Thistles can be extremely difficult to harvest, combined with only 23 spawns in the game, of which only 22 are accessible and it's understandable why no one uses the buffs that have thistle as an ingredient.
Similar to dandelions, if you or an enemy get too close to the plant before harvesting it then the flowers will blow away. They are also a per-server spawn which means that if another player has already picked the flower or an enemy has blown the flower away, then it can not be harvested. You will need to server-hop to have another chance at picking it.
Until you become more familiar with the locations of all the thistles, be prepared to lose some because you are guaranteed to accidentally walk into a few.
The difference between harvested and non-harvested thistles:
Used for
Farming Tips and Tricks
The following perk cards, magazines, and/or backpack mods will increase your yields.
Vendors
Whitesprings Restaurant - 3.12%
Collectors
Budding Apothecary Collector has a 5.56% chance to spawn Thistle.
Fixed Spawn Locations
This thistle route also crosses over into a lot of critter and mutated fern flower spawns so if you need squirrel bits and intestines then also equip Butcher's Bounty perk card under Perception.
Makeshift Vault
From the spawn in location, turn and face North East. You will see a blue ute/pick up truck, 2 white dogwood trees, a rock, a gap and then a small white dogwood tree and some more rocks. You want to head towards the gap that is between the rocks.
When you get to the gap between the rocks, you will see two fence posts. The thistle is next to the fence post on the right hand side.
Turn around and go back towards the Makeshift Vault. Stand on top of the blue ute/pick up truck and face South. You will see some houses in the distance. Head towards the houses by following the river bank along. Keep an eye on the water as you walk along the river bank and stop when you see a black rubber tube and a wooden pallet. Turn and face West and there should be a white dogwood tree on your right. The thistle is at the base of that tree.
You will need to be fast in collecting this next one, depending on the enemy types around. It's recommended that you clear the Mirelurks and Ghouls from the Becker Farm house first so they don't follow you and knock the thistle.
There are three houses at Becker Farm, from the thistle above, run over, in an Easterly direction, to the house that has a broken top floor.
Stand out the front of the house and look South. You will see a blue letter box and a road. Stand on the road and follow it East. Jump over the crack in the road and keep walking forward. You will see steam venting from a crack in the ground on your right and a barn and a house in the distance on your left. Move to the right hand edge of the road and keep following it East. A few metres past the steam vent, you will see some shrubs. The thistle is among the shrubs near an overhanging tree branch.
Stand back out on the road and look East. You will see the metal framework for a bridge in the distance.
Run forward, cross the bridge and jump up onto the back of the truck. Turn NE and follow the trailer down to the water. Cross the river and you will see a house on your right. Walk past the house and turn right. Follow the little road to the end, past the radtoads and their gross and disgusting tongues. You will see a Red Rocket on your left.
Jump on top of the red metal roof that is part of the Red Rocket and look East. You will see a wooden makeshift bridge on your right. At the end of the makeshift bridge is the next thistle.
There are three baseball bat spawns in Grafton if you want to check them before moving onto the next location.
Pioneer Scout Camp
From the spawn point, turn around, face North and run forward. At the edge of the cliff, jump down onto the main road. Kill the blood eagle and his dog :( and then turn and face East. You will see some buses on your left hand side. Jump on top of the second bus on the left and stop at the end. Face North East and the thistle will be right in front of you at the end of the car park area.
The next thistle can be very hit and miss. It is in the middle of a critter spawn, so if anything large like a radstag spawns in the area then it will blow the thistle away. Other times if it is a frog or a beaver then it will be there to harvest.
From the thistle above, turn and line up with the Graninger Farm map marker. Run forward, past a lake filled with toxic water and then keep running forward until you run into the middle of another lake filled with toxic water. You will have needed to follow the map marker super straight otherwise you will be at the wrong lake. Turn right and follow the edge of the lake around. The bank edge will start to level out as you get to one end of the lake. The thistle is on that end of the lake behind a small shrub.
Wavy Willard's Water Park
From the spawn in point, face East and run over to the brick wall. Face South and follow the wall, turn the corner and continue to follow the wall until you get to the next corner. Stop at that corner and line yourself up between the Wavy Willard's Water Park map marker and the Willard Corporate Housing map marker and then walk forward. As you get closer to the large brick wall, you will see a pile of grey rocks and dirt, the thistle is in front of it.
Turn East, run over to the large brick wall and follow it around, until you get to the corner.
Until you become more familiar with the route, I recommend, for these next few, to clear the enemies from the pool area at Wavy Willard's so they don't follow you and knock the thistles.
From the corner of the large brick wall, follow the fence down while looking on your right. You will see a red and white umbrella, laying on its side half out of the ground. You may end up going past it first and will need to back track.
Once you find the umbrella, carefully walk over to it and stand on top of it. Face East and you will see the thistle at the end of the white wooden deck chair.
Go back over to the wall and follow it to the end. At the corner, turn East. In front of you will be a rock and some shrub. The thistle will be in the shrub to the right of the rock.
Go back to the corner of the wall, turn the corner (North) and follow it around until you see a building on your left with a green and white striped roof. Just past the building, in front of you, is a red and white chair and the thistle is next to that chair.
From here, I recommend running over and clearing Willard Corporate Housing. If you can lure the floaters over to you and kill them from this side of the housing then they won't disturb the thistles in that area for you to farm later.
Once you have cleared Willard Corporate Housing, follow the road back towards the back of Wavy Willards. You should be able to see the Snake Slide behind the large brick wall. Keep running around the back of Wavy Willard's until you get to the fake rocks and the Crocolossus mountain ride. Walk right up to the fake rocks and turn right. The thistle will be on your right hand side, behind some tin.
If you turn North, you will see a gap in the rocks, between where the fake rocks end and the real grey rocks start. Walk through that gap and continue to follow the fake rock wall around until you see a pile of fake rocks on the ground in front of you. Stand on the rocks and turn NWW. You should see 3 white dogwood trees and a tree stump that looks like it is glowing. If you line up with the tree on the left and walk forward, you will walk into the thistle.
The next thistle is behind the tree mentioned above. Walk forward so you pass the tree on your left and you will walk into the next thistle.
The next one is a fair distance away.
From the thistle above, turn and face East and just run forward. Keep running forward until you see this tree.
Stop at the base of the tree and turn SW. There should be a tree stump to the left of you and then another in the distance directly in front of you. Run over to the second tree stump and then keep running forward until you get to a cliff top. Turn West and you will see a tree stump and the thistle on the right of the stump.
Jump back up onto the cliff top behind you and turn SE. Follow the cliff edge along then down then straight forward. You will walk into a white dogwood tree laying on its side with the roots still clumped around some dirt. The roots should be on your left hand side. Carefully walk up the hill as the next thistle is behind the clump of roots.
Stand inside the thistle above and line up with the Willard Corporate Housing map marker. You will see a tree stump and then a tree on your left. Walk straight forward, past the tree on your left and you will walk past the thistle on your right.
From that thistle, turn and face South. You will be able to see the next thistle in front of you. Otherwise walk straight a few metres past the rock pile and you will walk into it.
If you haven't already killed the floaters at the housing then you will need to be super quick in grabbing the next two.
Turn and face the housing and run straight. Go past the first trailer/building on your left, (if you see a blue fridge then you are in the right area) and head towards the trailer/building in front of you. Stop in the middle of the road, facing the trailer/building. There will be a thistle on the right of the building on the edge of the road and another thistle on the left side before the BBQs/cooking stations.
Check this area and the other buildings for salt, pepper, spices, and sugar before moving on to the next part of the thistle route.
Go back and stand on the road and follow it around. Go past the half-buried truck and stop at the end of the building on your right. Line up with the Black Bear Lodge map marker. There should be a tree on your left and half of a broken shed on your right. The thistle is behind the broken shed.
Turn and face East and walk up the hill. Look for the pile of tires/tyres in the middle of some trees. Stand on top of the pile of tires/tyres and look North, you will see a large grey rock in front of you. Walk over to the rock and follow it around so the rock is on your hard left. You will walk past the thistle on your right.
Crater Watchstation
From the spawn point, turn West and enter the camp. Keep walking forward, past the trailers until you see a pump and some hoses on the ground going left and right. Turn left at the pump and follow the hose. At the end of the hose, the ground is a golden yellow. Follow the yellow down until it sort of stops and there is a small lake of toxic water on your left. Turn right and you will see the thistle in the distance in front of you.
Skyline Valley
Camp Liberty
1x Thistle
From the fast travel point, face East and enter the camp.
Clear the camp of enemies and then run back and stand in front of the Todem Pole in the middle of the camp.
Face South and walk up the hill towards the Camping Zone and the green tents.
Keep walking South until you get to the campfire.
Face East and walk forward, walking around buildings, etc until you get to the green toilets/porta potties on your right.
Stand inside the porta potty that is lying on its side and face East.
Jump out of the porta potty and walk East. Try and stay as straight East as you can as this location has no landmarks nearby.
Walk East for a while until you see a broken shed and a windmill on your right.
Walk over to the windmill and face South.
You will see the Thistle spawn on the other side of the fence, to your right.
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