John the Weed Buster | Local business

John the Weed Buster

Phone: +61 428 346 954

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Local business

24.01.2022 This rain has made instant green in the pasture paddocks. I had a close look at a paddock being grazed by horses and saw a whole mixture of plants coming up and I thought I need to spray all those broadleaf weeds BUT not a good idea. I recommend you get the horses out of the paddock for a month or two and let that grass grow up and beat out all those broad leaf weeds. Have a look at the photos and see that the grass is quite dominant, but it just needs a chance to grow and seed and thicken up. The horses will probably founder on that lush green grass anyway.

21.01.2022 Velvety Tree pear needs to be sprayed now for the same reasons as Harissia Cactus. Grazon Extra is registered but only works on small plants and often needs a follow up treatment and does not kill the grass. Amitrol T has a conditional registration at 4 litres per 100 litres of water and works quite well (see attached photos). It is quite expensive to use and kills all the grass where you spray, leaving big bare patches for more weeds to grow. I would opt for Grazon Extra and go back and clean up what does not die. Plants greater than 2 metres tall cannot be foliar sprayed safely as herbicide goes everywhere. These plants need to be stem injected. Keep watching for a series of videos produced by the Weed buster on stem injecting Velvety Tree pear.

18.01.2022 Velvety Tree Pear using the stem injection method. I injected this tree on 3rd Nov and this photo was taken 12 days later. Quite a few leaves have fallen off the tree and the leaves on the extremity are showing signs of stress. I will be going back again tomorrow so will report on progress. I stem injected this plant with Glyphosate mixed at 1:1 with water using a cordless drill and small injector gun. A video will be on Youtube soon explaining this technique. Keep your eyes peared !!!

13.01.2022 This warm weather has certainly brought the Fireweed on. I have been working near East Greenmount this week and saw Fireweed growing actively but not in flower yet. Please see attached photo of plant in full flower. This photo also gives you a good idea of what the vegetative part of the plant looks like for identification purposes. There is very little rain predicted for the next 8 days so maybe time to do chemical control before it becomes too stressed or shoots into flower. DAF have great pest facts on their website and the Fireweed fact advises spraying in Autumn as I said last post but the weather has been favourable and I am confident a good control will be achieved now by foliar spraying. https://www.daf.qld.gov.au//00/67167/IPA-Fireweed-PP31.pdf.

12.01.2022 Harissia Cactus is jumping out of the ground after all this good rain. Now is the time to spray, as they are easy to see with little grass around and actively growing for a good kill. The Weeds of Southern Queensland book is a good guide for what herbicides to use and how to apply them. If you have a few plants to treat basal bark spraying with Access and diesel is the most effective. If you are dealing with large numbers of plants managing big volumes of diesel is hard on yo...ur gear and plain hard work so I recommend using water soluble herbicides. Metsulfuron 600 is registered for Harissia Cactus and does a good job. The herbicide needs to be mixed at 20g/100 litres of water which will kill all the grass surrounding the target, so be very specific where you spray. That grass is needed around the plant to out-compete the Harissia cactus seedlings that will pop up very quickly. See more

12.01.2022 I have noticed Velvety Tree Pear seems to have become fairly prolific right across the Darling Downs and Granite Belt in the last 18 months. It must be the right conditions for germination. Anyone else noticed this?

10.01.2022 Even giving the weather forecast, it's worth putting on a pair of safety glasses.

08.01.2022 I sprayed about 10 ha of Velvety Tree Pear all below 1.5 metre tall in February this year with Amitrol T . See the results, very effective. Anyone else had experience with Amitrol T?

08.01.2022 I have just visited the Prickly Acacia country that Robert Hacon puts all that effort and money into and have mixed reactions about the threat of the tree. The things I noticed about Prickly Acacia: It is a weed of national significance as we started seeing it at Winton and it went all the way to Lawn Hill National Park. The control techniques have improved from basal bark spraying with large teams of weed sprayers to tools that make spreading Graslan pellets over large a...reas quite achievable. The buffer zone project where landholders are encouraged to create a Prickly Acacia free zone around their boundaries. The highway north of Winton has buffers in place. A lot of landholders unfortunately accept Prickly Acacia as part of the landscape and a drought fodder. Local Government is not taking Prickly acacia seriously as a weed of national significance. Large areas of Council owned land are infested which is not showing good leadership. Councils cannot use their legislative powers if they cannot keep the own backyard in order. Prickly Acacia is growing along the Leichhardt River in the middle of Mt Isa. Prickly Acacia likes to grow on good grazing country so cattle producers are going to be most impacted. A lot more effort could be and needs to be put into controlling prickly Acacia as Robert Hacon said. See more

05.01.2022 Honey Locust is a terrible spiky tree and I have seen it around Toowoomba in several locations. It is a class 1 pest and must be eradicated according the Biosecurity Act. Check out the long sharp spikes that attack man and beast and make it very hard to get near. Basal Bark spraying with Access and diesel is the best form of control. The cut stump method is very effective, but it is almost impossible to cut the tree down with a chainsaw or brush-cutter because of the very sharp thorns. The plant grows vigorously along water ways so can spread very quickly. If you see it get onto it very quickly or contact your local government Weeds Officer immediately.

05.01.2022 Check out this special shovel the Cambooya Landcare group are using to dig out Lantana. Very effective and shows how easy the plant comes out. A few old landcarers making it look easy. https://www.facebook.com/Cambooya-Landcare-Association-341715799178838/

05.01.2022 The rain has come, and the weeds are growing. The lantana looks very green, time to do some control work. Please don’t go and spray the lantana now as you run the risk of wiping the leaves off the bush and not killing the whole plant. The photo attached shows a very green, healthy, actively growing lantana bush but the leaves are sparse and small, so getting the required amount of herbicide into the plant is going to be hard. Delay spraying until autumn when the bushes are really leafed up. Now is the time to be doing mechanical control as the ground is soft and the bushes will pop out of the ground roots and all. There is not a lot of grass around the bushes which makes it easier to get in with the shovel or mattock or bob-cat or any other machine that can rip out a lantana bush.

02.01.2022 I've seen prickly acacia completely take over some places, great to see it prioritised so highly.