Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis), is a beautiful yellow flowering herbaceous weed that has spread throughout NE NSW and SE Qld (and also elsewhere in Australia) due to poor land management. It is a health risk to stock and native animals and can invade poorly managed lands easily with its profuse production of wind born seed.
Weeds and their spread are usually indicators of nature trying to “fix” itself after mismanagement – overclearing, over grazing and over cultivation/mowing of land.. Weeds hold a purpose in the scheme of things, and usually weed management is about caring for the country and letting biodiversity back into the equation.
Honey Bees and Fireweed as a food source: – at honeybee.com.au
It is important to remember that spraying with herbicides can have a number of undesirable consequences. Other valuable pasture can be affected or killed by the herbicide, and animals/insects that live with, near and forage off the sprayed weed may not survive inappropriate spraying techniques. Always follow the instructions on the HERBICIDE LABEL and read the MSDS sheet.
Like many of the “daisy” type weeds, just one or two Fireweed plants, in one growing season, can create tens of thousands of new plants, if left unmanaged. If Fireweed is growing in or near degraded pastures, roadsides and vacant land, its seed can become air born and travel to neighbouring property on the wind.
Fireweed is an extremely successful “weed”.
I have just spent a number of weeks through this past winter, hand pulling Fireweed from a property in SE QLD. The hand pulling of Fireweed in early winter can help the spread of any legumes that are competing in the pasture, thus ensuring more soil cover of appropriate pasture species, rather than the weed. The above photo shows just some of the Fireweed that was removed. It was later burnt to destroy the seed that was on the plants.
Once fireweed has flowered, it has the capacity to produce seed very quickly. If it is hand pulled while flowering, the seed can still develop on the “pulled” plant. This means that once the fireweed is removed from the ground, the plant still needs to be carefully managed, as the seeds begin to mature quickly on the pulled plant, due to the stress of it being uprooted. The seed can then disperse on the wind, unless the plant is destroyed in a way that prevents this.
The best way to hand remove is to pull the whole plant, roots and all from the ground, with as little disturbance to the soil as possible. If the plants are already flowering, removal on a still, non windy day is best, ensuring that as few seed as possible are released into the air or onto the soil. Overseeding the “pulled” area with pasture legumes, native and pasture grass seed or native herbaceous seed to compete with consequent Fireweed seed that will germinate and establish is important. Follow up weeding and pasture management for a number of years/seasons may be required.
Overgrazed pastures and highly disturbed soils can be an excellent “nursery” for Fireweed. Hence, promotion of suitable groundcover across the infested site and across neighbouring land is essential to Fireweed management. This will ensure that the Fireweed has to compete to survive. I always use gloves when I remove Fireweed, as the palms of the hands (indeed any part of the body that perspires strongly) can allow toxic chemicals into the system.
LINKS:
Here are a few links to help you learn more about FIREWEED, its growth, spread and management…..and please remember – fireweed, because of the way it spreads, can become your neighbours problem, or even the region’s problem, if you chose to allow to let it get out of hand by letting your pasture and roadsides become over infested. Help your local Council out by hand pulling fireweed and fostering low growing native vegetation on the road verges adjacent to your property. This will help the council’s dependence (which currently seems to be the case) on costly herbicide application.
Forum on Fireweed at Natural Sequence Farming .
Looking for some native pasture Alternatives? try here:- Grasses of Subtropical eastern Australia Margaret Elliott : search results bluecray Environmental Search Engine
and, Grasses of Subtropical Eastern Australia by Penny Watsford & Margaret Elliott Nullum Publications, Murwillumbah .at Brunswick Valley Landcare Inc. BOOKSHOP. This book is worth buying or finding in your library. It comes with a CD, photos and clear illustrations. You may even like to purchase a copy and donate it to the library of your local school or TAFE!!
Grassed up – guidelines for revegetating with Australian native grasses (Released/reviewed: 27 Jun 2001 Authors:Cathy Waters, Wal Whalley, Charles Huxtable) NSW Department of Primary Industries and here is a link to some of their useful publications .Weeds, Pests animals and ants at Qld Primary Industries and Fisheries
Weeds at Qld Biosecurity and FIREWEED at Biosecurity QLD. You can download a FACT SHEET on Fireweed from the Biosecurity Fireweed page.
A-Z listing of Weeds at Qld Primary Industries & Fisheries – this page will give you Weeds A-Z by common name, scientific name and also photo guides to weeds.
NSW Fireweed CAMPAIGN by NSW DPI
Fireweed Information and FACT SHEET at NSW DPI
North Coast Weeds Advisory Committee – and FIREWEED SEARCH results on their website
Search for Fireweed at the Australian Native Plants Society Environmental Weeds search engine
“The spread and distribution of fireweed Senecio madagascariensis in Australia” – by Brian Sindel, Peter Michael, Rachel McFadyen, Janah Carthew, Andy Lowe and Eleanor Dormontt is a good starting point. The link to the Bega Valley’s website’s PDF of this Article can be found HERE .
Fireweed Search results : at weedinfo.com.au
Fireweed Search results at the Bega Valley’s Community Website .
PAN – (Pesticide Action Network – USA) – many links here, including global pesticides data – Links and resources.
Bromoxynil MSDS (material safety data sheets) – at Bluecray Environmental Search – up to date, tests on this herbicide show it to be moderately toxic to bees, toxic to birds and very toxic to fish and aquatic animals.
FROGS IN AN EFFLUENT SOCIETY Risks, Remedies and Responsibilities by Dr Sara Broomhal Published June 2004 WWF (ISBN: 1 875941 67 3) at frogsaustralia.net.au
Spraying herbicides should be a last resort. Bluecray does NOT advocate the use of Herbicides, especially when there are other land management practices available, such as increasing groundcover & biodiversity of vegetation, decreasing stocking rates in times of climate stress and minimum cultivation of land. Bluecray also advocates reading MSDS sheets, proper calibration of spray equipment and use of the correctly working suitable nozzles and herbicide application rates, if you must spray. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL!!!!!!!!
2,4-D acid (MSDS) – at Bluecray Environmental Search
Insecticides and Bees at beesource.com
The above photo (Beechmont Plateau, SE QLD) shows fireweed growing on a property that was overgrazed and mismanaged for many years, much to the owners dismay. They had rented the property out to someone who was ignorant to the problems of fireweed and who repeatedly refused/ was unable to manage it. Finally the people moved out, and we were all able to go into the paddocks and remove the fireweed.
