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Our war on pitto

11/7/2024

21 Comments

 
PictureRobyn and Jon Temby with casualties: The battle is over but the war goes on.
By Jon Temby

ABOUT three years ago we bought a property in West Creek that had a Trust for Nature covenant protecting its bushland. 

We knew there was Pittosporum undulatum on the property and that it was going to be a big job to get rid of it. We probably didn’t realise just how big a job. The Pittosporum had formed an almost complete canopy, shutting out the light and outcompeting almost all our understorey plants across the entire bushland section.  In places, thickets were close to impenetrable and the ground underneath bigger stands of Pittosporum (which we call ”pitto”) was totally bare of other vegetation.

Over the past three years I’ve put in many hundreds of hours removing this invasive weed tree. I used to aim for a minimum of 300 pulled seedlings on each trip into our bush.  I achieved that tally dozens of times. I sometimes put in several days a week fighting pitto. Sometimes other interests take priority and the pitto gets some respite.

The early results are really rewarding. Our massive and ongoing campaign is resulting in sunlight getting to ground level and previously absent or rarer plants reappearing. The highlights for me include finding several species of orchids, finding a Goodia lotifolia, one of the rarer and larger ‘egg and bacon’ type plants, and having a big flock of Red Browed Finches appear and stay.

​It’s also being able to enjoy longer views through the vegetation that developed when the pitto was gone. The areas we initially cleared are beginning to look and sound like natural bush, we can see the tall eucalypt trunks and their open canopies, see the middle storey Black Wattles and Blackwoods and see the lower storey Wattles, Olearias and a wide range of undergrowth plants flourishing.
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Three years on, a view across the dam to restored bushland.
​The progressive habitat improvement is bringing in many more birds and presumably insects. The birds, Wallabies, Echidnas and others now live in a far more natural environment. We have propagated and planted several hundred of our locally native plants including a few from our own Goodia.

We had sufficient positive feedback just seeing the progress being made and especially when others recognised the progress that we had achieved. 
Through trial and error, we found more and more effective ways to rid our bush (and roadside) of this scourge, which I understand is principally spread by foxes and blackbirds.

Our techniques included:
  • Pulling up seedlings at any time of the year when the soil is soft enough to prevent the seedling breaking off at ground level and reshooting.  Sometimes second- and third-year seedlings can be pulled without too much risk to your back!  If it gives a bit, pull a bit harder and/or try pulling it from a different angle.
  • On pittos that I could not pull out but could cut off near the ground with one or two swings of the tomahawk, I would cut them off and paint the stump (immediately or it won’t work) with a 50% all purpose herbicide to poison them for 100% success.  With the tomahawk in one hand and a small pressured container of herbicide in the other, this is a very efficient control method.​
  • We found that drilling and injecting pitto trees with herbicide was a slow process and often an unreliable control.
  • On larger pittos I initially tried making several cuts in the bark around the trunk with a sharp tomahawk and applying the herbicide to poison them.  As poisoned pittosporum can take months to die, it was some months later that I realised that this method was only effective about 50% of the time and that full ringbarking and poisoning was required.
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​Friend or foe?
Pittosporum undulatum, or sweet pittosporum, is found in coastal bushland from southeast Queensland through coastal NSW to some parts of Victoria.  In its natural environment it’s a valuable plant in the ecosystem and needs protection.  When it becomes an invasive weed in other ecosystems it causes significant damage and is definitely an ecological foe.  The Australian Plant Society describes it as having “naturalised quite aggressively into habitats where it was not previously thought to grow….” 
  • I experimented with ringbarking with a chainsaw versus using a tomahawk. As my chainsaw was a bigger heavy one, I preferred the tomahawk on all but our larger trees.  I found that the tomahawk was safer despite requiring a razor sharp blade. In addition it was usually quicker and easier to remove tangles of pitto branches to gain access to the tree trunk using the tomahawk in one hand and pulling branches away with the other.
  • On our larger pittos, whose trunks can be over 300-400mm diameter, a chainsaw is needed to cut it down and immediate spraying of the stump to prevent resprouting.

Our preferred process for cleaning out a pitto patch with minimal need to rework it is to do the following in sequence:
  • pull out all small plants within the intended fall area of larger pittos to be cleared;
  • cut down and paint the stumps of all left-over small and medium sized pittos; and
  • decide whether to ringbark or cut down the larger pittos. The decision usually relates to whether the tree has active bird or animal nests, Clematis or Wonga vines on them or if they would fall on something needing protection.  If any of these apply, I would usually ringbark it and the poisoned tree remains in place. If not, cutting it down has become standard practice

When I cut down pitto I usually cut off most of the branches so that it rots down more quickly and replanting can occur earlier.
Picture
We and the adjoining owners, whose bushland properties are also protected by covenants, have now been assisted in pitto removal by contractors engaged by Trust for Nature. The techniques described above have now become close to the usual approach implemented by the contractors.

Assistance from Trust for Nature and Landcare crews has taken a great weight off our shoulders so it must have been worrying us. But I still can’t walk past a seedling without trying to remove it!

I’m very thankful to those who had the foresight to put the initial protective covenants on the bush but feel a great sense of sadness at the long-term damage done and probable species lost as a result of the pittosporum not being controlled for so many years. (Unfortunately that same neglect is being regularly demonstrated on a massive scale by our state and federal governments.)

Now as we walk through our bushland, there’s a quiet sense of achievement, anticipation and peace.

As everyone worldwide should seek to do, we will be able to pass on the land to its next custodian in much better condition than when we started.  We now need to focus on rebuilding wildlife corridors to join up, build on and protect the last remaining remnants of our natural environment.
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21 Comments
Meredith Schaap
13/7/2024 08:04:53 pm

What a totally inspiring account of your pitto removal. It is very heartening to read about people like you who are restoring bushland. Keep up the good work.

Reply
Jon Temby
14/7/2024 02:18:20 pm

Thank you Meredith, I hope that it inspires many others to work towards enhancing our environment. I expect that our grandchildren will thank for doing so.

Reply
Richard Kemp
14/7/2024 04:37:31 pm

Hi Robyn and Jon, it is great to see that someone is taking and acting on this spreading problem.
People have no idea how big a problem they are and how they have overtaken the bush and native trees but blocking out the sunlight and with their massive root system that drains the water from the soil.
I have one- and three-quarter acers of bush at The Gurdies and it has been a monumental battle to reduce them.
I have employed a few techniques to eradicate them with great success.
I first decided to slow the breeding program by destroying as many female trees as I could fine to stop the spread of seeds.
I winched some of the big ones down with a winch – hard work considering the root system.
When this became a big task, I poisoned them with a mixture of Roundup and Bow saw by using a spade bit in my power drill and with the aid of a tomato sauce bottle injected the poison into the roots in several areas. I found they were too hard to kill if I only did one root on one side.
All the branches with berries were burnt. Very satisfactory to hear them sizzle and crackle when burning.
The seedlings took over a year in the dense bush to pull out and I am still seeing them popping up. One good thing is the green colour is easy to see.
It funny or should I say sad that one day I was weeding them out down the edge of the road with a hand full I had just pulled out. A lady passed and said are you going to plant them along the road. I did my best to explain the problem to her. At their house they had cut down the gumtrees and left the pittosporums.
I have found that the wood is soft to cut and good to burn my combustion heats and it is also good to carve.
I have State owned bush opposite which is a breeding ground for them and nothing has been done to eradicate them.
Keep up the good work and keep trying to educate people, thanks Robyn and Jon.
I still have a long job ahead of me to eradicate the male trees.

Reply
Jon Temby
14/7/2024 05:15:34 pm

Thanks Richard. It’s great to hear from others who are also taking action on this problem plant and the nursery’s are still selling them! Cutting down the eucalypts and leaving the Pittos is a bit much to deal with and would have to be at the extreme other end of the environmental acceptability Bell Curve
Once you have all the mature plants down, you are in maintenance mode which is much more manageable. Keep up the good work and enjoy the outcome . Jon

Reply
Margaret Lee
14/7/2024 05:31:12 pm

Hi Jon & Richard,
I too live at The Gurdies and am always pulling out the small plants.

Fortunately my property of one acre has not matures trees on it but as you say Richard they abound in the bush beyond

Reply
Jon Temby
14/7/2024 05:41:36 pm

Hi Marg. maybe we should see if Parks Vic or whoever “looks after” that area of bushland can be encouraged to actively manage their invasive weeds Jon

Reply
Pete Muskens
15/7/2024 09:33:38 am

Well done Robyn and Jon - we have lots down here at Cape Paterson, mostly on roadsides. We’ve certainly been making inroads on the pittos in the coastal reserve.

Reply
Jon Temby
15/7/2024 10:29:07 am

Thanks Pete. Good work. If they (and cats) can be fully cleared out we might start seeing the beautiful Ground Parrot reappearing along the coastal heathlands.

Reply
Gillian Armstrong
15/7/2024 03:44:25 pm

Jon and Robyn, what you have achieved in a few short years on this Trust for Nature land is quite extraordinary and outstanding! The change in that environment is so markedly better than when you first took me through this bush three years ago. The tall Eucalypts were very hard to see because of the dense understory of Pittosporums. Now, they stand out beautifully prominent among the canopy of other native vegetation. Seeing this change put into this (unfinished) story is testament to how dedication, grit and determination can make such a difference for the better to the environment around us for all. Living on the north coast of Phillip Island, we are also living with the scourge of Pittosporum through the coastal bushland. My congratulations to you and Robyn for what you have achieved so far in your 'pitto' eradication project. When you have finished at West Creek............!!

Reply
Jon Temby
15/7/2024 04:39:27 pm

Thank you for your kind words Gillian. It would be great if our local councils, Parks Victoria and federal environment related departments would take on some real responsibility and direct action to improve the natural environment that our grandchildren will experience. If that occurred then our local campaigns can mop up any gaps that are left over. The environment and our community will be healthier and our biodiversity might be maintained.

Reply
Dan Drummond
15/7/2024 07:03:01 pm

Any issues with weeds in Public land in Gurdies/Granville area next to your property should be addressed to Parks Vic. Wonthaggi.

Reply
Catherine Watson
19/7/2024 09:20:56 am

Thanks Dan. In the past they haven't shown much interest. "They're not a real concern" was one response! But I've just sent another letter and we'll keep on about it. The pittos are still manageable now but a few more years and it will be a massive job to get rid of them.

Reply
Jon Temby
15/7/2024 08:09:48 pm

Thanks Dan. There may be a few customers on their way. Jon

Reply
Richard Kemp
16/7/2024 03:02:36 pm

If anybody is interested in the article I submitted about my war on pittosporums you can find it in the Bass Coast Post 12/8/2021.

Reply
Catherine Watson
17/7/2024 11:06:53 am

Here’s the link to Richard’s story:
https://www.basscoastpost.com/environment/my-war-on-pittosporum

Reply
Jon Temby
17/7/2024 01:27:15 pm

Thanks Catherine. I wasn’t sure how to find it

Jon Temby
17/7/2024 01:31:57 pm

Thank you Richard. Great to see the article and that there are many kindred spirits in the district. Keep up the good work. Jon

Reply
Mary Allitt
16/7/2024 07:28:16 pm

Similar problems with Mirror Bush.

Reply
Jon Temby
16/7/2024 08:55:00 pm

Yes Mary. A few Mirror Bushes and Cotoneaster on our place as well. I take them out immediately I find them. Blackbirds love spreading them around so getting rid of them before they seed is jmportant

Reply
Catherine Watson
19/7/2024 09:18:27 am

Jon, inspired by you and Robyn, I've been guerilla attacking the pittos in the reserve next door. Immensely satisfying!

Reply
Jon Temby
19/7/2024 09:57:49 am

Thanks Catherine, guerilla warfare against pittos sounds brilliant but if it is a council reserve, where are the councils guerilla fighters? Keep it up, it’s worth it. Jon

Reply

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