Sweet Briar, Rosa rubiginosa, flower and compound leaves (W.Pix).
Join the Friends of Mount Majura for a woody weed hunt at the north slope of Mount Majura. Please schedule at least two hours of your time for this event as we will be working in a fairly remote area. Please RSVP so that we know how many tools to bring.
When: Sunday, 15 March 2020, from 9.00 am to about 12.00 noon. Please schedule at least two hours of your time for this event as we will be working in a fairly remote area;
Where: Meet at the nature park entrance close to the intersection Tay / Ian Nicol Streets at The Fair, North Watson; click on this map to view the meeting point and the work area.
Inquiry: projects@majura.org
Mobile contact on Sunday morning: 0435 357 172
Bring and wear: Sun protection, drinking water, body-covering clothing and appropriate shoes; all equipment will be provided.
What: This will be a search and destroy exercise to control a range of woody weeds such as Sweet Briar rose, hawthorn and Cootamundra wattle; click on FoMM’s Woody Weed Gallery to view images of these and other common woody weeds that occur on Mt Majura.
We will be working in an area close to Federal Highway (see map above) and will be leaving from The Fair meeting point at 9.15 am. It will take up about 20 minutes to walk to the work area. There will be an induction on target weeds, the safe handling of equipment and the methods of control. We will be using herbicide and working in pairs. If you don’t want to handle herbicide you may choose to be the weed cutter and your working partner may apply the herbicide.
Chemical control of woody weeds using the cut & daub method.
Cut stems close to ground level and immediately treat cut surface with herbicide glyphosate (Roundup or equivalent product) applied at high concentration i.e. 1 part glyphosate : 2 parts water; apply herbicide mix with a hand-spray or paint the cut surface with a suitable device.
The plant’s natural protective mechanism acts very quickly to seal off the cut surface and this stops herbicide penetration into the sap stream. It is therefore important to treat the cut surface immediately, i.e. within 30 seconds after cut; the longer the treatment is delayed, the poorer the result will be. If necessary cut and daub each stem of multi-stemmed plants separately to avoid delayed herbicide treatment.
Enquiries: projects@majura.org.
Visit the following links with information on
Garden plants going bush:
https://majura.org/woody-weeds/
How to distinguish between an introduced Cootamundra wattle and a local Silver Wattle: https://majura.org/woody-weeds-working-party-20112011/
Sweet Briar, Rosa rubiginosa, fruiting (W.Pix). Sweet Briar, a native of Europe and West Asia, was introduced to Australia as a garden and hedge plant in the early 1800s. It is a major weed particularly of dry, hilly and disturbed land throughout South East Australia and a declared pest plant in the ACT. The seeds are spread by birds and foxes which eat the red fleshy fruits (rose hips).
