Sedges – controlling the invasion of Tradescantia

On Sunday 24 April, Trish and Arthur Gundy and Richard Taylor met with me in the valley (on the Harvey’s wetland area) to weed around the sedges planted last year.  The Council’s recommendation to plant sedges has proved to be a positive move.  While they were covered in convolvulus, there was very little Tradescantia amongst the plants.  While there are concerns regarding the ongoing management of this nuisance weed, the general view is that if we wait until the Tradescantia is fully under control before planting, we might all die of old age first, due to it recolonising from upstream every time there is a decent flood!  Tradescantia is well established further up Pakiri Rd which is a whole project in itself.

We therefore plan to continue planting sedges along the border of the stream and carry out hand-control where necessary.

The 4 of us spent 2 hours weeding.  We were so involved we forgot to take a before and after photograph.