With all of this rain and warm weather, noxious weeds are growing like mad, which makes it the perfect time of year to be identifying problems and coming up with solutions to remove them.
Whether you are wanting to put in the work to do this by hand or using a spray is okay, the satisfaction of getting these pest plants under control is a joy of its own. Our planting season is coming up and having these noxious weeds under control before a planting project begins, makes a huge amount of difference to the time and energy put in to maintaining a garden or re-vegetation project in the short and long term.
These infestations can become out of control within a season, especially with weeds like convolvulus, morning glory and maderia vine. Keeping an eye out for these weeds and taking action to control them early, saves time and money in the long run.
Not all climbers are noxious.
We have beautiful climbers such as Puawhananga (clematis), kareao (supplejack), kaihua and kaiwhiria (NZ jasmine), so it is good practice to know your noxious from your natives before you take action. We have some pics of common noxious weeds on our noxious weeds page here: https://naturescapes.co.nz/noxious-weeds-removal/. Weedbusters also has a comprehensive resource available on line to help with identification and methods of control. You can find them here: https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/. The NZ Plant Conservation Network is a great resource for checking your native species but you will need a name, common or botanic, to get the ball rolling. You can find them here: https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/?common_name=clematis
At Naturescapes, we really enjoy this part of our work. It really feels like we are giving something back to our ecosystem, working alongside our natural environment and within our backyards to help restore balance and create room for our beautiful native plants to thrive. If you would like any help with weeds that have grown out of hand, feel free to get in touch, we would love to help you out.