How to Get Rid of Wild Parsnip (without Roundup) 

I have definitely accidentally hit myself in the face with these when pulling them up - the one exposed part of my body when otherwise I'm wearing long pants, sleeves, and gloves. Very luckily for me, no burns.

@@BenFinio Good to hear. You missed out on the sap.

Definitely easier to get the roots out when it's rained recently. When the soil is super dry they tend to break off at the base.

@@BenFinioafter a lot of rain, the soil is very moist and much easier to pull roots out of with less effort and breakage of the roots. Most weeding is easier to do after a good rain where the moisture is deep in the soil around the roots.

It raises my blood pressure driving around up here and just seeing entire roadways lined with it because they mow after the plants have gone to seed and just spread it everywhere. Drive up and down I-81 from NY to PA and there are FIELDS of it.

@@BenFinio I lived in Minnesota where some of the counties took it on as a project, and did well. Wisconsin, where my 40 acres was, did not seem to care, and now that I live in Michigan, I can't find any interest. Soon, the ditches will fill, and people will get badly burned, but then the job is much bigger.

If the seeds are mature (brown) then I would be very careful pulling it out because they can fall off the plant. You could carefully cut off the seed heads and bag them first, then pull out the root.

If it's a new property I'd recommend doing whatever you can at this point, but you are in for a multi-year battle. This is our fourth year in this house and it's the first year I've actually seen a decrease in the number of plants in the large patch I've been managing. I assume because the seeds can survive in the ground for so long, there was a really well-established seed bed and it may be a few more years before I completely get rid of them. Of course that's assuming I don't miss one and have the process start over, but hopefully it will be more localized small patches that I can manage. I have seen a huge variation in how long it takes them to flower/seed, even with plants that are just a few feet apart from each other. I made this video two weeks ago and I had some that were already developing the green seeds. A few days ago I had some that were just starting to flower. One thing I haven't gotten an answer on is when the seeds become viable - I'm not sure if they're a risk when they're still green, or if it's not a problem until they're brown, but I clip and bag the seed heads when they're green just in case. Good luck!

We've got quite a bit of wild parsnip and I use the pull and crowd method - pull every parsnip you can see and let all the native plants around the parsnip grow to their hearts' content. The natives will crowd and shade the shorter parsnips, making it harder for the parsnips to survive. One year of this method prob won't be enough, but I find it way more effective than mowing. Added bonus is that by not mowing, you won't cut/ injure/ or kill your desirable native plants.

@@aaaaallllld7576 I agree, I always try to pull first and only mow as a last resort. We had a giant patch with hundreds of plants though so unless we were going to dedicate every weekend all summer to pulling them, I had to resort to mowing. I still try to find and pull those shorter ones though because I figure they are still going to develop seeds and keep the cycle going.

@@aaaaallllld7576 yeah, I was just hitting the wild parsnip with my scythe and keeping the natives....

Sorry to hear that. My scars are still here 8 years later. Try a broad brimmed hat to shade your face, and maybe a high UV sunscreen. I don't know if that works, but might be worth a try.

I have no idea if the smoke from the plants is dangerous, or if that would somehow risk popping and spreading the seeds. You would need to find an actual plant expert to answer that!

NO! The oils will aersolize from the burn.

Not sure, sorry!