Large fruiting Wheel Cactus
Please, just don’t let them fruit!
Wheel Cactus remains a very serious weed problem in our region and continues to spread into surrounding areas. We now need an even greater community wide effort to control the invasion of this weed, and call on all local property owners to destroy the Wheel Cactus plants on their land.
The only way to stop the spread of this noxious weed is to kill the plant before it flowers and bears fruit. It’s therefore essential that all mature, fruiting plants are destroyed, which will prevent the seeds from the fruit being spread further by birds and animals.
These larger mature plants need to be poisoned to die. Our volunteers only ever use glyphosate (Round-up) to inject the wheel cactus lobes, and this is most effective on small and medium plants but can take several treatments to kill a large plant. If property owners have some very large fruiting plants on their own property, they may want to consider using a stronger herbicide which is quicker to use and takes effect much sooner. However, this can only be purchased and used by permit holders, there are only 2 permit holders in the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group, but further information can be obtained from Ian, the President of our group.
The TCCG can demonstrate how to most effectively kill Wheel Cactus plants, and provide advice and equipment to assist landholders to kill these plants. If you’d like to learn more please join us at a Community Field Day.
Our next Wheel Cactus Field Day will be on Sunday 27th September near the corner of Whitlocks and Greenhill Bridge Roads, just a few kms southwest of Maldon. To get there, leave Maldon along Parkins Reef road, continue along South Parkins Reef Road and finally veer to the left along Whitlocks Road. The route will be well signposted. The morning’s activities will begin at 10:30 am and end at 12:30 pm with an enjoyable free BBQ and friendly chat. If you have any queries please contact Ian on 0412 015 807 or check out our website at www.cactuswarriors.org
