Basic weed control techniques

For ease and best results do this when the soil is moist. Wearing gloves is also highly recommended.

To avoid fatigue when using hand removal, vary your body position.

Steps to removal

1. Gently remove any seeds or fruits and carefully place into a bag.
2. Grasp stem at ground level.
3. Rock plant backwards and forwards to loosen roots, and pull out gently.
4. Carefully tap the roots to dislodge any soil, replace and pat down.
5. Leave weeds so roots don’t make contact with soil, for example, on a rock or hung in a tree.

There are three types of spraying suitable for small weeds:

• Spot spraying - recommended for targeting weeds where natives are present.
• Broad area spraying - used when there are no native plants present.
• Splatter guns - useful for dense infestations of particular weeds and can be targeted to avoid natives.

Protective clothing and equipment should be worn -including long pants, sleeves, and gloves, eye protection etc.

Steps to removal

1. Check weather conditions to ensure no rain is forecast and little wind.
2. Identify native plants in the target area and clear weeds around them using methods other than foliar spray that don’t damage the native plants.
3. Prepare herbicide and equipment in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.
4. Using the appropriate method, spray the target area taking care to avoid spray ‘drift’ to avoid natives.

Serrated tussock can also be removed by chipping with a mattock or by ploughing.

To avoid fatigue when using hand removal, vary your body position. 

Wearing gloves is highly recommended.

Steps to removal

1. Take hold of one strand and gently pull it along the ground towards you.
2. Check points of resistance where fibrous roots grow from the nodes. Cut roots with a knife or dig out with a trowel and continue to follow the strand.
3. Manually remove the major root systems or scrape/cut and paint with herbicide.
4. Bag any reproductive parts.

Steps to removal

1. With a knife, scrape 15 to 30 cm off the stem to reach the layer below the bark/outer layer. No more than half the stem diameter should be scraped. Do not ring bark. Larger stems (> one cm) should have two scrapes opposite each other.
2. Immediately apply herbicide along the length of the scrape. Vines can be left hanging in trees after treatment.
3. (For madeira vine only) Aerial tubers on madeira vine should die with the plant when stem scraping is used. Those that fall from the plant in the scraping process should be bagged.

Skirting is a useful technique for removing balloon vine and similar weeds.

Steps to removal

1. With a pair of secateurs or loppers cut stems of vines leading into the tree canopy at approximately waist height. This will kill the top of the vine and allow light to reach the plant being smothered.
2. Cut and immediately paint stems still attached to the soil with herbicide.

There are three types of spraying suitable for controlling vines and scrambling weeds:

• Spot spraying - recommended for targeting weeds where natives are present.
• Broad area spraying - used when there are no native plants present.
• Splatter guns - useful for dense infestations of particular weeds and can be targeted to avoid natives.

Protective clothing and equipment should be worn - including long pants, sleeves, and gloves, eye protection etc.

Steps to removal

1. Check weather conditions to ensure no rain is forecast and little wind.
2. Identify native plants in the target area and clear weeds around them (half to one metre).
3. Prepare herbicide and equipment in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.
4. Using the appropriate method, spray the target area taking care of spray ‘drift’ so as not to spray natives. 

This technique is useful for small to medium sized woody weeds up to 10cm basal diameter.

Steps to removal

1. Make a horizontal cut as close to the ground as possible with secateurs, loppers, brushcutter, chainsaw or a bush saw. Cuts should be horizontal to prevent herbicide from running off the stump. Please note that sharp angle cuts are hazardous.
2. Immediately apply herbicide to the exposed flat stump surface before the plant cells close and translocation of herbicide ceases.
3. If plants resprout, cut and paint the shoots after sufficient regrowth has occurred.

Deciduous plants are best treated from late Spring to early Autumn when the plant is growing the most.

Steps to removal

1. At the base of the tree drill holes at a 45 degree angle into the sapwood at 5 cm intervals. For multi-stemmed plants, inject below the lowest branch or treat each stem individually. Please note that plants should be healthy and actively growing.
2. Immediately fill each hole or cut with herbicide before the plant cells close (within 30 seconds) and translocation of herbicide ceases.
3. Repeat the process at 5 cm intervals around the tree.

Deciduous plants are best treated from late Spring to early Autumn when the plant is growing the most.

Steps to removal

1. Make a cut into the sapwood with a chisel or axe. For multi-stemmed plants, chip below the lowest branch or treat each stem individually. Please note that plants should be healthy and actively growing.
2. Immediately fill each hole or cut with herbicide before the plant cells close (within 30 seconds) and translocation of herbicide ceases.
3. Repeat the process at 5 cm intervals around the tree.

Spraying is only suitable where woody weed is less than one metre tall.

There are three broad types of spraying for woody weeds:

• Spot spraying - recommended for targeting weeds where natives are present.
• Broad area spraying - used when there are no native plants present.
• Splatter guns - useful for dense infestations of particular weeds (for example, lantana) and can be targeted to avoid natives.

Protective clothing and equipment should be worn - including long pants, sleeves, and gloves, eye protection etc.

Steps to removal

1. Check weather conditions to ensure no rain is forecast and little wind.
2. Identify native plants in the target area and clear weeds around them (half to one metre)
3. Prepare herbicide and equipment in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.
4. Using the appropriate method, spray the target area taking care of spray ‘drift’ so as not to spray natives.

To avoid fatigue when using hand removal, vary your body position. 

Wearing gloves is highly recommended.

Steps to removal

1. Gently remove and bag seeds or fruit.
2. Push a narrow trowel or knife into the ground next to the taproot. Carefully loosen soil. Repeat this step around the taproot.
3. Grasp stem at ground level, rock plant backwards and forwards and pull gently.
4. Gently tap the roots to dislodge soil. Replace disturbed soil and lightly pat down.

Asparagus fern with large crowns can be poisoned by cutting or drilling the crown and applying appropriate herbicide.

Otherwise for smaller crowns:

1. Gently remove and bag stems with seed or fruit.
2. Grasp the leaves or stems together so that the base of the plant is visible.
3. Insert, at an angle, a knife or lever, close to the “crown” (woody section at base of the plant).
4. Cut through all the roots around the crown (note: roots and tubers can be left in situ).
5. Remove and bag the crown.

For example, removing onion weed, watsonia, arrowhead vine or montbretia.

Steps to removal

1. Move leaf litter away from base of plant.
2. Dig down next to the stem until the bulb or tuber is reached. Further digging may be required for plants with more than one tuber (for example, arrowhead vine).
3. Remove plant and carefully bag the bulb or tuber.
4. Some bulbs (for example, oxalis, onion weed) may have small bulbs attached or present in the soil around it. These need to be removed.

1. Gently remove any seed or fruit and carefully place into a bag.
2. Swipe the stems and leaves with a herbicide applicator.