Cootamundra Wattle: Good or Bad?

Driving into town the other day I noticed a planting of a row of Cootamundra Wattle. As I cut these species out routinely on the blocks I manage, I had adopted the belief that this was now a declared noxious weed in North-Central Victoria and was therefore surprised to see new ones go in. I automatically assumed the planters were in breach of the Catchment and Land Protection (CaLP) Act 1994.

To my surprise I couldn’t find this wattle on the list of noxious weeds when I made it home later that day. As a matter of fact, three out of the four most common tall woody weeds of our district are not on that list. Only the African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) is listed as a controlled weed. The Peppercorn and a wild Olive (Olea europaea ssp.) are the remaining two species.

This doesn’t mean we can ignore these plants and leave them be. All four are equally invasive and have a serious environmental impact. All four replace native vegetation and form monocultures where they are not controlled. They cause serious loss of biodiversity through competition and through the destruction of native indigenous food sources and habitat. There are reports from NSW that wild olives have taken over entire nature reserves and I have seen the complete domination of Peppercorns along the ephemeral creeks of the dry inland. The Boxthorn is a favourite hideout of that most destructive of introduced pests, the rabbit. The Cootamundra Wattle has its own method of creating havoc. It simply won’t allow too many other native species to grow under its canopy so it does not need to share the water in the soil directly underneath.

It is not necessarily illegal to grow these kinds of plants but that does not mean it is a good idea to put them in your garden or to use them as a hedge plant on your boundary fence. The list of noxious weeds is currently under review and will include a fair few species now still for sale in nurseries in the near future. Some pro-active councils have already included the Cootamundra Wattle on their list of weed species.

In the meantime I will keep cutting and pasting these woody weeds out of the reserves of Bush Heritage Australia and Greenhouse Balanced in the Wedderburn district, hoping these blocks will not be reinvaded by new garden escapees.

Article by Jeroen van Veen