Fire Weed Management

[Mousehog]

I got good advice to remove our infestation of fire weed, but in South East Qld some of the the weeds have already seeded. We are pulling them out anyway. We found lots of fireweed in one paddock which was not grazed and not slashed so the grass is high and we just didn't think.
Member @Alien gave great advice. I will keep you posted of our progress.
Anyone else battling these toxic weeds?

 

[oosik]

Hmm - there are two recognized species of Fireweed. Here in the PNW it is acknowledged for its striking beautiful floral display. Folks plant this herb for its showy display.

I guess - an over abundance could become a nuisance. The web site I checked did not indicate it was toxic.

 

[Snobdds]

I got good advice to remove our infestation of fire weed, but in South East Qld some of the the weeds have already seeded. We are pulling them out anyway. We found lots of fireweed in one paddock which was not grazed and not slashed so the grass is high and we just didn't think.
Member @Alien gave great advice. I will keep you posted of our progress.
Anyone else battling these toxic weeds?

They are not toxic and if you think it's a weed, approach it like any other weed.

Either keep them mowed or spray chemicals on it.

Simple stuff...

 

[ning]

There's fire weed in US (Chamaenerion angustifolium) which is pretty and there's fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis) in Australia - Queensland & NSW in particular (though native to Madagascar) - which is invasive & toxic to livestock.

Different things.

 

[scootr]

We use 2 or 3 approaches to invasive weed abatement for fire control here. 2 happen when the weeds first emerge, spray or scrape them off the dirt. When scraped off they usually reemerge so scrape some more and end up with bare soil aka firebreak or mow before they go to seed. Spaying with a reemergent works best but it costs more. So you spray more often or at a higher cost.
Mowing can work since the grasses usually take it better than the weeds but timing is everything. It usually takes years of vigilance to rid an area of weeds.

 

[Mousehog]

We were working today in the middle 20 acre section and I pulled up more fireweed plants that we had missed on the first pass. Here in South East Qld we have the yellow flowered toxic mongrel weeds.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

Also located in SE Qld (Australia) on a beautiful 40 acre block, so we keep a plastic garbage bag in each quad bike, and whenever we're prowling around, the brilliant yellow 14 leafed little bastards are immediately obvious, since the pasture has yet to show growth after winter. We pull them out and immediately place them in the plastic bag, as they do drop petals/seeds so easily. I sometimes wonder if it's a futile effort as I see some roadside verges and paddocks in the vicinity awash with Fireweed, and wonder if we're pushing the proverbial uphill with a pointed stick trying to contain it. But even before they flower, the deep green colouring and distinctive growth pattern makes them reasonably easy to spot too. They seem to appear in late winter, like now. But, so far, so good!

 

[ponytug]

We do something similar with a local toxic invasive (star thistle). For a decade or so, it worked ok, but when the neighboring land became basically solid weed, hand pulling wasn't enough. Still working on a solution. Like fireweed, one plant can generate thousands of seeds.

Good luck!

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

We do something similar with a local toxic invasive (star thistle). For a decade or so, it worked ok, but when the neighboring land became basically solid weed, hand pulling wasn't enough. Still working on a solution. Like fireweed, one plant can generate thousands of seeds.

Good luck!

All the best,

Peter

That stuff is satanic. I’m glad we don’t have it in the southwest.

 

[ponytug]

That stuff is satanic. I’m glad we don’t have it in the southwest.

Wearing thick leather double gloves, I still get spiked by the thorns, which have enough toxin on them to get a reaction on my skin. If I do too much at one go, I can feel the effects of inhaling the vapors. As you wrote, satanic.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

Wearing thick leather double gloves, I still get spiked by the thorns, which have enough toxin on them to get a reaction on my skin. If I do too much at one go, I can feel the effects of inhaling the vapors. As you wrote, satanic.

All the best,

Peter

I recall once in Northern California having to set up fire camp in a meadow that was infested with that stuff. It was a miserable 3 weeks.

 

[ning]

Wearing thick leather double gloves, I still get spiked by the thorns, which have enough toxin on them to get a reaction on my skin. If I do too much at one go, I can feel the effects of inhaling the vapors. As you wrote, satanic.

All the best,

Peter

I rarely get spiked when pulling it from the very base of the plant. Lucky for me we only got a small infestation 20-ish years ago presumably from some hay and we've managed to keep it at bay. There are some fields which are turning a beautiful bluish-green right now because they're just full of it, but they're a couple miles away. Happy bees at least.

have you considered 1) mowing your field 2) disc the boundary 3) torching neighboring star thistle fields

 

[Mousehog]

Thanks everyone! Plastic bags on the Mule and Quad is a very good idea!

 

[ponytug]

I rarely get spiked when pulling it from the very base of the plant. Lucky for me we only got a small infestation 20-ish years ago presumably from some hay and we've managed to keep it at bay. There are some fields which are turning a beautiful bluish-green right now because they're just full of it, but they're a couple miles away. Happy bees at least.

have you considered 1) mowing your field 2) disc the boundary 3) torching neighboring star thistle fields

Lucky you! That's my method as well.

I hate to think what the honey is like over by those fields. I got mildly poisoned by some honey once that at least some of it had apparently been gathered from a toxic species of rhododendron.

I don't think I'll be trying the last suggestion, but we have at least two active arsonists around at the moment, which brings a certain flavor to life.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Mousehog]

Also located in SE Qld (Australia) on a beautiful 40 acre block, so we keep a plastic garbage bag in each quad bike, and whenever we're prowling around, the brilliant yellow 14 leafed little bastards are immediately obvious, since the pasture has yet to show growth after winter. We pull them out and immediately place them in the plastic bag, as they do drop petals/seeds so easily. I sometimes wonder if it's a futile effort as I see some roadside verges and paddocks in the vicinity awash with Fireweed, and wonder if we're pushing the proverbial uphill with a pointed stick trying to contain it. But even before they flower, the deep green colouring and distinctive growth pattern makes them reasonably easy to spot too. They seem to appear in late winter, like now. But, so far, so good!

Hi Oz_K! We are near Warwick. We have been here 5 years - we bought at the height of the drought. When the rain came in late 2019, we could not get on our property for close to 3 years! The weeds seem to have been persistent. We are now careful not to overgraze and at the moment use a flail mower in early spring.
We want to improve the pasture. What steps do you take to maintain/improve your pasture?
Thanks.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

Hi Oz_K! We are near Warwick. We have been here 5 years - we bought at the height of the drought. When the rain came in late 2019, we could not get on our property for close to 3 years! The weeds seem to have been persistent. We are now careful not to overgraze and at the moment use a flail mower in early spring.
We want to improve the pasture. What steps do you take to maintain/improve your pasture?
Thanks.

We bought the block in 1981 and had cattle here on agistment until about 2000. Shortly after that we established an olive grove on portion of the property, and just ran one or two horses, so in no way was it being overgrazed.

Around the time the agistment finished due to ill health of the cattle's owners, we bought an old Fordson Super Major and a 6' slasher, and really tidied up the areas not covered by olive trees and forest. The initial cleanup was a messy affair, and rocks and stumps took their toll on tractor tyres and slasher blades!

Since then, we keep the paddocks slashed regularly. During the dry spell around 5 or 6 years ago, broadleaf weeds started getting the upper hand, so I bought a boom sprayer and sat/nav guidance unit, and hit the entire grassed areas of the property with Kamba. Since then I've fertilised with CK88 ( a good all round NPK fertiliser) to give the pasture a leg up on the weeds.

So we still carry a mattock on the back of the quad bike to deal with the odd thistles we come across, and the plastic garbags for fireweed of course, but with warmer weather on the way, I look forward to many hours in the aircon'd cab with slasher behind. For us, it's probably the regular slashing which is most beneficial to keeping the property clean.

Edit: We're in the Ravensbourne area, just down from Hampton.

 

[Mousehog]

We bought the block in 1981 and had cattle here on agistment until about 2000. Shortly after that we established an olive grove on portion of the property, and just ran one or two horses, so in no way was it being overgrazed.

Around the time the agistment finished due to ill health of the cattle's owners, we bought an old Fordson Super Major and a 6' slasher, and really tidied up the areas not covered by olive trees and forest. The initial cleanup was a messy affair, and rocks and stumps took their toll on tractor tyres and slasher blades!

Since then, we keep the paddocks slashed regularly. During the dry spell around 5 or 6 years ago, broadleaf weeds started getting the upper hand, so I bought a boom sprayer and sat/nav guidance unit, and hit the entire grassed areas of the property with Kamba. Since then I've fertilised with CK88 ( a good all round NPK fertiliser) to give the pasture a leg up on the weeds.

So we still carry a mattock on the back of the quad bike to deal with the odd thistles we come across, and the plastic garbags for fireweed of course, but with warmer weather on the way, I look forward to many hours in the aircon'd cab with slasher behind. For us, it's probably the regular slashing which is most beneficial to keeping the property clean.

Edit: We're in the Ravensbourne area, just down from Hampton.

Thank you O_K! We can slash/flail mow on 2/3 of our property. We should have slashed our biggest paddock mid summer, we did not and there were 50+ fireweeds hidden there, each had gone partly to seed. Do you slash regularly? On winter?

 

[Oz_Kioti]

Thank you O_K! We can slash/flail mow on 2/3 of our property. We should have slashed our biggest paddock mid summer, we did not and there were 50+ fireweeds hidden there, each had gone partly to seed. Do you slash regularly? On winter?

My schedule is typically a pre-winter slash around April, a Spring slash in September, then every month or so through Summer. Winter gives me a break from slashing, as the grass (predominantly Kikiyu with some Paspalum) doesn't grow much.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll need to do a patrol with the trailer behind the bike, picking up fallen branches which "windy August" usually brings down, ready for the first slash.

But today is a "home brew" day! Cheers

 

[Mousehog]

We have started our Spring slashing. 2 days into it and the flail mower is broken. Having a look at it shortly. We have to clear some timber in the big center paddock before we slash. Nearly done scanning and pulling bloody fireweed.

UPDATE: Drive belts on the flail mower are stuffed.

 

[Mousehog]

Also located in SE Qld (Australia) on a beautiful 40 acre block, so we keep a plastic garbage bag in each quad bike, and whenever we're prowling around, the brilliant yellow 14 leafed little bastards are immediately obvious, since the pasture has yet to show growth after winter. We pull them out and immediately place them in the plastic bag, as they do drop petals/seeds so easily. I sometimes wonder if it's a futile effort as I see some roadside verges and paddocks in the vicinity awash with Fireweed, and wonder if we're pushing the proverbial uphill with a pointed stick trying to contain it. But even before they flower, the deep green colouring and distinctive growth pattern makes them reasonably easy to spot too. They seem to appear in late winter, like now. But, so far, so good!

Well. we checked every day for the past 10 days and got most of the fireweed off. We will start looking mid to late July for the green shoots.

We have alot of pesky kangaroo grass in some pastures. Cattle graze around it. We mowed (flail mower) it last year once only. This year we have managed to clear some large prickly pear trees by cutting branches off the trunk, mulching them and then pulling the trunks out, pulling and cutting the roots, filling in the hole. We have about 20 large prickly pear trees to remove this week, then pick up sticks, remove rocks, remove or mark stumps, then it will be ready to flail mow.
How do you deal with kangaroo grass?