We enjoyed a sunny afternoon on Friday 14th October with Sean Richardson Chief Weeds Officer of Mid Western Regional Council at the Reserve. He led us through a discussion on the principles of Intergrated Weed Management. After an interesting time exploring the many ways to reduce the threat of weeds Sean demonstrated how to safely use herbicidal applications. Sweet Rose Brier and Blackberry were the targets. The next day, at our working bee, one of our volunteers continued with the work of spot spraying.
Usually we have working bee’s on the first Saturday of the month but because of all the wet weather we held an extra one this month. Our main target on the 15th was to eradicate as many of the Cleavers as possible. To do this we used three methods. In sensitive areas where we knew there were native plants a group of dedicated volunteers carefully hand weeded. At the base of a tree the cleavers were growing over a pile of habitat wood so mulch was applied in a thick layer. This method – “smothering” is one recommended for bush regeneration. The areas that had a thick mix of non native grasses and weeds (including cleavers) were attacked by a volunteer using a whipper snipper. Any new growth that appears should now be easier to remove.
Visitors joined us for a BBQ lunch. As it was a perfect spring day we sat around chatting for long after our usual finishing time.
Many people in different ways have contributed to helping us develop our Weed Management Plan which will be completed by the end of November. We will invite those people to join in with our volunteers at Adams Lead for a “Celebration Brunch” on Saturday 3rd of December. Anyone from the community who would like to find out more about what we do at the reserve is welcome to come along. Please RSVP by Wednesday 30th November so we can organise the catering.
Adams Lead in Oct 2016 showing the Weed Actions improvements
Happy Birthday Di!
Sean Richardson Demonstating spot spraying
Spraying new growth blackberries