ALL PARTS of Inkweed are poisonous. Symptoms from ingestion may include headache, burning in the mouth, abdominal cramping, vomiting and diarrhoea. The acrid sap can cause skin irritation and if that’s not enough to get rid of this invader, it’s toxic to stock.
It is believed that Inkweed was introduced to King Island through machinery around 1990. The weed originated from South America and is only found in Tasmania on King Island.
The Inkweed project is a 3-year project that started around June last year, for the eradication of Inkweed on King Island. The project is supported and funded by the Tasmanian Weeds Action Fund to tackle weeds that are impacting valuable agricultural and environmental assets.
As eradication might not be possible within three years, it needs a huge, cooperative annual effort, that’s why it was so important that there was a good farmer and landowner turnout last week’s Landcare Field Day.
Landcare will apply for ongoing funding once stage 3 of the project is finished. The infestation has spread further than we thought.
We had an informative morning where land- holders and farmers learned how to control Inkweed in the most effective way, successful management, and eradication, and we shared what progress King Island Landcare Group have achieved so far with our Inkweed project on King Island.
Inkweed can be controlled chemically or manually if they are small plants.
So far, about 75 hectares of Inkweed weed control and erradication around Fraser River has been covered. Landcare was advised by ecologist Phil Bell that he saw Inkweed in Barrier Creek while he was doing surveys last year. These are presumed to have come from the rookery nearby and are an important outlier to control before we get back to the main infestation.
The weed crew team has covered a further 60 hectares at Barrier Creek, and still have 20 hectares to complete in the main section of Barrier Creek. The crew will then need to continue on the west side of Millwood Rd, and then the Ridges Rd area before they move back to the centre infestations. The work will cover outliers first and then the central area. The outliers might be worked on twice instead of three times.
At the field day Landcare talked about how important it is to not get discouraged and lose motivation with the first regrowth after control. This is to be expected due to leaving bare ground which allows seeds in the soil to germinate. Doing annual control is important to keep reducing the seed bank in the soil and get to the eradication stage. For this reason, any weed control needs to be followed up for several years.
The Inkweed plant flowers all year round so timing is not an issue, it can be controlled any month or season. Landcare is calling on all farmers and residents to be on the look out and report any Inkweed plants sighted. email on kingisland@landcaretas.org.au or on 64621825.