Mother of Millions & Lantana. NSF in Qld.?

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Joanna Brown
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Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:29 pm

Mother of Millions & Lantana. NSF in Qld.?

Post by Joanna Brown » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:58 pm

Hello Natural Farmers...I am hoping to get some thoughts and ideas on how to work with (get rid of?) these two weeds? Also if there are any NSF groups in South East Queensland or any groups or individuals trying to improve their land and deal with weeds, naturally - I would love to be in touch ?

Mother Of Millions. I have an 80 acre farm in Beaudesert, South East Queensland - The worst area of MOM is about a quarter acre and since we have had two years of good rain the MOm has become very thick over this whole area. The area is on a gradual slope and under gum trees (but the trees are not thick -the light comes through). My father has had this property for 30 years and over that time he has sprayed the MOM with round-up (I think) or has had us kids up there picking it up and bagging it for burning. It has never been as healthy or thick - it has spread to the edges of the good grass but not into the good pasture. There are about 3 other areas of MOM about 40 metres squared - all seem to grow in not good grass areas. One of these is up the bank of a dam wall.

I have been collecting the MOM in Bags - I try to do 2 bags a day and then burn them.I wonder if I could slash these weeds and pile them up on the high side of the slope as I have read the dead plants then wash down on the slashed areas and discourage growth. The problem with this idea and MOM is that it is a succullent and the cut off parts will grow. Another idea I thought of was to place large tarps over areas and kill the MOM - then pile this dead stuff (MOM) along the top of the slope?? Lastly I worry about slashing MOM as the little bits could spread elsewhere from the slasher? Has anyone slashed MOM? what have been the results?

Lastly I have an 18 acre paddock which is very steep and has good natural Aussie grasses for the cattle. The Lantana has really spread it is as high as my horse. There is some Seratro (spelling?)growing over it - which encourages the cattle to push in and eat this creeper and knock the Lantana over. The land is too steep for tractors and ideas for getting rid of the lantana? There has not been a bush fire through this area for 8 years or so.

Some general observations on both of these weeds. The MOM has been here for 30 years and has not poisoned any horses or cattle? It always grows in the same areas and has not taken over the rest of the pastures although it looks very healthy and has widened it's borders due to great rain.I have not been poisoning it like dad did every few years - am I going to have a problem with spread? The cattle have never had lantana poisoning but it is now covering at least a third of the area....I rotate the cattle onto fresh paddock once the grass looks eaten.
LOOK FORWARD TO THOUGHTS ON JUST LEAVING THESE WEEDS OR ON WHAT I CAN DO TO REDUCE THEM? I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO AVOID POISONS. regards Jo

duane
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Re: Mother of Millions & Lantana. NSF in Qld.?

Post by duane » Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:52 am

HI Joanna

Welcome tothe NSF Forum.

The answers to your questions I believe have been covered here previously.

Do a search above by typing weeds, lantana, mother-of-millions.

Joanna Brown
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:29 pm

Re: Mother of Millions & Lantana. NSF in Qld.?

Post by Joanna Brown » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:43 pm

Hello Duane,

Thank you for your reply. I can not find other comments on Mother Of Million, Lantana Or Groups of NSA in South East Queensland. Could be my bad computer skills - but have put in these things into "search" and only keeps coming
back to my letter and your kind reply.
Could you get me into the other peoples comments on these weed, please? How do I go about it?
Lastly are there groups in SE Queenland?

Regards & Thanks from Jo

sceptic
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Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:17 pm

Re: Mother of Millions & Lantana. NSF in Qld.?

Post by sceptic » Sat Jan 28, 2012 5:23 pm

Hi Joanna,

There has been a couple of mentions of Mother of Millions on here but no answer to the problem. Firstly getting to your question on poisoning like most poisonous plants for an animal to be poisoned it has to eat it and in sufficient quantities, with most poisonous plants this only occurs when there's a shortage of food or when there's new stock. If you've never had poisoning then it's likely you (and your father) have never overstocked it during times of drought, that's the good news.

The bad news is controlling the bloody thing, I worked on hand removing it from a couple of small areas over about three years, I got it down to the "inspect" stage (probably all gone but keep an eye on it), as I said, small area, hand removal and lots of follow up. In short a pain in the bum.

And I'll say it here: Do not slash it! You'll just make the problem worse.

(Synthetic) Chemical control can be effective provided follow up is undertaken, however if you don't want to use them then your choice gets limited. There are organic herbicides as well as things like vinegar, borax and other stuff but what I reckon could work is cooking oil, get the cheapest, thinnest stuff you can find, put it in a sprayer and spray it on the plants (it clogs the pores and the plants can't breathe). I have heard of diesel being used for it (have you got a biodiesel supplier nearby?).

The oil will break down (though if you're worried about it throw some chicken manure over it, chook poo is used as a nitrogen source for oil cleanups so that bugs can eat the oil) but you will need to follow up pretty regularly and for the next few years.

Try it on a small area first (just in case I'm wrong).

Hope this helps, good luck.
The truth is out there.

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