When recently asked to write a 1500-word article on the splatter gun, I thought to myself “how am I going to keep this going?” … Splatter Guns are a handy tool, but just a tool after all. Not used daily (in our case just a few times a year). They are not for all bush regenerators tool kits, but merely a potential tool in the arsenal of some bush regenerators, a rather heavy handed, crude, flaming sword type tool! So here it goes, not a story about my most favourite tool, but one that sits in the storage cupboard for the bulk of the year and comes out for a very particular weed treatment – that of blankets of Lantana – in particular those thickets that are adjacent to remnant rainforest that we can then regenerate by unleashing the migratory resilience of our rainforest pioneers that are found in the soil beneath the lantana blankets.
It’s not just for dramatic effect that I refer to the Lantana in this situation as a “blanket of Lantana” or that it cascades in unbroken waves down our hillsides (ok, that was a bit dramatic… but a nice image don’t you think). This is literally what Lantana does in the subtropics and tropics on the land that was once cleared of rainforest for livestock, but due to the slopes, slips and high rainfall, the lantana outcompetes grass and clothes the slopes of the escarpments around the Blackall Range. Unlike the shrubby forms of Lantana in drier country, the Lantana in this moist, fertile country grows horizontally (or in this situation should I say diagonally) as much as it grows up forming dense woody thickets. The sheer physical presence and perhaps chemical germination inhibitors, supresses and prevents the establishment and growth of native trees that would otherwise colonize the site, making it a monoculture. On the plus side for Lantana, it has as mentioned above outcompeted the grass that replaced the rainforest, it has fed the soil with a mix of its stem and leaf and most importantly it has provided habitat and a food source for native fauna, in particular birds that have generously distributed the seed of rainforest pioneers into the leaf and soil beneath the lantana. Although these Lantana blankets are far removed from typical targets for Bush Regen’ Methodology of working from good to bad, with their apparent 100% weed dominance, the very healthy but latent native seed beds make them a prime target for conversion from weed to native, via the killing of the Lantana. Because the Lantana is present as a mono-culture it reduces and, in many cases, eliminates the potential for off target damage when using blanket herbicide applications.
Techniques for removing the Lantana blanket and releasing the native regeneration, include a combination of mechanical e.g. brushcutters (the slopes on this site are completely inaccessible to machinery); manual e.g. hand pulling and cutting (fern hooks, loppers etc..); and finally, herbicide application via spray units, backpacks and of course splatter guns (let’s not rule out a herbicide free option but it does require considerable hand weeding of regrowth). Timing is also very important with works ideally undertaken during the cooler drier months, when less rainfall and the cooler temperatures reduces the physical toll on bush regenerators, in what is a very physical task of both accessing and then undertaking work on these sites.
The site is on a Nature Refuge on the south edge of the Blackall Range, 4.5km SE of the town of Maleny. Top edge of the site is 470m asl* and bottom end of the site is 370m asl. Distance from the access gate to the bottom of the site is roughly 300m, giving an average of a 1 metre drop every 3 metres travelled, but much of the gully contains slopes roughly 45 degrees steep. The lantana dominated area to be treated in the gully was approximately 5000m2, although the slopes added to that considerably.
The steep slopes of the project area were cleared in the early 1900’s for cattle grazing and I never fail to marvel at the sheer determination and hard work of the early settlers in clearing the rainforests of the Blackall Range. Dark, damp, slippery, prickly, stinging, biting Scrub were felled and burned to convert to grassland and replicate the rolling green pastures and hill country of the Old Country. On these slopes, with an average annual rainfall of 2000mm and reductions in farm labour in the latter part of the 1900’s (and of course a host of native and exotic vegetation ready to colonize this land that wanted to be forest) it wasn’t long before it was progressively dominated by Ligustrum lucidum Broad Leaf Privet and Lantana camara Lantana in 1970’s and 1980’s. The weedy dominated areas of the nature refuge on this property has been progressively regenerated for over 20 years, the primary targets being the Broad Leaf Privet and Lantana. The site has a proven record of vigorous colonisation with rainforest pioneers, progressing to secondary rainforest species within a decade or so of establishment. The early phases of regeneration consist primarily of rainforest pioneers including Homalanthus populifolius, Bleeding Heart, Trema tomentosa Poison Peach, Dendrocnide excelsa Stinging Tree, Melia azedarach White Cedar and Macaranga tanarius Macaranga. Early growth rates are 1-2 metres per year providing quick site capture.
Any rain the day before could render the site in accessible, due to the slippery nature of any exposed soil on slopes and this is undoubtedly one of the more difficult sites we have ever worked on, but also incredibly rewarding in the vigorous regeneration that we know will soon dominate as evidenced by previous works.
Treatment of the site was facilitated and only made possible by the landholder cutting tracks to the site itself and then on across the slopes (along contours where possible) through the dense lantana blankets that covered all sides of the gully and surrounding slopes. This, in itself, is a near super human undertaking, and I continue to be amazed at the commitment of both resources and time by some landholders. Particularly in a case like this, that when considering priorities, would not necessarily be given up as a lost cause, but perhaps over looked in favour of easier to access sites.
The splatter guns used were NJ Phillips Manual 20ml splatter guns. We have used the gas-powered Forestry Guns but found the manual to be a lighter piece of kit on the terrain we are generally working in and the manual splatter gun shoots a similar distance, just requiring a manual trigger squeeze to deliver the herbicide. Most days on site only required 2-3 x 5Ltr packs. The gas-powered Forestry Guns could be worthwhile for a full-day of splatter gun application to reduce wear and tear on operators by manually squeezing a trigger all day. In total we used 11 x 5ltr packs on this site (5000m2) over 3 separate hits and the mix used was the 1:9 (10%) mixture of Weedmaster 360 (see technical details).
Summary
The splatter gun was great to use on this site due to the accessibility issues, and drastically reducing the total volume of liquid required to take to the treatment area between a ration of, I’d estimate at least 1:5 but perhaps up to 1:10, better to take in 11 x 5Ltr packs over 3 trips than at 50 x 10 Ltr backpack sprayers mixed at the 1:100 rate of Glyphosate 360!
This is the primary benefit of the splatter gun, reduction of the overall volume of liquid required to treat an area of Lantana and more importantly, transported around the treatment site. Timing wasn’t ideal from a physical point of view during late spring and summer, but perhaps the good rainfall during the whole of the treatment period provided an easy and susceptible target in the lush dense growth of the Lantana. The treatment was highly effective, with a primary kill rate between 95-100% across the site.
Footnote:
For some large vertically challenging sites like this, don’t make the same mistake I did on one of the runs, by cleverly saving time trudging up and down the hill to top up a pack, by carrying two of the 5 Lt packs at a time – one on the front and one on the back. You guessed it, basically, I had wrapped my torso in plastic and was walking up and down the slopes on a 33°C high humidity day and it made me feel a bit light headed… However, two packs are handy, as the guns can have issues at times and so its handy to have a spare, just carry them both on your back. The splatter gun requires regular service as per the manufacturers recommendations to maintain operation.
Technical Details:
- QLD Off Label PER11463 : Glyphosate 360 1 Ltr / Water 20 Ltr – 5ml/30cm ht or growing points
- Weedmaster 360 Label: LANTANA Use 1:9 (10%) mixture of product : water. Apply 2x2mL dose per 0.5m bush height. Ensure spray contacts all foliage.
- National Lantana Management Group Fact Sheet http://weeds.ala.org.au/WoNS/lantana/docs/65_Splatter_gun4.pdf
- Tools discussed: NJ Phillips 20ml Manual Splatter Gun and NJ Phillips 50ml Powermaster Forestry Splatter Gun
*ASL – Above Sea Level
