By Callum Ludwig
A local landcare group is calling for residents across the Yarra Ranges to take action to prevent the spread of a pesky pasture weed.
Mt Toolebewong & District Landcare Group Inc are calling for landowners to take action to rid their properties of ragwort, a declared noxious weed under the The Catchment and Land Protection (CaLP) Act 1994, which means landowners must take reasonable steps to control ragwort and prevent its spread.
Speaking from his Don Valley home, Mt Toolebewong & District Landcare Group member Alan Scoble said it’s a little late for dealing with ragwort, but it’s better late than never.
“I’ve been down this path about 20 odd years ago, with the previous Don Valley Landcare group, which has morphed into Mt Toolebewong & District and we had a good result, not eradicating it but we really knocked it around in Don Valley,” he said.
“I’ve noticed it’s creeping back, people have become a bit blase or they’ve forgotten the lessons that we learned back in the 90s, it’s coming back with a vengeance and ideally, we need to do something about it before it becomes crazy and works its way down the valley.”
According to Agriculture Victoria’s profile on ragwort, it is a herbaceous plant with themes reaching between 45 and 60cm high and are rigid, reddish or purple near base, branched at top, furrowed and sometimes bear cobweb-like hairs. Running up the stem will be dark-to-mid green leaves that can grow up to 35cm long but the most distinguishable feature is the bright yellow flowers which appear with daisy-like heads in large clusters at the ends of branches.
Ragwort can spread by wind, water, animals, farm implements, in agricultural produce including hay, on clothing and other equipment. Most seeds will fall near the parent plant, but many become airborne and travel for long distances and can float in water.
Yarra Ranges Landcare Network’s Landcare Facilitator Corey McFadyen said there are multiple negative impacts to leaving ragwort to seed and spread.
“It causes displacement of pasture weeds, from a farmer’s perspective, that’s no good, because you could have 20 per cent of your paddock that’s taken up by ragwort, which isn’t healthy and is toxic to animals,” he said.
“But then from an environmental perspective, you’ve got conservation areas not just paddocks, where it causes dissipation of the kind of quality biodiversity you want to see.”
A rosette forms in the first year of the ragwort’s growth, and a flower stalk and yellow flowers will usually form in the second year which is when it becomes easier to spot.
Mr Scoble said he’s driven past some local properties that are 20, 30 or even 50 per cent infested with ragwort.
“While it’s slow, it just seems to creep up on you, you don’t notice it until it’s flowering and then it seems to come up and will grow anywhere,”
“We’ve got equipment here that people can hire and anyone who has questions, we can direct them to someone wo kows or give them our advice.”
Mt Toolebewong & District Landcare Group have a 400 litre spray unit on a trailer available for hire to control ragwort and blackberries at this time of year and you can email sectoolebewong@gmail.com for more details.
Ragwort can also be controlled by cutting the stems and bagging them for removal so the seed doesn’t fall.
