Thursday 19th May saw a hardy band of volunteers gathering at the ferry ready to take on some of the weeds causing havoc on Noosa North Shore. Noosa Integrated Catchment Association [NICA] have been successful in securing funding under the Federal Government's Caring for our Country program to treat weeds on a large area down towards the Noosa River mouth.  More >>

A guest post from Stephanie Haslam: The rain has made everything grow – including the weeds.  Will we ever defeat the invasion of exotic escapees?
This is a good time to look at weed control methods and see what is working. More >>

We  bang on a lot about weeds...[well I do...!].. .but why? Sure they can be a nuisance...like cobblers pegs getting stuck in your socks...but do they really cause a problem? We do know that weeds cost Australians lots of money in control and lost production...it is generally agreed that weeds cost the agricultural sector alone over 4 billion dollars per year. Certain species of weeds do not get a great deal of publicity, but have a serious effect on our nations biodiversity. Weeds can been loosely defined as "a plant growing where it is not wanted". This works, but I tend to think a weed is serious when it upsets the balance of an ecosystem. Weeds behave much like a school bully...they out-compete our native plants and can easily form mono-cultures. More >>

As mentioned in my previous post, here is a sample of Tom Anderson's style... not scientific, but very effective.  More >>

Around 7 yrs ago I met a bloke called Tom Anderson. Tom was an experimentalist [whatever that is] with the Alan Fletcher Research Station [AFRS] in Brisbane. Alan Fletcher has a world renown reputation for research into weeds. I remember being quite nervous about meeting Tom. I did not need to be. Over the years I got to know Tom pretty well. I'll tell you a bit about the bloke and then as a special Christmas treat, I'll relate one of Tom's many stories in my next blog. More >>

Why are water weeds so much of a problem? They have many social, environmental and economic effects that I will discuss later, however the reason they are so problematic is that they are so hard to deal with. Once an aquatic weed becomes established, it is very difficult, expensive and sometimes impossible to deal with. With terrestrial weeds you can deal with them. It may be hard, and cost a lot of time and money, but if you stick to the job you have a chance of prevailing eventually. Even such a simple thing as getting access to the weed is a problem in an aquatic situation. In the bush, even if you have to use a bulldozer you can get to the site. You can’t use a bulldozer in a lake! More >>

Above Image: Blue Morning Glory, Bruce Highway - Courtesy of Noosa District Landcare

Weeds…why are some people really passionate about picking on these sometimes beautiful plants? Very basically, a “weed” is a plant growing where it is not wanted.  To me, a plant becomes a serious weed when it affects the balance in nature. It behaves much like the school bully, outcompeting and upsetting its mates. At the extreme end of this a weed can become a monoculture not allowing anything else to grow at all. I will give you some examples of this later… More >>