FIRE WEED ERADICATION
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Since the major series of clean-ups and slashings on this neglected land began in November 2022, we have been using the Razorback CMX2106 to gradually build up the carbon profile wherever possible on Ironbark Farm. We have slashed and slashed and slashed thousands of Lantana bushes up to 5m tall, Queen Anne Lace up to 1.6m, thousands of Tobacco plants and other weeds reaching up to 2m in height. The old, entwined, rastafarian-looking mixed grasses and other weeds grew between 5 and 6 feet and we had thousands of tree saplings reaching many meters in height.

At first during the clean-up, we were not aware of the South African Fire Weeds and the terrible damage and potential death they can cause to grazing animals, particularly horses, but we did notice during the slashings, that multi-thousands of yellow flowers were regularly blossoming amongst the tall grasses, and thriving profusely on adjoining properties. Between January and October 2023, we had a 9 month drought, but when the rain came aplenty after the October 2023 man-made bushfires, the open, cleared fields suddenly had fire weeds appearing in the tens of thousands and, as we refuse to use chemicals and poisons to eradicate fire weed, we started pulling them out. In May-June 2024, we thought we had gotten on top of the fire weed issue, but no, more drenching rain came, and with a very warm winter, conditions were conducive for a plague of fire weeds reappearing in the open spaces. A thriving fire weed bush can produce up to a thousand seeds, each flower can produce up to one hundred seeds, and various other weeds can have seeds coming through for up to 7 years. Seeds germinate in mild, warm conditions with light and moisture, and light infestations can produce 1 million seeds per hectare.

Example of an unknown NSW field infested with Fire Weed
We are determined to eradicate Fire Weed from Ironbark Farm

We were overwhelmed but we made sure to continue pulling them out in the tens of thousands. Our friend, Hannah Wood, has pulled out thousands of them, and at various times our daughters have also helped to pull them out. There may be years of seeds still waiting to sprout, but we don't know, and we are soon to find out when the next load of rain comes through from the 12th Sept 2024. In two morning and afternoon sessions, we collected another two trailer loads pulled by the Razorback. The trailer photo is the 2nd load we collected during the afternoon, 7th Sept 2024, and so far we have only covered around half of the 15 acre north facing field.

Arthur & Fiona Cristian

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