NOW’S the perfect time to look at getting stuck into those pesky pest plants that you’ve been ignoring for way too long.
The days are cooler and less humid, so it’s a great opportunity to up the effort level and work on whacking a few weeds.
Plus, they tend not to grow back as quickly in the cooler months, so you can actually make some ground and get on top of them.
One of the most common weeds for larger landholders is lantana.
This is the optimum time of the year to work on lantana, and you’ll find that a little effort now will result in good long-term control.
Lantana is into its wintering phase, meaning that it takes sap and energy back into the roots and away from the leaves and stems.
If you want to use a herbicide, it’s a little late for the optimal control window (which is April and May) so maybe hold off on the spraying at the moment.
If you want to pull lantana out, the soil is nice and loose so the roots will come out easier. You can do this by hand with smaller bushes, or use a chain or rope tied to the trusty 4-WD or just the bucket of a tractor if it’s a larger plant.
Using a mechanical mulcher or slasher is also a great idea this time of year. By mulching the plant back to ground level, you end up with a nice clean area where once unusable lantana was. Then the plants will reshoot, giving you the perfect opportunity to only use a minimal amount of herbicide to spray the regrowth.
If you’ve got a large patch of lantana, I’d suggest you look at the mechanical mulching idea.
It allows you to deal with a lot of lantana all at once, and gives you a good clean area to start your land rehabilitation – whether that’s grass seeding, mulching, tree planting or landscaping.