A Weed Management Plan For KURRI KURRI Property - Naringal  WEED TREATMENTS VS. WEED MANAGEMENT In general, weed management has tended to be very localised and targeted towards attempting to control individual weed species. More often than not weed treatment programs represent an attempt to control the spread of infestations which have become out of control. The long term outcome of adopting such a 'boom and bust' approach is often failure. Whilst some programs may have had some limited success in containing the spread of particular weeds in the short term, they often lead to an on-going, kill then re-infestation cycle with no long term benefit to the environment. Alternatively, killing or removing one target weed species may lead to the infestation of one or more different species, perhaps more difficult to manage e.g. replacement of woody weeds with smothering ground cover species such as Soursob (Oxalis pes-caprae). Successful weed management in the long term involves weed treatments that form part of a researched, planned, monitored and maintained, weed management program. The long term success of any weed treatment relies upon three simple principles: *Minimise disturbance during weed treatment *Replace the space occupied by weed species with desirable plants *Follow up monitoring and treatments DISTURBANCE: Weeds are essentially opportunistic plants. If the opportunity arises for then to grow, they are usually good at out-competing local plants. Soil disturbance, increased light levels and removal of vegetation, all represent opportunities for weeds to establish. Minimising such disturbance during weeds treatments or other management activities will reduce the opportunity for weeds. REPLACING THE SPACE: To build upon the concept of minimising opportunities for weeds, a revegetation step should be incorporated into weed treatment activities. If a space is available, an opportunity exists for a weed to fill that space. Long term success in treating weeds will only be achieved if a desirable plant is encouraged to fill the space in the environment which has been created by the removal of a treated weed species. If this revegetation step is not included in your weed treatment activities, it is likely that you will be performing repeat weed treatments upon the same area, far into the foreseeable future. Replacing the space created by weed treatments can be achieved by planting or seed sowing of indigenous species, or by altering site conditions to favour the natural regeneration of indigenous plants over weed species i.e. give the indigenous plants the competitive edge over the weeds. How to best achieve this replacement of weeds with indigenous plants will vary from site to site, and various methods may achieve long term success. It is recommended that careful thought be given to this in the planning of revegetation projects, with professional assistance sought if required. Advice on revegetation techniques can be obtained by contacting Greening Australia Victoria (9457 3024) or Coast Action/Coastcare Regional Facilitators. FOLLOW UP MONITORING AND TREATMENTS: No matter how thorough or effective weed treatment activities have been, follow up work will always be required. New weeds will grow from seeds previously dormant in the topsoil. Other weeds may establish from new seeds brought in to the site by wind, animal, bird or human activity and still other weeds will re-grow from existing weeds which were overlooked during treatment, or on which treatment was unsuccessful. It is recommended that two or three follow up treatment days be scheduled over the first six months following initial weed treatment and revegetation activities. Beyond this, continuing site monitoring will determine the need for any further weed treatments on an 'as needs basis'. CLEANING UP AFTERWARDS: Once weeds have been treated, there is often the issue of how to keep the revegetation site clear of branches, foliage, vegetative weed parts (such as rhizomes and bulbs) and weed fruits containing ripe seed. Small amounts of foliage can often remain on site to decompose. Sometimes the dying foliage of treated weeds can provide a useful mulch layer to deter weed seed germination in the short term and protect light coastal soils from wind and water erosion. Larger branches may need to be removed if they are smothering indigenous plants. The practicalities of using a small garden mulcher to chip branches on site (which then could be used to mulch subsequent planting) should be considered. Bulbs and rhizomes, etc. lifted during hand removal will of course need to be removed from the site or else regrowth will occur. Once removed, these can be sealed within plastic bags and left in the sun to rot. After six months or so, the dead plant material can be safely buried or composted without fear of regrowth. Weed seeds can be harder to kill. It is important to remove weed seeds and fruits from a coastal revegetation site, but is equally important to keep them containerised so they are not dispersed. A plastic bag treatment as previously described can be useful, but weed seeds may tolerate temperatures more than 65 degrees Celsius before death. A hot composting process can be successfully employed to generate the temperatures required to kill all weed seeds. However in doubt, burning or disposing of the weed seed bags through the rubbish collection system will be the safest approach. (Source: Coastal Weed Treatments Handbook - Greening Australia) TRIAL PLOTS BBQ AREA
Fence plots with shade cloth to 600mm high to prevent mower spraying weed seed onto plot when grass is being cut and to stop driving or walking over them, to avoid contaminating them with weed seed. Number the plots for reference. Plot 1: Spray with Bioactive Glyphosate and plant Poa or Wallaby Grass 20cms apart, record and monitor the species of weeds present and the ones that may return and spot spray until plot is covered with Poa lab or wallaby grass. Plot 2: Soak plot in a solution of 25gms sugar to 1 litre of water and plant Poa lab or Wallaby Grass 20cms apart, record and monitor the weeds present and the ones that may return and spot spray until plot is covered with native grasses. Plot 3: Spray with Bioactive Glyphosate, record and monitor weeds and mosses, this trial is to determine whether the mosses will return sufficiently enough to suppress weeds from returning. Plot 4: Slash twice a year before the weeds drop seed, avoid times when orchids are growing and or in flower. Use a catcher when slashing to collect weed seeds and dispose of cut grass off site. Parking area: Parking area weed species grasses should be replaced with Poa lab or Wallaby grasses to restrict the number of weeds that spread throughout the bush areas of the property. Mowing: Mowing of Poa lab or Wallaby grasses can be done in early spring and early summer to ensure that regrowth is green for the fire season and to still allow for vehicles to drive into the parking area. In the field hygiene: To minimise the risk of transporting weed seed along paths, footwear should be decontaminated by using a footbath using bleach to kill seeds adhering to boots before walking onto pathways. Cars should also be cleaned of soil that maybe adhering to the underside of mudguards before entering the property. All possible steps should be put in place to avoid introducing weeds onto the property. Wetland 1: This wetland opens on to a pasture paddock and has been invaded with weeds. This area requires moves to stop more weeds from entering into the open space, allowing weed seed to be blown in. A barrier along the fence of Woolly Tea-tree Leptospermum lanigerum needs to be planted to prevent weed seeds being blown into the wetland. Wetland 2: This wetland has weeds that are transported on feet and wind. The main reasons that weeds are getting established is that there is no water and there is a gap in vegetation from pasture on adjoining property. When water returns most of the weeds will drown, but steps must be taken to avoid transporting weeds on boots by stepping into a footbath of bleach before venturing up paths to both wetlands, this will also cut down the number of weeds distributed along the pathways. Weeding wetlands: There are many ways to tackle weed eradication along the paths and in the wetlands: Spot spray with Bioactive glyphosate Dig them out and carry them off site Crowd them out by planting indigenous species already found on site Prevent weed introduction
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