Download Montbretia - Cardinia Shire Council

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Environmental Weed Fact Sheet 13
Montbretia
Botanical name: Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora
Common names: Montbretia
Origin: South Africa
How it
spreads
Montbretia’s primary
mode of spreading is
vegetatively, through
rhizomes, and corms,
with the corms being
transported by water and
soil. Populations tend to
occur where garden
rubbish containing
rhizomes and corms has
been dumped, and also
along roadsides where road
maintenance equipment has
disturbed soil.
Environmental
impact
Montbretia is a persistent
weed, requiring
conscientious effort for
eradication. If not
controlled it will smother
ground cover plants and
suppress regeneration of
native species.
Montbretia is commonly
found along roadsides in
moist conditions and is
similar in appearance to
bulbil watsonia. It grows
and multiplies quickly and
is a popular garden
ornamental and
cut flower.
How to
identify
• Erect perennial plant with
long, pale green, thin
sword like evergreen leaves
to 0.6m, with a
prominent mid-vein.
• Bright orange, fleshy
trumpet-shaped flowers
occurring at the tip of the
stems from December–April.
• Three-lobed seed capsule,
usually shrivelled in autumn,
underground corms, round
and golden brown.
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Environmental Weed Fact Sheet 13
How to control
Montbretia
Removal
by hand
Solarisation
Carefully dig out during
non-flowering period,
ensuring all corms are
removed from the soil and
from the site, and disposed
of appropriately.
Cover the infestation
with black plastic sheeting to
block light. The plastic should
remain in place for at least 4–6
weeks, effectively ‘cooking’ the
weeds. When the sheeting is
removed, remove any regrowth
or treat with herbicide.
Chemical
control
Montbretia may be
controlled during its active
growing period from
Dec-Apr with a herbicide
containing glyphosate
combined with a
wetting agent.
Bulbine lily
Replacement
planting
Bulbine lily (Bulbine bulbosa)
is a suitable and attractive
alternative to montbretia.
For more information on
indigenous plants or for a list
of indigenous plant nurseries
please contact Council.
Cardinia Shire Council offers
a subsidy to landowners who
undertake a farm chemical
users course.
Please contact Council for
more information on
1300 787 624.
Information supplied in this pamphlet is
intended as a guide only. While all due care
has been taken, Cardinia Shire Council
accepts no responsibility for the use of the
information or for any errors or omissions.
Search the PUBCRIS
database for registered
products: at
www.apvma.gov.au
Alternatively, use
a licensed
herbicide contractor.
Read the label of any
chemical before use and
ensure that you follow the
manufacturer’s
instructions.
Disposal
Dispose of rhizomes, and
corms in sealed plastic
bags with your weekly
garbage collection,
regular green waste
collection, or take to a
transfer station.