What to do if you see a moth plant
It was a passer-by who alerted me to the infestation of moth plant in my neighbour’s rhododendron.
“You want to get rid of that,” she told me sternly, misidentifying me as the resident, while she pointed out the vines and tell-tale fat green seed pods of moth plant.
“It’ll cover the tree and spread its seeds everywhere.”
It’s likely I did not look suitably alarmed at what she was telling me because she then compared it to that well-known pest plant old man’s beard, which is a trigger to anyone who lived through the 1980s.
“Old man’s beard must go,” I involuntarily replied, channelling a frothy David Bellamy, and immediately promising to do something about the vine straight away.
But then I didn’t do anything, despite the gnawing anxiety I was falling short of both Bellamy’s lofty expectations and what it meant to be a proper Kiwi.
So I was relieved when my wife phoned last week to tell me someone from the Taranaki Regional Council was at the door to deal with it.
I immediately directed my wife to direct them to the neighbour’s rhododendron, only to be told it was our property where the problem was.
Even over the phone I suddenly felt like I’d carried Covid-19 into the middle of a hospital.
My botanical moral high ground collapsed beneath me as I heard my wife taking the council biosecurity officers to the mess of greenery at the back of the house where the moth plant was lurking.
“Moth plant is a direct control plant in the Regional Pest Management Plan for Taranaki, which means it’s the responsibility of Taranaki Regional Council to control,” explained Taranaki Regional Council biosecurity programme lead Lisa Hardegger when I asked the council about this moth plant business later that day.
What that means is, if you see it or suspect it, you just call the TRC and they deal with it.
And they have been getting a lot of calls. Since the start of the year, they’ve removed hundreds of seedlings and vines.
Thank goodness too, because one of those seed pods can contain 1000 seeds and those seeds can lay dormant for years.
“It grows rapidly up into trees, smothering and killing plants in the canopy and preventing the establishment of native plant species,” Hardegger said.
Not only that, but its pink and white flowers can trap insects such as moths, butterflies and bees and the sap can cause irritation or blisters on skin.
“Please don’t try and deal with it yourself – to limit the risk of further spread, it’s best to leave it to our trained staff.”
If you see moth plant anywhere, call the TRC on 0800 736 222 or email biosecurity@trc.govt.nz.