Use these needles to make arrows and more.
There are a variety of plants to harvest materials from in Grounded, but one of the hardest to find is the Thistle Plant. This elusive plant gives you Thistle Needles, which are invaluable resources used to craft arrows and other things. The good thing about Thistle Plants is that you’ll only need to find one, as you cannot completely chop them down with an axe. They’ll give you Thistle Needles as long as you keep swinging, which is great for stocking up. They’re not too hard to find, but you will have to brave some of the more dangerous areas of the backyard to reach them.
Where to Find Thistle Needles in Grounded
Thistle Needles can be found in various parts of the backyard. The best place to find them is in Spade Gulch, but you can also find them near the giant oak tree and south of the Mysterious Machine. Our Spade Gulch guide can point you in the right direction of the easiest Thistle Plant location, but you can check the map featured below to figure out where to go.
Thistle Plants are tall with spiky leaves. They have bright purple flowers on top so they’re very hard to miss. Once you reach a Thistle Plant, simply hit it with your axe to obtain Thistle Needles. No matter how many times you swing your axe, the plant will not fall. You can chop as much as you want and take as many Thistle Needles as you need.
It might be a good idea to place a Trail Marker in order to mark the location of a Thistle Plant on your map so you can easily return, or you can just remember where it is and hope for the best. The Spade Gulch location is fairly easy to remember because it’s just east of the Mysterious Machine. If you’re ever in need of a Thistle Plant, just keep an eye out for bright purple flowers. Once you have Thistle Needles, you can craft arrows for your bow so you can take on spiders and beetles from afar.
- This article was updated on August 10th, 2020
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In Grounded, you'll need to use everything at your disposal to have a fighting chance against the many creepy crawlies actively trying to kill and eat you. A great tool in this rather uneven fight is the bow and arrow. You'll get the bow near the start of the game but will need to craft arrows in stacks of 10 from Thistle Needles. Thistle Needles are only found in certain areas of the map so to help you save time we've marked the best place to get Thistle Needles. We'll take a look at where to find them and how to harvest them.
On this page:
- Where to Find Thistle Needles in Grounded
- How to Get Thistle Needles
The best place to find Thistle Needles early on is in Spade gulch. We have a separate guide on reaching it if you'd like more info, or you can look at the image below:
Be aware that there is a strong beetle in this area that spits acid at you. You can check out this guide on beating it or simply steer clear . When in the right area you'll see Thistle plants with violet flowers on them. This is where you'll need to go.
How to Get Thistle Needles
To get Thistle Needles from the plants you need an axe. You'll have likely picked one up already but if not head over to this guide. Hit the plants with an axe and Thistle Needles will be automatically added to your inventory.
If you're looking for more on Grounded be sure to read Mat's piece on it's spiders. Elsewhere there's Mike's impressions of the early access version of the game.
Jake Green
Guides Editor
Jake is a former freelance writer who now heads up guides for USG. He spends his days dreaming of an X-Files dating-sim and will play literally any game with monkeys in it. He has an unhealthy obsession with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and would pretty much trade a kidney for Skate 4 at this point.