Invasive weed alert at Dalyellup

A Dalyellup resident has expressed concern over the rapid spread of the invasive weed cotton bush on a vacant piece of land near houses in the area.

Commonly known for affecting agricultural land, hundreds of plants have invaded property on the corner of Samrose Road and Maidment Parade, less than 200m from houses.

Living within the affected area, a Dalyellup resident said the situation was “absolutely rampant”.

“There are hundreds of bushes that have already seeded and a carpet of mature seeds on the ground up to 10mm deep,” he said.

It has reached the stage that more drastic interventions are needed.

Leschenault Biosecurity Group project officer Julie Chapman said the group had received reports of cotton bush within the Dalyellup area.

Ms Chapman said cotton bush had to be sprayed with a herbicide which presented other problems.

“It does take quite a lot of manpower to get in there and hand pull them one by one and it can be quite difficult as cotton bush has a toxic sap that can be irritating to the skin,” she said.

Cotton bush is a declared pest, it isn’t something that can be controlled one year and forgotten about the next, there needs to be a long term management program in place.

“Any reports of declared pests and weeds in the Greater Bunbury region can be reported to us at any time,” Ms Chapman said.

Capel shire president Michael Southwell said the council would likely investigate the issue now they had been alerted to it.

“We will take whatever mitigation action is necessary to stop the spread because I know it is a very invasive species,” he said.

“We will have to get on top of it as soon as we can.”

The council had a weed management plan in place and would add the issue of cotton bush to the plan.