Back at you.

most of the time when they send you a nasty letter that you have to clean up your yard its a neighbor that complained...at least that is what i understand...but in your case 40 acres sounds like they could have just been checking the area...it was great when my neighbor had to clean up all thier scotchbroom...they had other stuff growing in it...it was the best summer breathing i had that year...i have since moved but didnt realize it was my breathing problem...:)

Nah, the various counties have their noxious weed geeks that do nothing but drive 'round gawking at open spaces. King county will pay your dump fees for doing their work. Don't know about the others.

Have spent many days doing this too at the expense of fly fishing the Yak, 'specially after the in-house labor has grown and gone their own way. After consulting with various experts, our place is manageable and takes far less time. Seems the little blighters use a lot of ju-ju pushing up their central stalk and then pull that ju-ju back down into the roots in the fall after going to seed. Kinda like what daffodils do, 'cept that a goodly-sized plant can spawn over 100k seeds. Thus the likely reason for your neighbor's angst. The improved routine goes something like this:

'Round the 3rd week in June they're fully up and beginning to bud out. Hook up the field mower to the JD tractor and mow them little bastids with a maniacal laugh while cutting them to shreds. They no longer have their mojo and put up a wimpy stalk and weakly flower out again around mid-August. When you can see the flowers above the cut grass, I'll just cut off the flowers with the fork of a Sears weed puller, putting them into a 5 gallon bucket and then pop the root ball with a same and leave it lay. I'll also spot spray the visible rosettes with Crossbow in the fall. Carting around a 5 gallon bucket of flowers and puller is a *lot* easier than packing whole stalks w/ flowers. Tell your labor to avoid stepping on the extracted root balls or they'll take root again. Hate 'em!!!

I may have to try Dan's flame thrower if I can get it away from him....

No can do..............I have too many jobs lined up to let it out of my sight any time soon.

We are treating each area where roots are pulled with Milestone. 1 oz for 5 gallons does the trick. That should reduce the amount that shows up next year.

I have access to a Kubota with a brush hog, so I will apply that method next spring & summer, if I still have the property. Hopefully it is sold. This is one of the properties that I was thinking of releasing pheasants on, so I may start on that this year.

I have to tell you though. I have met some pretty squared away kids who aren't afraid of a little work on this adventure. Most are 16-18, and two in their early 20's. Pretty much farm kids, or raised with that work ethic. This will be one of those situations where I will be happy handing them their pay. They have done very well, with about 25 acres completed as of yesterday.

The noxious weed board guy showed up this morning, so I asked him if he was the guy who wrote the letter, "No." I asked him if he had ever read the letter, "No." I handed him the letter, to which he replied, "well that's pretty strongly worded."

I told him that as his customer, I was annoyed with not getting a call, (they had my phone number), and that their first attempt to contact me was a letter threatening criminal penalties, fines, and liens on the property. Typical government bully BS. He didn't really say much after that.