Name that weed...

[RedShirtGuy]

Here's hoping there's some other people who have this around their places...

What is this weed and how to kill it. - Imgur (http://imgur.com/a/PzMMH)

There's a lot of this plant around my area in central Vic but I haven't been able to find what it is called. Whatever it is, it's a pest and I would like to kill them off from my property as they have been spreading and other places in the area have been taken over by them.

They have a short tap root with lots of very long thin stringy roots just under the surface. While they're easy enough to pull out when the ground is wet, the left behind roots just sprout more of the buggers.

So far a basic glysophate has only been a minor success on young plants and doesn't even dent more mature ones. With a name to the plant I'd have better luck finding out what will kill it.

Anyone familiar with it?

[mic-d]

Don't know the weed, but we use Brush-Off and Starane at the club and they kill pretty well everything broadleaf, which that weed is. Use a wetting agent with Brush-Off, and herself says there is now a generic Brush-off which is cheap.

[cava]

Doesn't look like a broad leaf weed to me, and to be honest apart from a breeding pair of goats, I have no idea how to get rid of them.

Good luck with it.

[mic-d]

Doesn't look like a broad leaf weed to me, and to be honest apart from a breeding pair of goats, I have no idea how to get rid of them.

Good luck with it.

That 'weed' may not have 'broad leaves' but it is a dicot. All broadleaf weeds are dicots and 'broadleaf-selective herbicide' really means 'dicot-selective herbicide' so for the purposes of selecting a herbicide it is a broadleaf weed.

[gidgee 1]

It may be Biddy Bush (Cassinia arcuata), google it,(too many links to post).
Cheers
gidgee 1

[mic-d]

Sure does look like biddy bush or Sifton weed. Glyphosate should do it, and Grazon is another one (per dpi literature). You might have to wait until spring though.

[RedShirtGuy]

Looks like biddy bush to me too. I'd never come across that name in previous research so a gold star goes to you folks :2tsup:

It's been pretty constantly cold and wet around here lately so yeh, I was going to wait until spring when I can spray them in the warmth and when they're actively growing. The vacant block next door has tonnes of it so it's going to need constant attention but at least I'll be able to manage it on my place when I've gotten rid of most of the existing plants.

Thanks a bunch :)

[Grandad-5]

Looks to me like it could be Chinamans Scrub. It's been 6 yrs since we moved into town so my memory is fading as to its exact appearance.
I tried googling for an image but had no luck.
It's rampant all through Central Victoria and if that's what it is, it grows in burnt out farmland mainly, or any poor area.
We got rid of it at our old place by running over the paddock with a tractor and shovel and pushed the bushes over and piled them up to burn.
Then feed the ground. Superphosphate etc.
It won't grow in good soil. Too much food kills it.
Talk to any local farmer and they should be able to identify if that's what it is.
And know how to get rid of it.

Cheers
Jim

[mic-d]

Chinaman's scrub is another name for it too. confused:?:?
The Noxious and environmental weed control handbook of nsw DPI has the full list of means of removing it.

[RedShirtGuy]

All these names for the one thing. It's like fish in different areas :((

Originally I had heard it referred to as Chinese paper weed but couldn't find anything on it with that name. SWMBO and I just call it "f weed"...in the profane way :U

Jim: That's an apt description of my land. Burnt out in '87 and unmanaged since with tremendously hard clay under tree litter. It does seem to like the clearer areas the most.

Time to hit up the DPI web site me thinks :2tsup:

[ozhunter]

Yup, that's Biddy Bush. Right PITA. Some areas around here are covered in it and impossible to get rid of completely on a broadacre scale.

We spray it (and the other dozen or so weeds that we are inflicted with) with a concoction of 3g Brush Off/100l, 300ml Roundup equivalent/100L with a dash of Taskforce and a good pinch of wetting agent. Kills all the stuff we have to spray.

Digging it is quite successful on smallish scale. To give you some comfort, the seeds are said to be able to remain viable in the ground for 100 years without germinating.

Some breeds of sheep will eat the little ones, until they get to about 3 or 4 inches high then it is too woody for them.

Around here, it is said that it came to our shores with the early Chinese miners, who used it as thatching for the roof of their huts.

There is some debate that it may actually be a native. I reckon that is propagated by the weed management authorities to cover up their ineptness at controlling weeds and enforcing the bazillion small block owners that don't do anyhting with their Yass Tussock, Biddy Bush, Blackberries, Briars, St Johns Wart etc.:rantoff:

[Grandad-5]

Around here, it is said that it came to our shores with the early Chinese miners, who used it as thatching for the roof of their huts.

Yup, similar story here. The Chinese used it for thatching. Thus the name. No mention of them bringing it with them though.

It may prove to have some value though.
It produces a pleasant smelling red oil if you distill it. One of my neighbours had a property in Myola with paddocks of Blue Mallee he cropped and distilled for Eucy oil.

He heard of some woman doing her PhD at Melbourne Uni by studying the oil from Chinamans Scrub for a possible cancer cure. It's said to destroy malignant cells under certain circumstances. Trouble was, she was fast burning through her grant just trying to get a viable amount of oil extracted using laboratory equipment. So, my neighbour took it upon himself to go out and crop a couple of tonnes of it and put it through his distillation plant.
From the same amount of Blue Mallee that would have yielded 30 to 40 litres of oil, he managed to get about 500 ML. It was enough however for the experiments.
Never heard anymore about it though.

Cheers
Jim

[Grandad-5]

Jim: That's an apt description of my land. Burnt out in '87 and unmanaged since with tremendously hard clay under tree litter. It does seem to like the clearer areas the most.

How much of an area are we talking?
I had about 15 acres of the stuff and battled it for years trying to dig it out etc. Finally I spoke to a farmer neighbour that fixed the problem once and for all. We cleared the scrub one more time then he spread some super out and used a seed drill to plant out some pasture grasses. Can't remember the exact seed he used but it was a mix of several different ones. Once the ground was worked a little bit and the grasses started to grow, the scrub never came back.
I let him share farm the paddock in exchange. He ran a small mob of sheep on it in return for his work.
The trouble with any other method is not only are the seeds viable for many years but they'll blow in from your neighbours as well. There's really no alternative long term than making your paddock such that it won't grow there.

Talk to a farmer. They know how to handle it.

Cheers
Jim

[RedShirtGuy]

How much of an area are we talking?

Not a huge amount...5 acres. Compared to other places, it's sparsely distributed but definitely spreading. Before all this wet weather I was in the process of burning off the tree litter with the intention of working the ground a bit to put in some grass so it sounds like I'm on the right track. I'll probably never be 100% rid of it, but keeping it managed and to a minimum would be nice.


oz: Thanks for the recipe of death. When the time comes I'll give that a spin.

[cava]

That 'weed' may not have 'broad leaves' but it is a dicot. All broadleaf weeds are dicots and 'broadleaf-selective herbicide' really means 'dicot-selective herbicide' so for the purposes of selecting a herbicide it is a broadleaf weed.
Thanks for the clarification.

[emu243]

Hi

I would go with the Biddy bush ID. I have had heaps of it over the years. I would encourage you to not spray it as this just kills off the the vegetation around it allowing for more seedlings next year. I have had the most success with tractor slashing in wamer/ hot months of the year, and hand pulling when the ground is wet. I certainly agree the best long term fix is to improve competition by pasture improvement. I am yet to find anything animal that will adequately control it for you.

It is a weed that you can control fairly easily with persistent hard work but I suspect you will never completely get rid of it.

Regards Emu

[ozhunter]

I am yet to find anything animal that will adequately control it for you.



Deer will control it if they are behind wire. A mate has a heap of Asiatic deer species behind wire and there isn't a Biddy Bush to be seen. But the same old thing of seeds blowing in from next door would soon have it growing again once the deer where removed.

It is true that it doesn't like super or competition, but that is cost prohibitive on the scale that we work with. Best we can do is spray when and where we can and dig or pull it when a plant or three is seen out on it's own (trying to make a new patch)

[emu243]

I had not thought of deer as a way of controlling biddy bush. I would find it interesting to go down that path but I suspect that with fencing it would be more expensive than pasture improvment.

I was talking to my 70 year old female neighbour today. I noticed the mattock, long handled secateurs and weed spray on her quad bike. She had spent the day controlling biddy bush, wattles and serrated tussock. We started talking about weed control and both came to the agreement that you cant beat it only control it. I remember when her 80 plus mother use to control the weeds on her property with just a mattock. She done a pretty good job of it. Certainly better than I was doing.

Also I noticed that Ozhunter was another Bathurst boy with similar interest and views to myself.

[Allan at Wallan]

I met a bloke at Kilmore two years ago who has since passed
away. He said he kept his "Chinese Scrub" for the cattle to
eat. At that stage he could no longer cope with the cattle
and the paddock had plenty of the scrub on it.

He said his neighbour also had some and decided to get of it
by ploughing it all in. Worst decision ever as the following year
his paddock was filled with it.

However I made a couple of pens out of the Chinese Scrub
a.k.a. Cassinia Arcuata and they turned out well. Lovely soft
pastel tones - very pleasing result.

Allan