When is the best time for Bitou bashing or Boneseed bombardment? If you haven’t already got one, outsmart weeds by making a weed action calendar for your property or Landcare site. You could also add the best times to do frog, invertebrate, creek health, bird or mammal surveys on your site to see the impacts you are having.
A weed calendar helps you plan ahead to tackle weeds and avoid overwhelm. It can save you time, effort and money. You can also feel good knowing your efforts are timed to have the greatest impacts. To make your own weeds calendar for your property or Landcare site:
1) List the weeds you have identified on site. If you are not sure on your weeds, the WeedScan app is a great resource in the field or take photos and check at home on the website: https://weedscan.org.au/
2) You will need to do some research to get to know each weed …intimately. Start with any Priority Weeds for the Hunter Region that you have on site. Cross-check your weed list with this list on the Department of Primary Industries website: NSW WeedWise. Check the best time to apply the recommended weed management techniques, which will be influenced by the plant’s life-cycle and growth habits. There is an app version of the WeedWise resource if you want to do some research on the fly.
3) Look at your resources – people power, equipment, time available, skill-set, grant monies. Set some realistic goals for what you can achieve for weed management. Call in specialised professionals for aspects of weed control that are beyond the scope of your Landcare group. Your Local Landcare Coordinator can help you plan for this and connect you with your LGA Weeds Officer or Hunter Local Land Services staff.
4) It can be helpful to add calendar reminders to do quarterly patrols of your perimeter, creek-lines, roadsides or TSRs. An extra patrol is important after floods, strong winds, site visits by contractor vehicles, vegetation disturbance on neighbouring properties, or high visitation by people, which could increase the chance of new weed seed arrivals. Early detection means you can tackle the problem before weeds get too established or spread further into your site.
5) Add in times to do quarterly (or at least annual) surveys of birds, frogs and mammals and record survivorship rates of any plantings. You could also include surveys of reptiles, invertebrates such as pollinators, butterflies and moths, creek-life, water quality, tree health, or any other wildlife of interest to your group or of special interest for your site. It can be really motivating for volunteers to see the impacts your efforts are having on native flora and fauna.
Do you know which Regional Priority Weeds are on your site? Would you like a brush-up of your weed ID skills or to keep updated about the latest weed outbreaks across the region? HRLN are working with various partners on a range of weed-related resources to support our members and subscriber Landcarers working on private and public land. Weeds will be a big feature of this year’s Muster on 13th September, sponsored by Hunter Strategic Weeds Program and Landcare NSW. We will keep you posted in the Scoop and on our socials.