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Weed Biocontrol articles

  1. Three for the Price of One in Chile

    Chantal Probst, our plant pathology technician, and Randall Milne (Environment Southland), travelled to Chile in November last year to collect starter cultures of the Darwin’s barberry rust (Puccinia berberidis-darwinii) and pampas floral smut (Ustilago quitensis). As is often the case, to maximise ...

  2. Buddleia Be Gone!

    Buddleia (Buddleja davidii) is native to China and is a serious weed in plantation forests, natural habitats and riparian areas in New Zealand, especially in the central North Island. Also commonly known as summer lilac or butterfly bush because of its showy, dense clusters of purple or white flower...

  3. Tale of the Scotch Thistle Gall Fly

    Scotch thistle (Cirsium vulgare) is one of the most common thistle weeds in New Zealand, being present in all regions of the country in a diversity of habitats. The weed is a prolific seed producer, with an average of 200 seeds per seedhead, and individual plants can produce over 50,000 seeds. Scotc...

  4. Spring Activities

    Most biocontrol agents become active during spring, making it a busy time of year to check release sites and move agents around.

  5. Who’s Who in Biological Control of Weeds?

    Alligator weed beetle
    (Agasicles hygrophila)
    Foliage feeder, common, often provides excellent control on static water bodies.
    Alligator weed beetle
    (Disonycha argentinensis)
    Foliage feeder, released widely in the early 1980s, failed to establish.
    Alligator weed moth
    (Macrorrhinia endonephele)
    ...

  6. Further reading & agents released table

    Gavin Loxton (left) and Lindsay Smith (right) at a Canterbury hieracium biocontrol site

    Further reading Clarkson B, Paynter Q, Winks C, Bartlam S, Watts C, Thornburrow D 2019. Best-practice guidelines for managing Tradescantia threats to native biodiversity. A research collaboration between BioHeri...

  7. A message from the Editor

    The Weed Biocontrol team at Manaaki Whenua is fortunate to have been able to continue its work during the Covid-19 pandemic. For readers outside of New Zealand, we went into very strict Level 4 lockdown on 26 March for nearly 5 weeks and at the time of writing are in Level 3 (we are now currently at...

  8. Moths away on horehound!

    A little more than a year after the release of the clearwing moth (Chamaesphecia mysiniformis) and the plume moth (Wheeleria spilodactylus) for the biocontrol of horehound (Marrubium vulgare), it was time to return to the release sites to look for early signs of establishment. “We were especially en...

  9. Lesser calamint project steams ahead

    Since our last update on prospects for the biocontrol of lesser calamint (Calaminta nepeta) in New Zealand, much progress has been made with the identification of several promising candidate agents in Europe for prioritisation and further study.

  10. Could an agent for brome tell friend from foe?

    There are over 150 grass species in the genus Bromus. Despite some Bromus species being useful pasture grasses, many are unwanted weeds. Two of the most weedy and problematic Bromus species in New Zealand are downy brome (B. tectorum) and ripgut brome (B. diandrus). Ripgut brome gets its name from t...