Field assessment of herbicides to release native plants from weeds

Abstract

A range of herbicide treatments was applied to 05 m² zones around native plants 6 weeks after being transplanted into ungrazed pasture for revegetation purposes The species studied were toetoe (Cortaderia fulvida) mountain flax (Phormium cookianum) purei (Carex secta) ribbonwood (Plagianthus regius) koromiko (Hebe stricta) and manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) Glyphosate was applied around all species using a halfbucket to shield the native plant and this was the cheapest and often most effective treatment A mixture of clopyralid and haloxyfop was tolerated by most species on which this was tested apart from slight damage to ribbonwood However a mixture of simazine and haloxyfop was also tolerated by all native species other than the toetoe controlled most weeds well and gave longer weed control than the clopyralid/haloxyfop or glyphosate treatments Other herbicides were also tolerated by some species