Thinking about gorse this spring

Spring is nearly here and with the warmer weather it’s great to see the young lambs frolicking around, flowers blooming, and the days drawing out. With this also comes some not so welcome things…

Many of our pest plants will also start to flower. If you are planning on controlling gorse on your property, now is a good time to think about where that control takes place.

Gorse seed

Ideally the focus should be on controlling the scattered plants and patches, so they don’t turn into block areas further down the track. Gorse seed remains viable in the soil for more than 30 years. Controlling plants before they set seed is important to slow down the spread and ensure that a monoculture of gorse doesn’t develop.

Seed is primarily spread by the gorse pods exploding, the seed can shoot up to 5 metres from the parent plant, it can also be spread by water, on animals and machinery.

What to do

There are plenty of methods to control gorse but the most common remains using a good herbicide such as metsulfuron, glyphosate or a triclopyr/picloram mix. Adding a penetrant helps the herbicide adhere to the plant. Please read the label directions carefully.

Stock pressure also helps, as animals will eat the younger plants, however regular follow up work in areas sprayed is recommended to protect your initial investment. Follow-up work is generally required every few years.

For more information, please visit the Weedbusters(external link) site for gorse(external link) or check out the Chatham Islands Pest Management Plan (CIPMP) on the council's website(external link).