Weed Management in Beaconsfield Upper

Weed Management in Beaconsfield Upper: Local Conditions and What That Means for Your Property

Weed management in Beaconsfield Upper is regulated under the CaLP Act, which makes landowners responsible for control of listed noxious species; Cardinia Shire's Community Local Law also enables the council to issue notices for environmental weeds that are spreading from private property into reserves. The reserves surrounding the township (E.A. Owen Conservation Reserve, Critchley Parker Jnr Forest Reserve, Hillview Bushland Reserve, Harris Reserve and Sutherland Park) are all active conservation areas where spillover of blackberry, ragwort, spear thistle and Cape weed from adjacent private land is closely monitored. Blackberry management on the horse and lifestyle properties is the most labour-intensive single weed task: the canes root at the tips wherever they touch the ground, and a thicket along a fence line or dam batter will double in width in two seasons without intervention. Effective control requires either a boom spray if the infestation is on accessible flat ground, or a cut-and-paint or foliar spot-spray approach on hillside and fence-line growth where a boom cannot reach. Ragwort is a particular issue on the paddock areas where grazing pressure has thinned the pasture base and left bare patches for rosettes to establish; it must be pulled before it bolts in late spring, because seed dispersal across a property from a single unmanaged plant can be in the thousands. Cape weed and cat's ear densely colonise the lawn and garden borders of residential properties along Stoney Creek Road and Beaconsfield-Emerald Road each winter and need selective herbicide rather than blanket treatment.