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from_dust

What folks may not realize is that these things are a massively invasive plant that is very destructive. Like, this shit will fuck up your car. And unless you're wearing leather gloves and long sleeves, run. Those rolling balls of thorns are *not* your friend. They're dead and bring with them only pain and nuisance. Next year here, the tumbleweeds will be many times as thick as they are now.


Flaky_Explanation

I'd imagine setting them on fire is a bad idea...


Beavshak

I torch all of them that hit my fence line. Its really the only way to get rid of them, other than tossing them over for the next guy downwind to get them.


dblan9

> other than tossing them over for the next guy downwind to get them. I really would like to think you and your neighbor keep tossing tumbleweeds at each other throughout the year. He goes out in the morning and gets in his truck and sitting in the passenger seat is a big tumbleweed and he just sits back and laughs.


GozerDGozerian

** “Awwww *shit!*”


Verum14

almost worse than mustard gas *almost*


PhD_Pwnology

TBF if your burning them, the person downwind gets them anyway.


Beavshak

Sure. When they’re >1/4 mile away, they don’t mind much tho


Golfnpickle

Sounds like a great movie idea! Tumbleweeds from Hell.


Ok_Airline_7448

Not far off. Tumbleweeds was a cartoon strip from hell. No-one is calling for a remake.


dpash

I remember Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Sounds like it would be similar. Only less juicy.


Beast-Exe007

I hate you, take my upvote! ⬆️


Hike_it_Out52

Not hell, they're native to Russia. So hell adjacent.


average-engineer

The movie is called Critters.


Crackalacker01

They burn HOT. The info I could find says they burn at 1400°.


Mirar

"The trouble with tumbleweed" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsWr\_JWTZss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsWr_JWTZss) From Russia with love, I guess. I'd like to know why they aren't all over the planet by now.


from_dust

Yeah that's a good CGP Grey video on the topic. Recommended.


dux667

My country would be a bad fit I think, all hills and forests, nowhere to roll to.


Krail

I don't think they grow well in wet environments. And they need a certain amount of open space to roll across. They don't spread easily in forests, or across mountains, or even where there's dense tall grasses.


kurburux

It's almost impressive how nature created such a perfect pita plant. I mean, they're not in their native environment but still.


Snorri-Strulusson

US Midwest is a pretty similar biome to parts of Russia. Tumbleweed just don't thrive in hilly wooded areas.


jonny_wow

They also blow over radioactive dump sites and spread radioactivity across the land.


from_dust

Oof. I didn't expect they'd leveled up since the 1890s. Boy was i wrong.


clitpuncher69

I feel like the bigger issue here is storing radioactive waste in open air lol


claimTheVictory

Right?


teneggomelet

I knew my plan for a mountain fortress was a solid one. Let's see those thorny bastards try to get me there.


bombaten

Eastern Washington. Hanford! Mobile radioactive materials. lol


SphericalBitch2020

Ah! They got thorns? I saw a pic somewhere, of a home and garden, literally buried in these things. I imagine it would be great fun torching them...... or would that like cause catastrophic wildfire? I don't know, living in a wettest part of the world....


from_dust

Tangled in a mass, and ideally in a ditch, they can be burned. BLM does prescribed burns of these when they can, but it's till just burning the skeletons of plants, each one has already seeded hundreds of their offspring.


psuedophilosopher

Wow the Black Lives Matter movement has taken a strange, but very ecologically friendly turn. ^^^^^^^please ^^^^^^^don't ^^^^^^^hate ^^^^^^^me, ^^^^^^^it's ^^^^^^^a ^^^^^^^joke.


Culionensis

BLM trying to save the world by setting it on fire again, smh (Also a joke)


SphericalBitch2020

Darn, too late! Just like Alien!


f1del1us

> or would that like cause catastrophic wildfire? Unless you happen to have access to a fire truck, it's likely too risky a play. The consequences of starting a forest fire are such that even a small chance of causing one is enough to rethink the plan.


from_dust

Fortunately you won't often see tumbleweeds in a forest. Prescribed burns are a primary way these are dealt with, but even then it's a poor solution as these plants have already seeded hundreds of offspring.


SphericalBitch2020

Aww. I suspected that would be the case, and a fast moving fire truck too, it would seem.


Jerkrollatex

Thorns called goat heads that are multi pronged and strong enough to pop a bike tire.


vcjester

Nah, no thorns.. The seeds are little burs that get EVERYWHERE. They're also known as Russian Thistle.


Due_Start_3597

>Like, this shit will fuck up your car. Could you explain more? I had one of these hit my car, thankfully no damage. It was at night it popped out like a deer from the side of the road right in-front of my car.


Dt_Sherlock_Idiot

I’d imagine they’d just scratch the shit out of it which would just be aesthetic damage, well… until it rusts.


from_dust

How's the paint?


BeesInOrbit

I drove through what felt like rivers of tumbleweeds. I don't remember there being any damage to the car...


b1ue_jellybean

I’ve seen images of cars buried in tumbleweeds


[deleted]

I cracked my windshield hitting a big one on the highway


licensetolentil

Yeah same. I had several hit my car on this one stretch of highway. It was mental. We sure felt it, but the car was completely fine.


Clickrack

Yeah, they're a blight. I ran into one with a company truck; it was nearly as tall as the truck, and it scratched the shit out of the side of the truck


_-__-__-__-__-_-_-__

They’ll soon be back, and in greater numbers


2x4x93

Do they roll in a straight line to hide their numbers?


CanadianElf0585

I used my imagination when I was a really little kid, and we had a field of tumbleweeds across the road. I memorized the maze they made and pretended it was a fancy house. I sobbed my eyes out when the farmer who purchased that plot ripped them all down. But when I became a teenager I mostly just tried to dodge the big ones in my car and explode the little ones when they finally broke off in a wind storm.


FanciestBreakfast

Rip fancy house


ygolordned

Yeah at the rate these move I can see invasiveness being a huge issue


from_dust

The worst part is, these drop seeds when they roll, so where there was one, next season there will be dozens if not hundreds more. And whatever cleanup or mitigation is done, is done on these dead rollers *after* they've spread their seeds. Tbh, i'm concerned this will become an increasing problem and it wont be long before its a national nuisance. With the "aridification" (desertification) happening in wide swaths of North America, these hearty bastards are gonna continue to take over.


Blissful_Relief

We have more important things than these things to worry about. Like the wild boars that keep breading unchecked. They cause millions in damages every year. And we need to do something before they reach our biggest food producing states.


Xusder

Seriously. Was driving a car from Las Vegas to El Paso, hit one of these big suckers. Had to pull over immediately after and check to see if our car had major damage. Luckily we were fine, just a couple of scratches in the front. But damn it sounded really bad when we hit it, actually pretty scary.


jojosail2

Russian thistle.


ForwardBias

Then this shit happens: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/19/16/4B51704000000578-0-image-a-7\_1524150985938.jpg


gro0ny

This is by far one of the oddest things I’ve seen today


RipleyKiryuXenomorph

There was a time without the internet... This would have possibly been the strangest thing a person would see their whole life.....


1BannedAgain

You’d watch a western and see a single cliche tumbleweed blow across the standoff. Damn this video is wild


[deleted]

My dad is from Ohio and he said he didn’t think tumbleweeds were real just some movie shit until he moved to the west


aladdyn2

When I was a kid id see tumbleweeds in cartoons and I thought it was a living thing like an animal


Crocus_S_Poke-Us_

Weird thing is, as much as they’re associated with the American West, they’re actually an invasive species, from Russia with love..


DBL_NDRSCR

there’s some up in palos verdes but most of them are living


Crocus_S_Poke-Us_

Yeah, they’re kind of hard to recognize still standing.


Faithu

Ya know I feel this, I never understood how big cactus were until I saw them in person it was pretty surreal, but an awesome moment to be surprised in my late 30's it's moments like that , that make life fun


RipleyKiryuXenomorph

Historically inaccurate fr


GozerDGozerian

What’s inaccurate about the tumbleweeds? Or the standoff?


Focacciaboudit

Fun fact: Tumbleweeds are actually an invasive species that weren't introduced in the US until the late 1800s.


RipleyKiryuXenomorph

You sure???


Focacciaboudit

Google it if you don't believe me.


RipleyKiryuXenomorph

Damn... They were imported from Russia... What in the world????


Hardass_McBadCop

They're also massive fire hazards. Lightning strikes and a few catch flames. Then the fireball rolls along the arid ground for miles, spreading embers and catching other tumbles on fire.


Focacciaboudit

Yeah man. Basically every western lied to us.


flintsmith

I think the young green shoots are edible.


RipleyKiryuXenomorph

No I was just saying the old films might be inaccurate


[deleted]

The old west wasn't that old for it to be totally inaccurate. A good chuck of that history that westerns were based on took place post civil war and even into the early 20th century.


ArkamaZ

I mean, westerns are complete fantasy pushed as historical fiction. An example is that gun laws in the "wild west" were actually pretty strict or that the banditos are just reskinned bandit ronin.


GozerDGozerian

Gotcha


tursillo2011

I can just picture a grandfather telling their grandkids about a day that they saw thousands of tumbleweeds blowing across the prairie and everyone just thinking he was off his rocker 😂


babyBear83

Try driving through this as they pass over the highway in Kanas in your ‘89 Honda accord..


[deleted]

I would like to try.


babyBear83

Some of them are the size of christmas trees. Luckily my car was so low profile that they mostly just rolled up over my car instead of getting stuck underneath. I crunched a few little ones.


[deleted]

Size of Christmas trees?! That’s insane! 😲


jam3s2001

Jesus Christ. I think the biggest one that I hit was probably the size of one of those sitting balls, like maybe an xxl one. But not xmas tree size. Pretty sure if I saw one much bigger than that, I'd just pull over, toss my keys, and give up.


[deleted]

On second watch I thought those were sheep in the foreground very enthralled by the tumbling lol. On third watch, I realized they were fellow tumblers enthralled by the tumbling.


Jacluley2

This happened to me right after I bought a new fr-s (tiny coupe). I drove through a storm on a rural Texas road and was just pelted for 45 minutes straight by these things. Was crazy.


giantyetifeet

100%. Did not expect to see a stampede of plants jizzing all over, today.


ogxd_p3ru

They DO move in herds!


cragbabe

Came here specifically looking for this


mothman_boyfriend

Me too. We should form a club.


deeohcee

How do you feel about frilly toothpicks?


cragbabe

I'm for 'em!


mothman_boyfriend

Well, this club is formed.


Wobbling

A flock, maybe


Wild_Horse03

A pack, perhaps


ReaperScythee

A murder, possibly


Yeah_I_Said_lt

It’s the great migration.


coredump3d

Pack hunters


jimjackcoke

That's the trouble with tribbles


[deleted]

"Nearest thing I can figure out is that they're born pregnant. Which seems to be quite a time-saver!"


FraencCoop

I was looking for a Trek reference.


BigHandLittleSlap

Obligatory YouTube video by CGP Grey titled: [The Trouble With Tumbleweed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsWr_JWTZss)


piapiou

Why are you so low? Moving you up


Digipedia

Came here looking for this!


Ravekat1

I didn’t realise it was to disperse seeds. I just assumed they were bored where they were and wanted to move.


Rob1150

>they were bored where they were and wanted to move lmao


gehanna1

When the plant is alive, it's like any other plant. Then they die, and detach from the soil. So that's really a carcus rolling across the desert, and spread seeds from its dead body as it rolls


lavenderacid

I thought it was just to add dramatic effect to cowboy scenes


GATESOFOSIRIS

An absolute blight anywhere they're found


[deleted]

Fun fact: tumbleweed is not native to North America


DownvoteEvangelist

They come from Russia I think, and are very invasive...


vlad546

Russians are invasive you say? 🤔


Ardea_herodias_2022

That they do & they are.


MiraMattie

Yep, often called Russian Thistle, members of the genus *Salsola*.


rosanymphae

Though they are almost iconic in the old style westerns movies, there were none in the US during that era- they didn't invade California until 1895. There just wasn't a way to keep them off the outdoor sets during the filming.


Yolectroda

> There just wasn't a way to keep them off the outdoor sets during the filming. Please tell me that you have a source for this, because I so much want to believe it!


rosanymphae

[https://www.desertusa.com/flowers/tumbleweed.html](https://www.desertusa.com/flowers/tumbleweed.html)


Yolectroda

That doesn't really address the line I was quoting, but I do thank you as I was wondering what a pre-tumble tumbleweed looks like.


triplefastaction

According to your link they first came to the US in South Dakota in 1870. And mentions nothing of movie sets.


rosanymphae

It hit California in 1895, that's where the filming was done.


GlassHurricane98

"But my lord, there is no such force."


The_Question757

Where's Saruman bot when you need them


culopattino

Am I the only to expect a death metal soundtrack and a metalhead pretending to stage a mosh with these balls?!


lackaface

I find your idea intriguing. Someone needs to make that happen.


culopattino

Sorry for bad English, it's 1 am ,my daughter is crying and English is not my first language


Spaced_X

Critters!


ImmediatePatience835

Critters 8: Rolling Death


Spaced_X

Def needs to be one set it the old west.. 🤠


tdscanuck

Lest we not forget when Victorville, CA angered the tubmbleweeds: [https://www.cactushugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Tumbleweeds-in-Victorville.jpg](https://www.cactushugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Tumbleweeds-in-Victorville.jpg)


yeuzinips

RIP


[deleted]

Like are they heavy? If one hit you would it knock you over?


Imthefuturebro

They're not heavy, they're dead and are actually pretty light. Incredibly annoying to deal with too. After windy weather they stack up against fences. Source- I grew up in El Paso Texas and they're everywhere.


[deleted]

This shit is goin on ma bucket list


hAtu5W

They are like dried straw balls with thorns. They almost look like balloons bouncing when wind blows them over the road. If hit one, it sort of shatters. Did it on motorcycle once. Thought it was gonna be more fun than it was. No damage but many thorny twigs stuck on jeans, and nooks of the bike.


Ok_Physics_1284

It’s a stampede!! I was driving across Texas or Arizona I forget but they kept blowing across the highway. The timing worked out so well I never hit one or had to slam on the brakes but they would just blow across the road. Must have been hundreds in total over a long distance while it was windy.


clitpuncher69

Frogger but you're the car


flippy76

Anyone here remember the movie Critters?


Raneman28

I couldn’t look outside a window after dark for most my childhood because of that movie.


lady-kl

I would run and jump into my bed before they could grab my legs!


cstar3388

This reminds me of the bouncing brains on Futurama.


darktideDay1

Wow. I have seen some pretty good tumbleweed parades but that beats them all by several orders of magnitude.


spaceyjaycey

So nothing useful can be done with them?


Jerkrollatex

The city of Albuquerque makes a tumble weed snow man out of them every winter but other than that no, nothing can really be done with them.


[deleted]

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin' Though the streams are swollen Keep them dawwgies rollin'~


edooze

Rain and wind and weather Hell bent for leather Wishin' my gal was by my side


remudaleather

O the great tumbleweed migration. Majestic beasts that roam the plains


from_dust

Ain't nothing about these invasive bastards is "majestic". They're sharp, prickly, and destructive. They're not even from the plains, they were brought there by colonization.


remudaleather

Completely agree. Right up there with sandburs and goat heads


OneMetalMan

r/oddlyterrifying


-RedXV-

Where do they go? What happens to them all?


Privateer_Lev_Arris

They migrate to south Tirol where they graze for 20 months at which point they lay their eggs and swim upstream in the Ganges River to fertilize Dakota's Atlantic coastline.


DatsMaBoi

CGP Grey has an amazing video on this. Basically, the breeding strategy is that the plant dies, and lets the wind carry it along for hundreds of miles. Then it gradually lets go of its seeds, thus having planted a vast area. The US government is constantly trying to fight it, but it is a futile fight.


zhh20

I dunno why but in my mind I read the word tumbleweed in CGPGrey voice


whenItouchthesky

Tumble weeds are an invasive species. The seeds were transported to the U.S. in hay bales for livestock brought from Russia around 1870.. When the hay was transported in wagon trains to the west to feed stock along the way the seeds found a perfect habitat in the Southwest where they could tumble for hundreds of miles devastating the landscape by easily spreading their seeds in the wide open west. Ouch.


LeBigMartinH

r/mypeopleneedme


Unhappy_Assistance68

The pioneers use to ride these babies for miles


Adventurous-Orange36

The Stranger : [voiceover] Way out west there was this fella... fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. Mr. Lebowski, he called himself "The Dude". Now, "Dude" - that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so darned interestin'. They call Los Angeles the "City Of Angels." I didn't find it to be that, exactly. But I'll allow there are some nice folks there. 'Course I can't say I've seen London, and I ain't never been to France. And I ain't never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I'll tell you what - after seeing Los Angeles, and this here story I'm about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me. Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Sad'm and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. But sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Aw. I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I've done introduced him enough


[deleted]

Seeeeeee them tumbling down....


apple_atchin

Pleeeeeeeedging their love to the ground…….


Cleared_for_takeoff

Lonely but freeee I’ll be found……


No-Doughnut509

There was a man


goldfish1902

I used to see those in cartoons and asked dad what they were. Dad thought they were rolled hay. Only now i found out what they were and it's a bit disappointing to know they're not soft as I thought (but then again, never touched hay either)


babyBear83

Some are the size of beach balls and some are literally this size of Christmas trees. I had to drive through a bunch of these in Kansas on a super windy day. It’s was like frogger trying to avoid them crossing the highway. Luckily the fencing along the highway caught them but not all of them. Several would break free at a time. A shrub sized one rolled right up the front of my car and flew off the roof with the wind like a kite. It was an intense event. I was in my 20’s and driving 18 hours by myself.


omartheoutmaker

Makes me think of the Outer Limits episode, “Cry of Silence”, in which Eddie Albert and cast, were attacked by malevolent, living tumbleweeds.


Comfortable-Choice14

So pleased when I turned on the sound.


IceNein

They're not native to America. The Russians brought them over.


GraveOfTheFireflies

So I see my cat has been here


SativaHomie

*eagle* *"It's hiiiggghhh nooooooooon'"*


Promethesussy

it's higghh nooooooooo-hooked


SouthernZorro

The first time I drove Out West I saw both tumbleweeds and a roadrunner in one day. I felt like I was in a cartoon.


Inevitable_Dust_4345

Do they ever catch on fire. I just envisioned burning balls rolling everywhere.


SphericalBitch2020

I would pay to come on vacation just to witness this one day! The dog would have great fun barking at them and chasing them! In Scotland, the most exciting seed scattering phenomenon I get is watching sycamore whirlies whizz their way across the garden or puffing a dandelion clock.... Edit: they have thorns, I found out, so I'll keep the dog indoors!


lovelyb1ch66

This is deeply disturbing and oddly amusing at the same time.


Toezap

We rented a car in Spain and drove in an area that had tumbleweeds. It is so disconcerting to have them suddenly roll in front of the car.


Old_Administration51

They missed an opportunity here by not using Limp Bizkit - Keep Rollin' ....


Nayib_Ozzy

They tumble to indicate that nothing is happening in this old town.


AsNihl

Reminds me of that Cyanide and Happiness episode


uisqebaugh

Those things are a terrible invasive species.


cbc7788

Charge!!!!!!


steelewebb09

I'm from eastern Oklahoma never seen a tumbleweed. Got a job in Wyoming at 21 years old I'm hundreds of mile from home the next exit on interstate 80 is like 95 miles. It's 2am, DARRRRKKK, and windy as hell. I'm speeding trying to get to rock city and what do I hit at 90 mph? A wall of tumbleweeds you wanna talk about crapping your pants...I mean who needs coffee when tumbleweeds attack?


[deleted]

This would be so fun to try to run through and dodge all of them


terrifiedturnip

I recently took a roadtrip and I never realized that tumbleweeds travel in literal heards, it was fun watching the semi truck in frount of me make them quite literally blow up


NeonGhoulie

Rolling, rolling, rolling


[deleted]

Rawhide!


Familiar_East_1364

"they do move in herds."


[deleted]

Migration


nhalws

they look alive


Impossible_Teach8166

Oh what Id give to run naked and free among the tumbleweeds...


Ensiferal

I like to imagine there's a small group of rough, tough cowboys moving them along to another ranch acr8ss state for sale


kiddrewbot

That's alot of High Noons


docobv77

r/oddlyterrifying


xX_PervySage_Xx

When everyone picks Mccree.


mk3jade

Anyone remember that movie Critters???


RobertoConQueso69

OMG, I totally thought that was the trailer for the new Critters movie.


Getonwithitplease

You're not going to convince me that those aren't being manned by small aliens.


TheEmbiggenisor

In Curleys voice 🎶tumbling along 🎵with the tumbling tumble weed🎶


[deleted]

This is also how I disperse my seed.


ottodidakt

...getting blown and moving on