regrowing next year. Have fun!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), July 20, 2001.

About pokeweed; I have read in several places, one being Peterson's "Medicinal Plants," that eating pokeweed can cause chromosomal damage, regardless of how many times the cooking water is changed. Changing the water does remove some toxins, but whatever it is that damages chromosomes is not affected. Pokeweed should be considered toxic at all times and never eaten.

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), July 20, 2001.

jimson is an annual so cut it down before it setts seed once on the ground it can last 50 years creat a thick sod that will keep it from sprouting it likes disturbed soil.usualy poisoning casescome from starving animals or that individual animal that is just GOOFY to start with. poisoning can come from harvested forage for example choped silage or in hay where the leaves crumble and mix with the other forage

-- george darby (windwillow@2fuse.net), July 21, 2001.

I grew up eating poke salad as my grandmother called it. As long as you eat it while it's young and boil it twice. No reports of my elderly relatives getting sick or any of us kids growing up. As for getting rid of it, pull it up by the roots or use an organic herbicide.

-- Vicky (bullride99@msn.com), July 21, 2001.

Jimson weed is also known as Datura spp. and is very poisonous. It has some Native American ceremonial uses--however, not to be messed with because it can cause hallucinations and worse yet, death upon ingestion. It has a strange appearance, with big, pointy lobed leaves and trumpet-like flowers. I suppose your goats know to stay away from it.

You can remove it by digging it out. I'd wear gloves.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), July 22, 2001.

Sarah,

Poke [at that height] will have a red stalk and will develope red berries this fall. It really is a beautiful plant. Jimson will have a large, trumpet shaped, pale flower and will develope a large seed pod that looks kind of like a big cocklebur. Our animals have never shown interest in either one. I agree that if you will be cutting hay where they are growing, you should pull them up and dispose of them.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), July 23, 2001.

Datura is one of those poisons that can be absorbed through the skin, so wear disposable gloves if you are dealing with much of it. I control it by killing it before it has a chance to go to seed.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), July 26, 2001.