Your Poultry
How to grow a great roast
Location: North Island, Nelson-buller region
Distinctive features: forms large clumps of 2m-high fleshy stems. Massive taro-like rhizomes grow over the soil surface and down 1m into soil. Leaves are large, shiny, and dark green. Has highly-fragrant yellow flowers with red stamens from January to March, then produces fleshy, orange fruits containing bright scarlet seeds.
Why is it weedy: one of the worst weeds in NZ due to its high shade-tolerance. Also tolerates most soil types, good or poor drainage, drought, and frost. Long-lived, fast-growing. Forms deep rhizome beds. Grows within native bush, and nothing can grow through its dense tubers.
How to kill it
1. Cut down and paint stumps (all year round): cut above the pink ‘collar’ at the base and apply glyphosate (250ml/l) or metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (1g /L). Leave stems and leaves on site to rot down.
2. Dig or pull out small plants (all year round). Don’t compost; leave foliage on site to rot down. Hang rhizomes in trees, dispose of at a refuse transfer station, or burn them, to prevent regrowth.
3. Spray (all year round): metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (5g/10l knapsack). Add penetrant in winter. For dense patches keep spray away from roots of vulnerable plants. Don’t replant sprayed sites for 6 months.
Tip: seeds survive for 2-4 years, so keep rechecking sites for new plants.