Northern bush half-cut, southern bush
cut-and-painted
Southern bush after cut-and-paint
Large northern bush half-removed
This is a page within Roger and Linda's
Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site.
Bunhybee Grasslands is a 49 hectare / 120 acre conservation property 35km south
of Braidwood, in southern N.S.W.
You can follow through the internal links, or you may find it easier to use
the Site-Map.
The property is subject to a Conservation Agreement, and a Plan of Management (7.4 MB of PDF!!). We have an Action Plan in place. A critical portion of that is the Weed Control Plan.
This page contains a cumulative report on implementation of the Weed Control Plan.
It contains information about the activities we've undertaken since we purchased Bunhybee in late 2008:
Based on our inspections of the property and information provided by NCT, we compiled this map of the weed infestations and related data.
Pre-NCT (to early 2007?). We don't know the sequence of prior owners and sale dates. And we don't know what weed attack work had been undertaken prior to NCT's purchase of the property. On the one hand, it appears to have never been intensively grazed and never to have been fertilised, presumably because of the limited water and hence limited stock-holding capacity. On the other hand, it's in great shape, which means either that the native species are extraordinarily healthy and resistant to invasion by foreign species, or that successful weed attack work has been previously conducted.
NCT (early 2007 to early 2008?). We don't know the date NCT acquired it. They conducted a small amount of work on serrated tussock, in [in late 2007 or early 2008?]. They reported what they referred to as "some isolated infestations" (about 5 locations on the upper slopes of the northern block, mostly about 50m from the forest boundary), all of which were small tussocks. They hand-pulled (because the work was conducted during a non-seeding phase of the year), avoiding soil-disturbance and leaving the tussocks on site.
They consider that larger plants are best done with chemical spraying but saw none on Bunhybee although there were some on the Parlour Grasslands, immediately to the south.
No other weed attack work was undertaken by NCT between their purchase of the property and our purchase of it from them on 22 Dec 2008.
Central and Northern blocks – toured, searching for and documenting weeds
Central and Southern blocks – toured, searching for and documenting weeds
Main northern waterline – worked down the waterline, trimmed then cut-and-painted blackberries as far down as the dam, leaving the cuttings lying on rocky ground
Northern block generally – attacked isolated fleabane, thistle and large sorrellNorthern and Central blocks – checked tussocks, searching for serrated tussocks (none found)
Title was finally transferred from NCT to ourselves, so we could now visit and work on the site without trespassing.
In Northern block, central-east:
In Peppermint corner, adjacent to the peppermint gum:
In Peppermint corner, under the trees, in the extreme NE corner:
In Northern block, centre:
In the main dam wall:
In Northern block, in the main dam wall:
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Northern bush half-cut, southern bush
cut-and-painted |
Southern bush after cut-and-paint |
Large northern bush half-removed |
In the Middle block:
In the Middle block:
We finally made a start on the Southern block:
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The bush before the attack |
The bush after the attack. (We ran out of time to finish the cut-back) |
No weeding done, but:
Two activities in preparation for cutting-and-painting the remaining blackberries in spring / early summer (each about 2 hours):
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The main Southern infestation, after prep |
The main dam, northern bush, during the work |
Late on in the work |
The pig-damage is continuing. The rain has been very limited, and the main dam is very low, although there was some moisture in the southern water-line. The small dam was again looking to be being spring-fed.
In the Northern block:
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The end of the bush |
The act of cut-and-paint |
The result |
The work-party |
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Pig-damage |
From southern end ... |
... of the dam wall |
In the gateway area:
We established dam-height measurement-points and took initial height-measures:
Visited with friends, with no intention of doing any work. Which was lucky, because it was cold, very windy, and with some rain. Quick observations at the main dam were:
The late-summer attacks on blackberries still appear to have been highly successful. The early-summer attacks appear to have been very effective, but with some re-growth necessitating re-visit in February-March.
Finally, the day had come for the assault on the serrated tussock! We felt we'd done enough trials, and learnt enough about recognising it and reliably distinguishing it from other grasses, especially a rather similar stipa – which was later identified as Stipa setacea. And it would have been dangerous to defer it any longer.
We considered using weedicide, but were concerned about the residue problem and the sheer nastiness of the chemicals needed to kill it. Here's the approach we selected (and documented in the serrated tussock part of the Weed Control Plan):
The downside of this approach is the broken ground; but the property has shown itself capable of recovering from pig-damage, and there were plenty of other species around to fill up the spaces.
We attacked two areas:
We took four large rubbish-bags of grass to the Mugga Lane tip. The contractors, Corkhills, assured us that the regular 18 months of composting was enough to kill all seeds.
A tour of the southern block was undertaken, starting in the NE corner, along the eastern side, then zig-zagging in castle ramparts formation back to the western side.
Admittedly it was blowing a gale, but not one serrated tussock was seen. Half-a-dozen thistles were pulled out from the top of the waterline. There are several blackberries at various points down the waterline, and more briar rose than elsewhere on the property, including a cluster of 20-30 half-way down.
We also took out 20 enthusiastically re-growing thistles on the wall of the small dam.
On the northern block, halfway between the copse and the house-site:
Most of the time was spent in the waterlines in the southern block:
In the moist area between the gate and the small dam, about 10 thistles, which we dug out of the soft ground
In the above areas generally, occasional healthy-looking fleabane offered themselves as victims
Near the SW corner, continued the attack on Bunhybee's largest blackberry bush on the lowest-lying land close to the SW corner. What we'd cut back on 10 May 2009 had mostly re-grown; but the clearance we did then of old canes made it much easier going this time. It was about 40 sq.m. (8m x 5m).
We did two-person hack-back and cut-and-paste on 3/4 of it. We'd previously deposited cuttings on the rock-shelves in the creek-line, but these were now covered with water (with zero re-growth from the old cuttings). So we picked a clear area of healthy grass 15m West of the bush, and piled and pressed the cuttings there.
There are two more bushes to be done, close by in that waterline. They have been encouraged by the recent rain, which left evidence of water-flow and multiple pools down the southern waterway.
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Blackberry Condition |
The Big Bush – Before ... |
... Near the End (only the clump on the right remains) |
What's Left to do of the SW Cluster |
The blackberries were nearing ripeness, the rose-hips were partly ripe, and the thistles were a mix of already blown off, ready to release, and still flowering (in many cases, on the same plant). So (what with a hot summer and a busy holiday period) we've already missed the opportunity to eliminate them before this year's seed is spread.
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Briar Rose and Thistle in the SW corner |
Condition of Cirsium vulgare Black (or Spear) Thistle |
After commitments in Canberra on Sunday morning, we did 4 hours late afternoon, and 3-1/2 hours Monday morning, staying in Braidwood overnight. On Sunday we finished the big bush, and the nearby second-biggest bush, again with Roger doing the hack-back and Linda the cut-and-paint.
We also did the thistles at the very bottom of the water-line, close to the southern boundary, heading and bagging, and pulling the stalks from the soft soil. We collected some sample heads, and Linda later dissected them, in order to identify the seeds, and to understand at what stage viable seed is in the heads. The fully-mature head of Cirsium vulgare, even while still entirely green, may contain viable seed. Old closed heads likewise. Old open heads have probably already released it. Click on the image to enlarge it:
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Mature, unopened heads |
... showing viable seed ... |
... still inside |
Old heads, after releasing seed |
On Monday, Roger did the remaining bushes at the end of the southern waterline, and we did the thistles in the half-acre or so in the waterline just upstream, i.e. in the section below where it turns from running west to running south. We also did several briar roses and fleabane, as the opportunity presented itself.
On Monday, Linda used the back-pack (for the first time), to spray the driveway, from about 40m in, back to the gate and in the parking area outside. (Linda found some suspect African love-grass, to be checked)
A very successful work-session, which brings us close to completing the first round of weed-attack work on the property.
An 'inspection' visit, with Roger's sister and brother-in-law, on Echidna Ridge and north block only. Feb 2010 saw a record rainfall of 257mm, so there was a lot of autumn growth, a full dam, and a healthy northern waterline.
The dam wall has a lot of thistles (cirsium and a couple of carduus), some resurgent young blackberry (deep in what is now very thick grass), a moderate amount of fleabane, and some paspalum.
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Thistles |
Paspalum |
The waterline has a whole two blackberry bushes: the one just above the dam is resurging, plus one small one at the very top, 15m from the eastern fence.
Picnic Corner was largely free of anything serious, although there was some fleabane (as there was everywhere), plus a few first-season thistles.
Linda noted suspect serrated tussock north of the house-block on Echidna Ridge, and mixed in with the Stipa setacea adjacent to the copse.
We attacked the dam wall, Linda cutting-and-painting the young, foolish and not very healthy blackberry runners. Clearly they were mostly new shoots from plants we did over last autumn. It still took nearly 3 hours' work though. That included a few re-shoots from the big bush at the bottom of the waterline, just above the dam.
Meanwhile, Roger be-headed c. 25 thistles and 30 fleabane, then pulled or chopped the remnants. Maybe 15 more of this year's thistles were well-and-truly finished and most of the seed had flown. The other 25 had many new heads and flowers as well as some old heads. (The biggest was 72 heads, and assuming 50 seeds per head, there were 3,500 seeds in that one plant ...).
All of the new thistle rosettes that were apparent in the long grass (i.e. next year's seeders) were then pulled or chopped. Many were more than dinner-plate size and very, very healthy.
The blackberry cuttings went on top of the crumbling pile on the nearest rock-shelf. The thistles were put in one pile immediately below the dam, with the young foliage covering the remaining old heads in the hope of reducing the amount of seed-escape. The new heads and flowers came back to Canberra, to go to the tip with the green-cuttings service.
This was our last chance for the year, close to the end of autumn, and WE FINISHED THE FIRST ROUND OF WEED CONTROL ON THE PROPERTY, 18 months after buying it.
We did the remaining blackberries:
We checked the three blackberry-cuttings piles that are not on rock-shelves. None showed any signs of throwing shoots. But we turned all three over, to expose the cuttings that had been until now the most protected, and to open up the grass that had been covered.
We did the last 15 briar roses in the water-course close to the SW corner, and a couple more further up that water-line. We took a dozen fleabane that didn't seem to have yet shed their seed, and the one remaining thistle that still had closed heads
What with spending 6 weeks overseas (mainly walking up mountains and photographing alpine flowers), we didn't get out to Bunhybee for 3 months. Michael Martin from Palerang Council then called to say that they were going to be in the area, inspecting for noxious weeds; so we joined Michael and Steve for half-an-hour or so, as they satisfied themselves we have it under control right now.
They picked half-a-dozen young serrated tussock in the areas just east of the copse, and on the eastern end of Echidna Ridge. But we think that the ones they pointed out beside the drive on the curve above the gate are actually Stipa (setacea?). Otherwise, all looked good, with a fair bit of rain obviously having fallen in the last couple of months, full dams, water lying in the waterlines, and a small spring coming up under the gateway area. Very little growth yet though, and no flowers at all. So presumably it's been a cool winter there too.
And the owners uphill have finally put 20 or so yearlings on their property.
The visit was primarily to work on the Photo-Points with Nicky Bruce from NCT. Observations relevant to weed-work were as follows. 1. The soil was moist, there were pools at many points along both the northern and southern watercourses, and the main dam was overfull (see right, above – right up to the marker-rocks on the southern end, and with a trickle around the SE corner). 2. There was very little sign of new growth (presumably because the winter had hung on until mid-September). 3. There was virtually no sign of any blackberry regeneration yet, either in the main dam-wall (see right, below), nor in the southern watercourse. |
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We visited mainly to see the spring flowers. We noted a few serrated tussock needing to be attacked within a couple of weeks, and Hawkweed / Tolpis umbellata appeared to be in greater abundance than in previous years.
The Yorkshire Fog and Sweet Vernal Grass were both higher than the natives and hence easier to find and possibly to treat. We are wondering about using 'Zelma's method' on introduced grasses that are intertwined with native grasses.
We took Le Gang out for their first visit. We noted a couple more serrated tussock, and:
Roger visited alone (Linda interstate) specifically to do this year's serrated tussock run. I left at 08:30 and went straight there and worked 10:00-12:30 (to avoid the 28-degree day), returning via Braidwood and the Mugga Lane Tip (at 14:45, with 40 cars queued in front of me).
The seeds were well-developed, and dark, and the stems pulled out very easily. But the stems hadn't yet lengthened, nor taken on the mauve hue of full ripeness, and it appeared unlikely that any had yet floated away. In short, the timing was perfect for (a) reliable recognition, and (b) minimum seed escape.
I was surprisingly confident about distinguishing the Nassella trichotoma from the several Stipa species that have generally similar appearance. The Stipas had generally lengthened their stems, and had full heads (but not yet with ripe seeds). They were greener than the Serrated Tussock, which had a sandy appearance. Suspects were easily detected at distance. But it was necessary to check that the tussock contained dark seeds, because Stipas often contain dead strands that can appear relatively dark against the live stems.
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Austrostipa setacea, just east of the copse, with several S.T. hiding top-right |
The S.T. with the A. setacea above |
And the S.T. alone |
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Healthy Poa on the middle ridge 100m south of the Peppermint |
... close-up |
S.T. nearby, close-up |
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Two S.T. on the northern ridge, from distance |
Two S.T. on the eastern end of Echidna Ridge ... |
... and from closer up |
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A Poa or Stipa with a mauve head ... |
... and another |
I used the hand mattock to chip out all of them. (The three largest would have been easier with the two-handed mattock, because the roots were wider and deeper). I didn't shake the dirt off the roots, for fear of also shaking out seeds, but saw no evidence of any losses. I bagged all the plants, and dropped them at the (Canberra) green matter recycling area on the way home. The locations worked on (which are all that we're currently aware of) were as follows:
I failed to walk over to Picnic Corner and deal with the half-dozen thistles – which was a bit dumb, given that I had secateurs and bags with me.
I pulled up the only two Fleabane I saw during the day.
There had been close to 100mm of rain during the preceding week, and both Jerrabatgulla Creek and the Shoalhaven were the highest we've seen. There was plenty of water in the water-lines (including some flow in the main, northern line), a full main dam, and water in the small line adcaent to the path. There was no sign of any damage anywhere in the northern and central blocks (but we didn't get down to see the southern waterline). The spring on the road just outside the entrance was evident again, bunt not doing much damage.
Linda did a trial of Zelma's method on the Yorkshire Fog, The test-area is just inside the gate, on the left of the track, north 10m, then east 15m, staying south of the line of bushes.
At the end of the day (with the wind easing off), Linda trial-sprayed the centres of Yorkshire Fog clumps either side of the bend in the track, and the centres of a few Phalaris clumps (5 litres of water, with 50ml of glyphosate plus dye).
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Yorkshire Fog ... |
... in the Zelma's Method Test Area ... |
... and sprayed |
Phalaris, sprayed |
Roger dealt with a dozen thistles on the main dam wall, half-a-dozen under the trees in Picnic Corner, and a dozen near the large fallen log, several of them very large. Linda dealt with a dozen thistles on the small dam wall. Only a few needed to be headed and bagged first. We're not entirely sure of our species, but there seemed to be more Carduus nuttans and less Cirsium vulgare. And there was a new species – 4 or 5 plants, two very large, alongside the large fallen tree – Carduus tenuiflorus (Winged slender thistle), which has a much smaller purple flower.
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Briza minor |
Carduus nuttans |
Carduus tenuiflorus ... |
... Winged Slender Thistle |
During the circuit, Roger found 8 serrated tussock that he'd missed in the previous round, one or two in each of the areas it's previously been found in. Most were obvious from 20m and even 50m distance – pale straw from distance, mauve stems from nearby, a very fine tree with very dark seeds in it fromclose-up. The difficult ones were the 3 tightly interwoven with Stipa setacea just east of the copse. All but two had to have the seed-heads carefully headed (secateured or drawn) and bagged. The seedless tussocks were left root-up.
We found several clusters of Trifolium arvense (Hare's-Foot Clover) – also a new species – in the area just SE of the copse. Pulling them out was a bit tedious, because they seem to have multiplied very quickly.
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Serrated tussock, from distance ... |
... and close-up mauve stalks |
Haresfoot Clover ... |
... Trifolium arvense |
The main purpose was to thin the Themeda. The report on that is on the Grasses page. During our travels, Tim Booth picked out about a dozen Serrated Tussock that we'd missed in various locations on Echidna Ridge. The heads were partly flown and partly intact, and needed to be drawn and bagged, and the tussocks uprooted. Tim also commented on some Vulpia / Fescue near the gate and on the very eastern end of Echidna Ridge.
| While Roger was accompanying Tim on the rounds, Linda unloaded 3 x 10 litres of diluted glyphosate mainly on Yorkshire Fog, working inwards from the gate-area and south along the snow-gum fringe, plus the growth in the driveway. That included some small natives, but she left the Poa lab growing there as a 'scraper', to get un-wanted weed off the bottom of cars going up the drive. | A photo on 20 March suggests too much collateral damage:  |
An inspection of the southern blackberry site suggested some limited re-growth – amidst deep grass from the wet season, far too much of it Yorkshire Fog:
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No Blackberries ... |
... and few Blackberries |
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Holcus lanatus Yorkshire Fog (Intro'd) ... |
... 50m south of the Gate ... |
... further south ... |
... between the creeklines |
Things had been a bit busy for the 11 weeks since Tony (Roger's Dad) passed away on Christmas Day 2010, so the late-summer attack on the blackberries was a bit later then intended. Fortunately, the summer's been long (although not hot, and unusually wet). So we weren't too late, and few plants were showing red leaves or other autumnal signs. Unfortunately, the summer has been a fantastic growing-period, not just for the natives, but for the blackberries as well.
We'd hoped to knock off all the new blackberries in the lower end of the southern waterline, and get up to the dam-wall in the northern block to attack those as well. Some chance! What we achieved was:
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SW corner blackberries ... |
... 80% done that day ... |
... by late afternoon |
We did the second half of the job we'd intended to finish on 12 March. It was an overcast day with occasional light showers. There had been reasonable rain beforehand, the waterways were all full, the upper southern waterway was actually trickling, and there was vegetation growth on and in the main dam that we hadn't seen before:
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After a long break away from the property (including 5 weeks overseas), we re-visited, with friends, on an overcast and cold day. Weed-relevant activities were:
We finally got back after a further 2-1/2 months' break away from the property over the dead part of the year (including 4 further weeks overseas for Linda).
The long drought of 2000-09 (77% of average annual rainfall) broke about the beginning of 2010. Calendar 2010 was 1045mm (138%), and the 9 months to Sep 2011 523mm (100%). The days immediately before our visit were also very wet, and the dams were full, the waterlines trickling, and the frogs in such full voice that a human presence nearby made little difference to the sound.
Although there had been one short period of high temperatures in mid-September, winter was still very much hanging around, and the spring was what appeared to us to be late, with only Leucopogon virgatus (white), the beginnings of Kunzea (mauve), and a couple each of Diuris chryseopsis and Leptorhynchos squamatus (both yellow) evident, in a long walk. On checking, it was indeed well behind 7 Oct 2009, and even behind 27 Sep 2010.
The weed-related work was as follows:
A short visit, with friends from the Mühlviertel in Austria, to show them the place, and to check what was in bloom, in preparation for the following weekend.
A FOG visit, with 7, incl. Margaret Ning and Sarah Sharp, plus us and our Austrian friends. The tour was only only on Bunhybee for 2 hours plus lunch, and continued on to Parlour. The route taken was up the Gateway Gully to the east, then north to Echidna Ridge, and west to the copse.
The observations relevant to weed management were:
A quick trip, partly because we wanted to be home to cook for one another's 35th anniversary dinner, but also because the weather looked dodgy. We finally caught the Braidwood Museum while it was open 11:10-12:30, and got to the land in time for lunch.
The summer had been very late, and very cool (record low December average maximum in some places in SE NSW) and moist (not wet) summer, with soft ground, a reasonably high dam-level, and some healthy pools along the northern water-line:
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We've always regarded Conyza bonariensis as a nuisance rather than a threat, and have simply eased the occasional plant up by the roots. But the 2011-12 summer was cool and wet – 480mm in the 4 months Nov-Feb, or 170% of average, including Feb rainfall 240% of average, at 167mm. This created perfect conditions for Fleabane, so a full-day attack was necessary. A passing local said it had also rained heavily on 14 Mar, 4 days earlier. The southern creekline was running, even the gateway creekline was trickling, and the Jerrabattgulla and Shoalhaven were flowing strongly.
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Strong fleabane growth next-door, left of the cows |
A couple of healthy 4-footers on Bunhybee |
A mature seed-head - must be bagged |
A nearly-mature seed-head - ditto |
A not-yet-mature seed-head |
The primary areas of Fleabane found were:
We were delighted to find virtually none in the open areas of the central and southern blocks, and only small numbers in the southern waterline. We didn't get any further north than the slopes of Echidna Ridge.
We eased the plants up by the roots. With the 20% that had seeds yellow or opening (which was particularly prevalent on the north face of Echidna Ridge) we bagged the heads of plants >60cm high, or the whole of small plants. In the moister areas, it was necessary to beat the soil and smaller plants off the roots in order to prevent regrowth. We don't actually know when fleabane seeds become viable, but are working on the assumption that the light-green, not-yet-yellow seed-heads aren't.
We also removed the small number of Thistles we found – mainly in the section between the gate and the small dam, and on the wall of the small dam. Linda cut-and-painted a few small outlier Blackberries that we'd have likely missed in the planned Autumn assault in a few weeks' time.
Finally, Linda planted a couple of Linum marginale in the scrape above the small dam. We've seen only a few on the property, and Rainer Rehwinkel had suggested that it could be necessary to provide genetic diversity by bringing some in from elsewhere.
We returned to finish the fleabane, and work on the blackberries in the northern block. The ground was moist, the waterlines were lush, and the dam completely full and trickling out in the NW corner. There were fewer weeds on the main dam wall than in the previous years, with a lot of Poa lab. and far smaller quantities of both thistles and blackberries. A recently-dug wombat hole could represent a threat. We were joined by our friend Robert Portner from Grundbach (Kanton Bern), making a big difference to the work done in the day. We also met up with Trish Downes, who is conducting historical research in the area. |
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We did the following:
We returned to attack the southern block, accompanied by Georgie and Margie. The area was sodden, with all waterlines trickling – moreso than we've seen before.
Recent rainfall has been Nov 161.2 (82.2) Dec 82.2 (59.2) Jan 69.4 (71.9) Feb 167.0 (74.5) Mar 219.0 (81.9) – which is average annual rainfall (698 mm) in 5 months, cf. 367mm average = 190%. No figures are currently available for Gilston for April.
We picked up the pockets of fleabane, in and near the snow-gum forest working southwards.
We then attacked the vigorous blackberry re-growth in the (soggy) lower watercourse in the very SW of the property. We suspended the intended walk up the waterline in favour of the enemy we could see.
There were very few thistles or briar rose.
[Linda thought she saw a patch of Austrostipa densiflora about 30m from the southern boundary and 20m from the western fence (along the road). It will need to be checked when it has seedheads.]
We walked a loop around the complete block, in the company of Rainer Rehwinkel from NSW Dept of Environment and Kathryn Wells from DE and K2C. It was a remarkably cool day, with a couple of sleet-showers driving up the Tallaganda Range and drifting across to us. The dam was full and the waterlines were wet. Gilston's rain-gauge showed only 260mm for the 6 months Apr-Sep 2012 (80% of average), but the effects seem to still be being felt from the 380mm in Feb/Mar 2012 (cf. 150mm average).
After discussion with Rainer, we've lowered the priority on attacking the Yorkshire Fog, on the grounds that it's been advantaged by the moisture from late 2009 to early 2012, will reduce as the inevitable dry develops, will tend to remain in most areas rather than expanding widely, and is difficult to attack in any case. Rainfall in the 19 months Sep'09 to Mar'12 totalled 2500mm - 1230mm in the last third of 2009, 820mm in 2010, 450mm in the first quarter of 2012 – cf. an expected 1190mm (750mm p.a.), i.e. 210% of the long-term average.
We've now prioritised the Sweet Vernal, which Rainer sees as a bigger issue. It's in the gate area, scattered in small numbers in many areas, particularly at the head of Gate Gully on the southern slope, and in some quantity on the slope to the west of the South Block waterline (Blackberry Swamp).
There were of course a few scattered young blackberries, but the only disappointment was the number of them in the South Block waterline.
We saw no serrated tussock, almost no fleabane, and only a single thistle (beside the large, dead trunk in Picnic Corner).
There had been 88mm of rain 7-12 Oct (cf. 68cm long-term avge for Oct). The ground was moist and there was water in the water-lines; but there was no moisture on the grass or foliage. There was a possibility of showers, but none eventuated.
The purpose of the day was to tackle the Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). Some clumps stood proud from the surrounding vegetation and spraying was likely to cause little collateral damage. Some clumps were both intensive and extensive, and hence the risk had to be taken that whole segments of grasses might be laid waste. (We take comfort in the fact that bare areas, such as pig-damage, recover quickly, with interim flatweed, but largely dominated by native species). In some areas, individual SVG plants were tightly interwoven with native grasses, and hence collateral damage adjacent to them was unavoidable.
We used 10ml of Glyphosate to 1 litre of water, and as narrow a spray-head as we've been able to get – about 10 litres in all – in the following areas:
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Infestation ... |
... closer ... |
... and closer still |
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Looking up Gate Gully ... |
... the seedheads |
A close-up of a clump, after spraying |
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The location, looking SW |
The location, looking S |
The action, with recovering pig-damage in the foreground |
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In the midst of one thick section ... |
... closer ... |
... and the seedheads |
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One end of the slope ... |
... further south, with Pultanea subspicata ... |
... and unfinished work, when the 24 litres ran out |
We found the first-ever Hawthorn on the property, a young one beneath a twisted
snow gum 40m SE of the gate. There was glyphosate in the back-pack, so Linda
tried out the effect of a short spray:
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We saw a single suspect serrated tussock, little fleabane, and no thistles.
We took some shots of introduced grass species:
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Suspect Serrated Tussock ... |
... and in context (centred) |
Aira and Briza ... |
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Briza minor ... |
... close-up |
Aira, prob. elegantissima |
After a fair in Braidwood on Friday, and overnighting there, we worked 9-11:30 on a day when the temperature rose quickly, and we had English cousin Jake Sievwright and Tamara with us.
The previous spraying had made a noticeable difference to the plants that were hit, although some patches within each area had been missed, reminding us how much concentration is needed to ensure comprehensive back-pack spraying.
Linda finished spraying the Sweet Vernal Grass areas adjacent to the southern swampland, using 10ml glyphosate to 1 litre of water (same as last time), about 8 litres in all. The temperature climbed to the high 20's by late morning, by which stage the wind had become very gusty, preventing further spraying.
Roger walked the north block with the cousins, spying out the smaller number of smaller patches of SVG, and removing occasional small, young fleabane and a dozen thistles, mostly in Peppermint corner, plus a lone briar rose in the northernmost waterline. A couple of suspect Serrated Tussock need to be re-visited shortly.
The last six weeks had been somewhat dry, and summer had arrived, somewhat late, and not vicious, but fairly warm. We timed our visit well, however, and had a relatively cool day (24, cf. 29 in Canberra), with a cooling breeze coming up in the middle of the day.
Linda sprayed Sweet Vernal, and Roger walked the north and centre blocks pulling fleabane and thistle.
The BAD NEWS:
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Fleabane, typical for the day |
Carduus nutans Nodding Thistle ... |
... one on Echidna Ridge ... |
... two N of the E end of the N waterline |
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The golden-brown of mature Sweet Vernal ... |
... again, with Fog and Dichelachne |
The eternal challenge of the dam-wall, now Fog and some Vernal |
The GOOD NEWS:
The Sweet Vernal is still worth hitting, but we may need to do spring runs on it, and perhaps on the Fog as well.
We should do a controlled experiment of Blackberry cut-and-paint during summer. Roger is sceptical, but we should try it.
This was a rubucide / blackberry-attack day. The focus was on the southern swamp. The old bushes are in a state of disarray after several tears of serious assault. But of course some fightback from old rootballs remains – most muted but some aggressive – and new volunteers are forthcoming every year.
Roger cleared the excess foliage from two large infestations in the northern end of the swamp, and then from the re-growth in the original horror-area on the SW edge of the swamp and one patch further into the moist area itself. Linda started on isolated smaller bushes that could be cut-and-painted directly, plus the 20-30 young and virile briar rose in the area. She then switched to cut-and-paint of the two large infestations in the north, and after lunch cut-and-painted the c. 30 smaller bushes in the central area of the swamp. She switched from brush to dabber part-way through, mainly because the dogs knocked over the open jar; but dabbers use less glyphosate, and uncontrolled tests to date suggest that it may be as effective as using the brush.
Small numbers of fleabane and thistle were pulled, and in most cases their heads were bagged.
The next visit will involve cut-and-paint of the couple of areas that have been cut down, but not killed off yet – at least a half-day, but quite possibly a full day in the area.
We were joined by Helen, John and Jenny Austin.
We toured the northern and central blocks and finally down the middle of the southern waterline, attacking blackberries, as follows:
We cut-and-painted a dozen briar rose scattered around, mostly in the southern waterline.
There was very little fleabane (already seeded), very few thistles (seed already flown), no serrated tussock seen.
This was the last rubucide run for the year, in the southern swamp. Some vines were showing some rusty-red leaves, but there had been some growth since we did the pre-cut on 20 March, and it looks likely that the plants were only now drawing the juices back down to the root-balls, i.e. our timing was good.
(There was good rain in Jan-Feb, although March was pretty dry. Gilston 070261 was showing no April readings at the time we looked, but given there were a few puddles and moist waterlines, we suspect there has been April rain. Canberra, on the other hand, is 45% of the long-term average for Feb-Mar-Apr, with most of that in February and only 7.7mm since 2 March).
We took 2 hours each to clear the original horror-patch just to the west of the southern end of the swamp. Almost all plants were fairly small (in comparison with the monsters of 2009-10), and struggling a bit from previous attacks on their root-balls.
After lunch, we toured the southern end of the swamp, removing a dozen or more scattered plants, and completing the job. We also checked the forest corner near the road, removing a few small blackberries.
We also removed a few briar roses in the swamp, and a few scattered fleabane. The few thistles we found had almost all long since scattered their seed.
The top few priorities:
Other targets:
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Created: 11 January 2009; Last Amended: 28 April 2013