Tidying up a pig’s ear

The fourth outing for the Hurunui Weedbusters was a great success last Sunday.

The target weed was pig’s ear (Dicotyledon orbiculata), an African succulent that has ‘jumped the garden fence’ and become a serious problem in dry areas of Hurunui like Gore Bay, and on the Port Hills of Christchurch.

Sunday’s property sits directly below a QEII covenant which hosts a suite of limestone-loving plants, some of which only grow in this district. Pigs ear and other weeds are a threat to these plants because they grow bigger and faster than the native plants, thriving in the same challenging environments as the plants like the very rare Waipara gentian (Gentiana calca).

Botanist Gillian Giller joined the group for the day and spoke of the specific values of the covenant.

“Weeding around precious sites such as the covenant is as important as weeding within them, and it’s great that the Weedbusters group is doing this important work,” she said.

Eleven people attended the Hurunui Weedbusters morning, ranging from teenagers to some in their early seventies. Collectively they formed a huge pile of the weed as individual plants were either pulled out or cut down at ground level and poisoned at the base. Because each leaf can grow into another plant if left on the ground, all plant material needed to be removed.

Morning tea of homemade biscuits and cake was provided by organisers Hurunui Biodiversity Trust’s Belinda Meares and Hurunui District Council’s Water and Land Coordinator Rima Herber.

If you'd like to know more, please contact Belinda Meares, Hurunui Biodiversity Trust:

022 160 0383 or hurunuibiodiversity@gmail.com