HERBICIDE SELECTION FOR WANDERING JEW (TRADESCANTIA FLUMINENSIS) CONTROL

摘要

Wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminensis) prevents the regeneration of native forests in New Zealand. The herbicide triclopyr effectively controls this weed, but is damaging to many native plant species. To identify alternative herbicides, 16 active ingredients representing eight chemical groups were applied to container-grown wandering Jew plants of various ages in three experiments. In Experiment 1, triclopyr killed all plants (3 months old), while amitrole caused substantial damage to plants. In Experiment 2, amitrole, terbuthylazine, metsulfuron-methyl and triclopyr provided excellent control of 2 month-old plants. In Experiment 3, on 4 month-old plants, wandering Jew was highly susceptible to triclopyr, metsulfuron-methyl, fluroxypyr, glyphosate+ fluroxypyr, metsulfuron-methyl + triclopyr and picloram + triclopyr. These herbicides were evaluated in a subsequent field trial and all except metsulfuron-methyl gave similar levels of control to Experiment 3. Further investigation of these chemicalsis required to determine their optimal use rates and safety for native plants.