an update in the fight against wandering trad

My thanks to Bill Incoll (Friends of Sherbrooke Forest) for providing this update, Bill has been tireless in his pursuit to rid the Dandenongs of Wandering Trad - Tradescantia fluminensis. Thanks also to Glenn Brooks-McMillan (Community Weed Action of the Dandenongs) and Anne Fitzpatrick (Yarra Ranges Landcare Network) who had a hand in preparing this summary update.

Regular readers of my blog will recall an earlier article detailing the call for research into a biological control for this weed nasty, ranked 10 in Yarra Ranges.

Wandering Trad forms a smothering carpet, it displaces
indigenous ground covers, herbs, grasses and orchids.
It is a common cause of rashes in dogs and is toxic
to cattle.

Funding has been found to start the battle with Tradescantia fluminensis (Wandering Trad). A recent Research Update provided by the Department of Environment and Primary Industry (DEPI) and CSIRO has provided the following news.

An application to the Australian Weeds Committee to have Wandering Trad (Trad) a target for biological control has been prepared and is being considered by the Committee.

While the application is being approved, testing of biological control agents can begin, provided this is done under safe quarantine conditions. Two agents, an insect and a fungal pathogen, are being imported from New Zealand. The fungal pathogen has already been imported and is currently in the quarantine facility with CSIRO in Canberra.

The insect, Lema basicostata, attacks the stem of the plant and greatly reduces the biomass of the plant. It has already been released in New Zealand and is successfully attacking Trad in the wild. It spreads by natural increase and will reduce the volume of weed until a natural balance is achieved that maintains a population of insects and a low biomass of Trad.
 

The fungus, Kordyana sp, (Brazilian yellow leaf spot fungus) attacks the leaves. The spores are spread by wind, much more quickly than the insect. This agent also has the potential to reduce Trad biomass to a low level.

The biocontrols will be tested on Australian native plant species likely to be affected, under strict quarantine conditions. DEPI will work on the insect, and CSIRO the fungus.

The first year of a three year program has been funded from State and Federal sources. Further funding must be found for two more years, leading to the safe release of up to four biocontrol agents.

In addition to the biological control program, Federal funding has been found to combat the spread and impact of Trad while the biological control program is carried out safely. These efforts will be concentrated where Trad is likely to affect rare or endangered species or communities in the Dandenong Ranges, on both private and public land.

It's great news and good to receive progress updates, it's a terrible weed which smothers everything else in its path and sadly is commonly found throughout the Dandenongs, especially along our waterways.

samantha in the press

Taking firm grip on ivy
Mail Newspapers
15 Dec 2013

Maccas are in the frame
Mail Newspapers
by Rebecca Bills
13 Dec 2013

deck the town with boughs of ivy

Today saw the last of the activities planned as part of Wacky Weed Month, with the judging of the Ivy Plait competition.

Oscar from Friends of Heathfield Creek receives
a certificate for their 29.4 metre long ivy plait.

The entries were impressive with locals and those further afield participating.

The entries all got measured, the coil of ivy plait in
the foreground was a whopping 361.4 metres long,
which means more than 1 kilometer of ivy was used
to create this amazing plait.

The competition was open to individuals, schools and community groups with cash prizes for the winners. The idea was to enter a continuous plait of ivy as a way to weed out one of our most pesky weeds and be a little bit creative at the same time.

Everyone who participated got some free plants (from the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery) and a certificate of thanks with the winning plaits displayed on the high side fence in Belgrave.

Passers by weren't sure if the ivy plaits were Christmas decorations or not, but they received a great reception. They'll stay up for a short while to raise awareness about weeds in the environment.

The winners were:
Individual - Sue from Belgrave South with an impressive 361.4 metre long plait. Sue is a basketweaver and the competition inspired her to remove all the ivy from her embankment, all up it took her 23 hours to weave her plait. Well done Sue, you've certainly set a high benchmark for next year's competition.
Community Group - Upwey Girl Guides, their plait totaled 62.3 metres.
School - Sassafras Primary School, their plait was 40.4 metres long.
 

It's terrific to know that there's now a whole lot less ivy in our environment. Ivy is ranked our number 2 worst environmental weed in Yarra Ranges. It's highly invasive and aggressive weed in the Dandenongs, if left to climb up trees, its sheer weight can topple them. You can read about how to control and remove ivy here. You can also read up on other Yarra Ranges Environmental weeds and their removal here.

samantha in the press

Residents left to get rid of weeds as critical point reached in Yarra Ranges 
Free Press Leader
by Therese Allaoui
14 Nov 2013

wacky weed month is here

Wacky Weed month has kicked off and is a month of weed awareness raising activities, including the Longest Ivy Plait competition.  

The Longest Ivy Plait competition aims to educate schools, community groups and residents on the damage that Ivy does and just how widespread it is in the Yarra Ranges.

Prize money on offer for the longest Community Group Entry will be $500, School Entry $300 and Individual Entry $200

Ivy is a highly invasive and aggressive
weed in the Dandenongs, if left to climb
up trees it's sheer weight can topple them.
You can read more about ivy here.

The challenge will be to remove large intact ivy strands and plait three together. The strands may be joined to made them longer however only by using ivy to bind them. Judging will occur on the 6th December for schools and on the 8th December for Community Groups and Individuals from 10am – 12pm, Hayes Carpark, Burwood Highway, Belgrave

The first 50 entries to arrive on the day will receive a coffee voucher for a local Belgrave Café.  All children attending on the day will receive a token gift and free face painting will be available. Ivy Plaits will be hung from the footpath fence along Belgrave Main Street for passing traffic to awe at the volume.

More events planned for Wacky Wipe Out Weeds Month include:

Saturday 16^th Nov 9am-3pm  - Weed Blitz – Free environmental weed tipping day (skips at Kallista Community House)

Saturday 23^rd Nov 3pm – 8pm - Upwey Grassroots Market - Ruccus junior circus troope performing 'weeds'

Sunday 1^st Dec 10:30 to 2pm - Landcare for Singles - Do you plant here often? at Birdsland

Saturday 7th December - Kallista Market – Southern Dandenong Landcare  Group weed info display and guest appearance from “The Connies”

Saturday 8th December - the ivy plait competition (see above for more info)

Look out for static weed information displays at our Community Links, Libraries and Community Houses in the Dandenongs.

Wandering Trad, another weed nasty, was the weed
of choice at our last Kallista Weed Blitz event.
It's ranked number 10 in terms of worst weed in
Yarra Ranges, you can find out more about it here.

Wacky Weed month is sponsored and supported by the Urban Fringe Weed Management Initiative – Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Ranges Council and the Community Weed Alliance of the Dandenongs as well as our marvelous and dedicated network of environmental volunteers.

biological control for wandering trad?

Yarra Ranges Council has supported Monbulk Landcare and other environment groups in their  call for the development of a biological control to assist in the management of Wandering Trad (Tradescantia Fluminensis).

A recent weedblitz saw enormous amounts of Wandering Trad
removed from our environment, but it's ongoing control is very challenging.

Wandering Trad is one of Yarra Ranges weed nasties and voraciously infests many of our natural waterways having a detrimental effect on biodiversity and waterway health.

Wandering Trad is ranked number 10 of worst weeds threatening biodiversity in Yarra Ranges and council spends much time assisting with its removal and control. Our Landcare and Friends of Groups also spend an enormous amount of time trying to control this week. Weather conditions of recent times have seen an explosion in the amount of Wandering Trad and its spread.

Wandering Trad very effectively smothers all other ground cover plants until it becomes the dominant species. It's very effective at spreading itself as small parts of the plant break off and produce new plants, particularly around natural waterways and drains.

It's removal is problematic, the more cost effective and safer alternatives to chemical treatments, like slashing, mulching and hand removal are not effective as control measures. Chemical treatments are difficult due to the risk to waterways, aquatic and semi-aquatic life forms. 

Given the challenges with this weed, it makes it a good candidate for research into a biological control and it's worth noting that a biological control program has been in progress in New Zealand since 2011. A successful control would save hundreds of thousands of dollars of future investment and deliver far better results for control than current methods, allowing natural biodiversity to recolonise its traditional areas.

Let's hope support of this initiative will see some focus given to the issue, environmental weeds are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and it's great to see Monbulk Landcare  along with an affiliation of environment groups in the Dandenongs take the lead on the issue.

samantha in the press - environment

Cash targets pests
Mail Newspapers
by Casey Neill
26 September 2012

samantha in the press - environment

Onboard the SS 10 cent deposit
Yarra Ranges Weekly
19 June 2012

Weeds get the skip
Mail Newspapers
by Casey Neill
20 June 2012

blitzing weeds this weekend

From left to right: Gavin Prentice - Yarra Ranges
Bushland Coordinator for the Southern Dandenongs,
Cr Samantha Dunn - Lyster Ward and Kym Saunders -
Coordinator of the Urban Fringe Weed Management
Initiative, with a skip brimming with wandering trad.

Well done to the team from the Shire who staffed the weed blitz at Monbulk over the weekend. Through some trying weather conditions, residents were still keen to take up the option to 'skip' their weeds.

It was great to see people bring trailer loads of agapanthus and wandering trad to fill the skips out at the Monbulk Reserve.

The trailer loads of weeds didn't stop coming, this load
from Belgrave full of Agapanthus and Wandering Trad.

Although all environmental weeds were part of the blitz, it seemed that wandering trad and agapathus were the order of the day.

The first skip, brimming with environmental weeds
gets taken away.

It's great to know that there's less environmental weeds in our environment and I congratulate those residents who took up the option to 'skip' on one of our more inclement weather days.

Did you know that council offers tip vouchers as part of our "Weed Wipeout" program? If you'd like to know more visit the Shire's website here.

weed blitz coming to monbulk - 26 may

Weed Blitz - Free Environmental Weed Tipping Day
Skips will be available at Monbulk Reserve, Moores Rd, Monbulk on Saturday 26 May.

Cr Samantha Dunn gets rid of some agapanthus,
ranked as Yarra Ranges 5th worse weed.
Still not listed as noxious and available
for sale in some nurseries!

The sorts of weeds you can bring:
Agapanthus
Arum Lily
Asparagus Fern
Banana Passionfruit
Cotoneaster
English Holly
English Ivy
Japanese Honeysuckle
Karamu
Mirror Bush
Montbretia
Red Cestrum
Sweet Pittosporum
Wandering Trad
Wild Tabacco Tree

We can't accept Noxious Weeds, due to legal limitations on transportation. You can find out more about noxious weeds on the DPI website.

There'll be weed information and advice available on the day, or you can visit the Shire of Yarra Ranges website

note: When removing weeds please be aware of the potential that native animals may be sheltering in them. Always check woody weeds for nests before removing and where possible replace a weed with an indigenous native plant. Nest boxes are easy to make, inexpensive to buy and a great way of providing homes for native animals  and there's 3 nest boxes to win on the day!

This event is being sponsored by the Urban Fringe Weed Management Initiative, a collaboration between Yarra Ranges Council, our environmental volunteers, the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Landcare Network, Parks Victoria, Melbourne Water and the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

samantha in the press - weeds

Declaring war on Dandenongs bully plant

Leader Newspapers

by Laura Armitage

21 Feb 2012

off with their heads

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to get out the secateurs and get to the agapanthus.

Ranked the 5th worst weed in Yarra Ranges due to it's spread, it is prolific in the Dandenong Ranges and is currently setting seed after summer flowering.

Agapathus out compete the native groundcovers and grasses and harbour slugs and snails. You can help control their spread by giving them a good beheading now.

If you'd like to find out more about this pesky environmental weed, click here for the Yarra Ranges fact sheet.

off with their heads

Yes it's that time of year again when agapanthus are readily seen across the Dandenongs. Agapanthus are a terrible weed in the region and they are spreading more and more each year.


Off with their heads! It's an easy way to control the spread of agapanthus and now's the time to do it.

Residents can take simple and effective action to help stop the spread of agapanthus by making sure you deadhead them now them to stop the spread of seeds. Agapanthus are ranked as the 5th worst weed in the Yarra Ranges.

If you'd like to know more about how to remove various weeds in the Shire of Yarra Ranges you can click on our Weed Control information sheets.

all systems go for sewer in belgrave south and heights

report from the roundtable – 8 jun

Council had to consider an application to remove 157 trees and 3 patches of native vegetation to construct reticulated sewerage throughout Belgrave South and Heights.

There was no doubt that it was a complex application, when considering the matter both the range of flora and fauna affected as well as the challenging terrain made the application a difficult one.

South East Water (the applicants) had to apply to remove vegetation on a 'worst case scenario' as many of the construction techniques they will be using will try to avoid removing as many trees as possible. But those who know the area will know about the rocks that float below the surface, which always provide challenges for anyone trying to dig or tunnel.

I have been on site visits to discuss vegetation removal and construction of the sewerage lines. I have also attended the two community consultation sessions run by South East Water (SEWL). I was satisfied that SEWL will do everything they can to retain as many trees as possible. I also look forward to any vegetation offsets required from any vegetation removal being retained in the local region.

When we consider the environmental impacts of failing septic tanks they are immense. Polluting ground and surface water, creating native vegetation dieback and an influx of weeds, not to mention E Coli being released into our streets during storm events from septic tanks.

I think one of the stand out things for me with this application is that in an area that values its environment we didn't have a single objector to the application because the community can see the immense benefits to going to a reticulated sewerage system.

I was happy to move the motion, the reticulated sewerage would give over 800 households in Belgrave Heights and South the opportunity to connect and would have significant benefits to our environment and local waterways. There are far many more gains with this one than losses.

weeds are taking over this state

This week's state budget is a kick in the teeth to all those volunteers who work tirelessly to improve our environment. To read on visit

Samantha Dunn
for Eastern Victoria

mav working for weeds

report from the roundtable – 27^th Apr

This week I moved a motion about environmental weeds to try to garner support from the Municipal Association of Victoria (one of local government's peak bodies) to lobby state government. The MAV State Council meets twice a year to consider motions from councils across Victoria and it is another advocacy mechanism for local government.

The motion:

That the MAV seek a commitment from the State government for significant and ongoing funding for local government, effective from the State Government Budget of 2011/12, to allow a collaborative work effort in the management of environmental weeds.

Ivy is a big problem in the shire, found in 60% of the shire's high conservation reserves, it is not listed as noxious. It is in many private properties and I encourage landowners to remove it. Ivy has the ability to completely smother trees, destabilise them and cause them to fail.

In Yarra Ranges and other municipalities environmental weeds are a huge problem. One of the problems with environmental weeds is that they are not considered noxious. In the shire's top 20 list of weeds, only 3 of them are listed as noxious. Often when government announces funding to tackle weeds it is aimed at noxious weeds, which means councils who are tackling other weed nasties miss out on any funding.

Environmental weeds contribute to land degradation, impact on our biodiversity, create greater fire risks, effect water quality and quantity and impact heavily on the budgets of local councils. In Yarra Ranges most of the weeds are on private or crown land as the shire's landholdings amount to only 2% of the shire's 2,500 square kilometres.

We work very hard with Friends of and Landcare groups to assist with tackling environmental weeds. But the problem is explosive, the weeds are winning and the Dandenongs are fast becoming known as the Weedynongs. Local government needs the assistance of state government to continue to facilitate collaborate efforts to tackle the problem across all different land holdings.

Yarra Ranges councillors voted unanimously to support the motion, let's hope the majority of councils support the motion at the upcoming MAV State Council meeting. The State Government needs to put its hand in its pocket to help local councils with environmental weeds, alone we are losing the battle fast.