Cotoneaster, Rayner Rd, April 2011

With a few of the nasties flowering and seeding, it’s a good time to deal to weeds on your property or road frontage.

Cotoneaster is currently smothered in bright red seeds. It’s easy to get rid off – saw the trunk off at ground level and paint with Vigilant Gel.

There’s not a lot of this at Piha so it should be easy to get rid of. It competes with native bush and as you can imagine, with those brilliant berries, the birds love to spread it around.

Pampas has finished its flowering, so its a good time to treat it. The old flowering stems are identifiable and distinguishable from toe toe because they are very upright and white.

Pampas are not only a threat to the environment, they harbour rats and are a big fire risk.

Best way to treat pampas is with a decent squirt of the herbicide Gallant into the centre of the plant. Gallant is selective to grasses and won’t harm woody natives. Glyphosate can be used, but it will harm nearby natives if you are not super-careful. As can be seen at the moment we have big infestations of pampas at Piha. Auckland Council is working eastwards from Whatipu treating pampas with a view to keeping it out of the parkland, and they have been spraying along Tasman Lookout Track, so let’s give that effort a hand by cleaning up our own.

We have sprayed a lot of ours at the top of the hill so you should see less at the south end of the beach next summer. Peter has been working eastwards from The Gap over the last few years so the difference is becoming marked.

Cape Ivy is obvious from the bright yellow flowers and fleshy green, ivy-shaped leaves. It can scramble over quite high trees, smothers them and the weight can bring them down. Best to cut the climbing stems off at ground level and spray re-growth.

Sprayed Alligator Weed, Marawhara Stream, Easter 2011

You may have noticed browning vegetation in the Marawhara, Wekataki and Lily Pond. Auckland Council is spraying Alligator Weed. It will take several efforts to eliminate this awful weed.