Whaingaroa Weedbusters’ end goal is to ‘re-nature’ Raglan – recloaking our environment with west coast suitable native plants that attract, feed and house year-round our west coast native creatures, and keep our place looking like us, not some weird hybrid of South America and Asia where many pest plants come from.
So what happens in the spaces left by weed removal ? Without ongoing control pest plants will just grow back from the seed source left by the mature weeds. We also need to recover the ground, block the light.
Birds help restore natives by dropping seeds that will grow better without competition from pest plants and we have definitely seen this natural replenishment on Kaitoke walkway but it is a slow process. Regenerating more quickly to prevent pest plant regrowth needs other solutions if we are not to get trapped in endless weed killing which is unsustainable. We therefore plant native trees back into the spaces.
Weedbuster volunteers had to think about how we can do this economically, or failed funding bids leaving us without plants. Volunteers decided to grow our own plants from collecting seeds locally, planting and growing them to a size where they can be planted and can survive. This initially has been quite successful but we have run out of space in our gardens for the dozens of seedlings we have grown while we wait for them to be big enough.
Just this summer Raglan Area School came to the rescue and have supported us by providing dedicated space for us in their plant nursery where we can germinate, pot on and store the plants. Thanks to donations of shade cloth and irrigation we have extended the nursery for the seedlings.
Other helpful sources of native seedlings for us to share are
Waikeria Prison via DOC
Te Rekereke Taiao Trust, who are providing for us to share rare west coast plants that once would have been locally abundant and are now less so, such as Toetoe, Kohekohe and Tree Rata
Ange Prain, a teacher at RAS, whose classroom is the nursery, has shared plants with us
Sue Brown gives us beautiful Puriri from her property at Te Mata
Grant Blackie grows natives from seed and has adopted 2 sections of the Kaitoke walkway to care for himself.
This is a real grass roots effort. Thank you community !
Follow us on facebook, ask questions, join in. Whaingaroaweedbusters@gmail.com
For more specific information see www.weedbusters.org.nz
Keep an eye out for our monthly pest plant column with thanks to Te Rekereke Taiao Trust and Waikato Regional Council.
This monthly column is supported by Te Rekereke Taiao Trust through funding from Waikato Regional Council, helping share local knowledge, community action and practical advice around pest plant control and environmental restoration in Whāingaroa.
