Robyn 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
|  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.
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.)
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.
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.
