Weeds Management
Weeds Management
Options for controlling dominant weeds in the Wellington/Dunedoo aeas.
Building our Future -
LLCI006-001
The issue
The idea was suggested by landholders' enquiries about how to manage Blue Heliotrope infestation in the Wellington area. The idea developed to include the dominant weeds in the Dunedoo area, as we share a Landcare Co-ordinator, John Ryan. It was proposed to have a series of three workshops to tackle weed problems by Chemical, Biological and Pasture Management methods in each area and have the landholders attending to choose the best method for them, and we follow up during the year to see how they went.
The solution
The first Chemical Control workshops in September were cancelled due to flooding, so the second, Biological Control workshops contained some Chemical and Integrative controls as well. This was well-attended by interested parties other than the landholders originally approached but no-one attended from Dunedoo due to a clash of activities in the same few days. The final day, Pasture Management control was attended by 2 people at the Wellington end and about 10 at the Dunedoo end: the event was well-received by the attendees. Although there has been no feedback from the Wellington end about the a poor response, we suspect earlier onset of harvest in this area meant everyone was too busy.
The impact
One of our attendees drove to Tamworth the week following the Biological control day to collect her breeding kit. She is conducting a breeding program and sharing information with others so that they can employ this method. As yet, there is no information about what the Pasture Control Day yielded, but we know it was well-received. The intention now is to follow up the landholders over the next year to see what progress is being made and whether they are changing their practices to suit.
Key facts
- Three methods offered to manage local weed problems
- Follow up through the year to see if practices have changed
- Weather and circumstances beyond our control meant that nobody had access to all three choices, so the results will be skewed accordingly.