Thread: Name that weed...

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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Originally Posted by ozhunter

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

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

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

Originally Posted by Grandad-5

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.

Originally Posted by mic-d

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.