Karoonda Workshop to Help Landholders Fight African Lovegrass

Held collaboratively between the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) and the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board, the half-day workshop on February 8 will feature a panel of experts speaking about the best methods to manage the weed. A free breakfast and presentations will be followed by a trip to a local site where a range of control methods are being trialled to understand what options control African lovegrass best in local conditions.

Strategies including rotowiping, spraying, blade ploughing, slashing and crimp rolling are all part of the demonstration site trial which has been designed to control African lovegrass and reduce the risk of herbicide resistance.

The workshop will also give landholders an opportunity to provide feedback on the Priority Weeds, Cropping and Pasture Weeds Program, which is being delivered until mid-2025. Local landholders are encouraged to attend to have their say on how the program could benefit them.

District Manager Bec Gould from the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board said that the event will provide landholders with the tools they need to identify and control African lovegrass in order to remain productive and sustainable.

“Landholders are required to control African lovegrass incursions, and information from this event will help them to meet their obligations in line with the Landscape South Australia Act 2019”.

“African lovegrass is known to be a hard-to-control weed, so we encourage landholders to attend the event to find a best practise approach that suits the local conditions,” she added.

The visit to the demonstration site will give landholders the chance to see how control options are being combined to find effective management strategies.

“The focus of the trial site is to assess which control strategies work best on African lovegrass given the local conditions,” said PIRSA Weed Control Coordinator Tim Liebelt.

“Previous research has shown that a double-knock approach is best. Now our focus is on ascertaining which strategies work best for local landholders”.

Attendance at the event is free, but registrations are essential. The event will commence at 7.30am on Thursday 8 February and conclude at around 12pm. More information and registrations are available on our events page.

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Government and State Government through the Priority Weeds, Cropping and Pasture Weeds Program.