Weeds weeds weeds!

I thought I should put a blog in here about weeds, seeing as weed management is a big part of this project. Because the aim is to get the area back to indigenous wetlands, plants that aren’t often thought of as weeds usually, technically are here. Meaning plants that are native to Australia, or even Victoria, but aren’t indigenous to the local area. However, we decided that for the time being will not get too worked up about this. We are making sure that all our planting is local to the area, and we’ll focus on the weeds that pose a threat to the desired ecosystem. Here are some of the main trouble makers:

Galium aparine – Cleavers. These sticky little buggers are popping up everywhere at the             moment. They can be hand weeded easily enough, just be careful to pull out the roots as well, as the stems tend to break easily.

Hedera helix – English Ivy. Not posing a major threat, as it’s only appearing here and there is small parts, and can be easily hand weeded. Can become a major issue if left unattended.

Cyperus eragrostis – Drain Flat Sedge. There has been quite a lot of this to deal with. Around the water’s edge I have been trying to remove as much as I can by hand weeding, but in some areas I have been using a glyphosate spray to keep it under control before it spreads to much seed.

Rumex crispus – Curly Dock. This is a fit of a frustrating weed a very large tap root, making it difficult to pull out. Needs to be either dug out, or sprayed. Spraying is effective on the large leaves, but it often grows close to the water.

Aster subulatus – Aster Weed. This was coming up in large numbers all along the water’s edge. I focused intensively on it during the first couple of weeks working here, trying to get rid as much of it as I could before it set seed. Hopefully it had an effect and it won’t come up in large numbers next year.

These are by no means all the weed species here to deal with, but it’s an overview of some of the bad ones. The areas that are looking the best, in terms of being weed free, are where there is lots of shade and leaf litter from the trees, or in patches of dense vegetation of Microleana stipoides and Poa labilliardier.

References:

Richardson FJ, Richardson RG, & Shepard RCH 2011, Weeds of the South East – An Identification Guide for Australia, 2^nd edn, RG & FJ Richardson, Victoria.