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Weed Information |
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| Biodiversity | Weed control | Physical control | Chemical control | Biological control | How long to control? | Successful biocontrol | 'Useful' weeds | Finding biocontrol agents | Biocontrol agents in NZ | After control |
Physical Control
Physical control includes pulling the weeds out by hand (manual weed control) or by machine (mechanical weed control). These methods can be very expensive because they are very labour intensive (lots of time and people needed to do this!). They also need to be done repeatedly to remove weeds that have re-grown. Fire can also be used to control weeds - however, some plants (e.g., gorse) are fire adapted and seeds in the soil are triggered to germinate after fire, which worsens the weed problem.
Manual weed control
| Manual weed control is using hands or hand tools (trowels, grubbers, etc.) to remove weeds. This method is most useful for small infestations of weeds or with a large team of people to help. It is best to hand pull weeds after rain when the soil is moist. Care must be taken to remove all the tiny pieces of weeds, such as tradescantia, that can regrow from fragments. This method doesn't work well with weeds with large root systems of underground tubers (e.g., smilax). |  |
Mechanical weed control
| Mechanical weed control is using machinery, such as mowers, tractor slashers and bulldozers, or power tools, such as chainsaws to remove weeds. This is a better way of controlling larger weed infestations, but it also disturbs the soil, which creates more habitat for weeds to grow. It may be helpful in bringing large infestations down to size so that they can be better controlled by other methods. Like manual control it may need to be done repeatedly. |
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Biodiversity Weed
control Physical control Chemical control
Biological control How
long to control? Successful biocontrol 'Useful'
weeds Finding biocontrol agents Biocontrol
agents in NZ After control 