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.
This page contains information about the activities we've undertaken on the property since our purchase of it was finalised on 22 December 2008.
Here's what we've done most recently, and here's what we plan to do next.
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.
We have conducted the following activities:
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)
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.
In roughly descending priority order:
This is a page within the Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site, home-page here, and site-map here
Created: 11 January 2009; Last Amended: 10 August 2010