Yorke Peninsula on high alert for boneseed outbreaks
Northern and Yorke Landscape Board staff are using GPS mapping, winter control and spring surveys to restrict the declared weed boneseed from invading native bushland and dunes on Yorke Peninsula.
The Board’s Yorke Peninsula team is on high alert for outbreaks of the yellow-flowering pest plant and encourages the community to scan their surroundings this spring for any rogue plants.
“The problem with boneseed is that once it sets seed it quickly multiplies and overruns understory plants and invades intact bushland,” said Northern and Yorke Landscape Board’s Nick Nicholls.
Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera), a shrub that grows to about 1.5m high, annually produces about 50,000 seeds, which can remain dormant in the soil for more than 10 years.
The Board has actively controlled boneseed outbreaks on Yorke Peninsula since 2007 and each year GPS maps plants or plant clusters, so team members can return in winter to pull out seedlings where mature plants have set seed.
Outbreak zones are then rechecked in September and October when the flowering plants are easier to find.
Yorke Peninsula has known outbreak sites at Moonta Bay, Moonta Mines, Balgowan, Mount Rat, Harry Butler Road, Brentwood, Bublacowie, Weavers, Corny Point and Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park.
“Urban areas like the Moonta Bay outbreak are especially hard to control as the plants are quite attractive to gardeners,” said Mr Nicholls. “We’ve seen a manicured boneseed hedge in a garden before.
“The good news is that adult plants are now rarely found in outbreak areas and seedling numbers at many of the sites have also reduced.
“It’s important that everyone remains vigilant, as it can take up to 10 years for the seed bank to be exhausted.”
The Board has worked closely with Copper Coast Council and Southern Yorke Peninsula Landcare Group to tackle the boneseed problem and invites private land owners to be part of the solution.
Contact the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board on 8841 3444 to seek specific control advice from a landscape officer. Or check out this boneseed fact sheet.
