A weed apocalypse has recently taken place on a bush block bordering Cape Rodney Road.
Three massive Chinese windmill palms were cut down, along with several smaller ones. At a glance, these imposters could easily be mistaken for native nikau palms. However, on closer inspection, their fan-like, spikey fronds are clearly nothing like those of a New Zealand native plant.
The fibrous outer layer of the palm trunks proved highly resistant to most cutting tools, but quick work was made of them using a reciprocating saw and a chainsaw. The stumps were pasted with glyphosate, and one of the larger stumps was then covered with a black polythene bag to help with decomposition.
Tobacco plants were felled, cut and pasted. Stinking iris was dug out, along with wattle seedlings, inkweed and climbing asparagus. A massive number of mothplant vines were also dug out.
Sadly, the horse had already bolted when it came to the mothplant pods, with most of them having burst. Some seeds had been caught in spider webs – nature’s own way of preventing their spread! Despite this, a 5 kg sack was filled with pods and tobacco plant seeds.
The area will need to be revisited in a few months to tackle any regrowth and new seedlings, but the transformation of this area is already well underway.
