Glyphosate 360 will kill Lantana and is reasonably cheap @ under $10.00 per ltr.(Don't waste your money buying 'Roundup' 'cos it's the same thing at almost double the price). I used 15 mls per ltr of water and got a good kill although if I had added a wetting agent and urea the kill would have been better. You will get regrowth from some mature plants at the bases after a few weeks and then they will need to be poisoned again. There will be small ones pop up (maybe for a few years) if they have seeded down, so a regular wander around the area with the 'back-pack' on is advisable. The caution I have to make though is only use Glyphosate when there is no chance of wind drift or overspray. HTH. teddy,J

Hi
I'd started on posting some thoughts but appear to have lost them while chasing up this URL which you might find interesting. I've chased, fairly successfully, lots of mainly pink lantana in CQld by a variety of methods depending on situation, health of the plant, energy levels etc. Shall also have a chat to my rels who have experience with red on the Connors/ Clark range south of Mackay.

Hope to get back to you later. Cheers, Rose.

Here is a link that might be useful: DNRM Pest Plant fact sheets

Thanks for the 'very useful' link Rose. teddy,J

Teddy,
I assume you sprayed the foliage. My problem is there is hardly any good foliage to spray and the plants are extremely stressed at the moment due to lack of rain over the past eight months. It's been my experience that spraying drought-effected plants or cut stumps doesn't always work. They go dormant and re-shoot when the rains come despite a dose of herbicide.

The label says Garlon 600 and diesel can be applied to cut lantana stumps at any time of the year. However it says that any application must be made when the plant is actively growing.

Maybe I should wait until spring shoots appear (if at all)and get an extension from the council.

Rose,
Thanks very much for that link.

Hi B-V, I would do as you mentioned and ask the council for an extension and use Glyphosate which leaves no harmfull residues in the soil. The council should understand that the effectiveness of many herbicides is dependent on the weeds growing well. Unless you want bad residues in your soil, I would avoid anything that requires diesel. teddy,J

Under the canopy of Lantana, it is often surprisingly accessable (with a bit of squeezing here and twisting there0. I was quite successful by crawling under, cutting the trunk of the plant off at about ground level and painting the stump with neat Glysophate. I am also very tall.
The canopy will not collapse on you. It tends to just sit there. So I go through as far as possible cutting and painting, dragging my pruning saw, jar of weedkiller and paint brush. Then I find another access point and go in again. Not one stump has regrown!
Bit by bit over a few months I made quite an impact. Apparently this is a popular method with Bush regeneraters.

Robert

Robert,
That's exactly what I thought I'd do. There are a few entrance points under the canopy through which I can gain access to stumps (hell you could almost set up camp in there!)

I pulled a few clumps about to test them, and they sort of sit on their edges (like an umbrella) and some bits have anchored themselves on trees higher up. As you moved through a clump you could eventually get all the main stumps and spot spray any regrowth afterwards.

Ahhh a few mls of rain have fallen...more please.

Robert, did you cut any small new growth with stems/stumps from say half an inch to an inch? There are a few new growth spots out in the open I want to poison.

Cheers, thanks for all the info.

David.

David
Glad you've had some more good feedback. Certainly the crawl and cut method is one I've enjoyed(!) and had good results with. Seem to remember there are fewer prickles on the lower portions of the plant. Also like the minimal topsoil disturbance benefit tho' you may find that with the changes in light, nutrients, allopathic effect and straightout competion you get a crop of lesser weeds (painted spurge in my case) as well as hopefully something indigenous eventually.

Just think down the track when maintenance consists of roaming around after rain events gently pulling out small seedlings... you'll get there. Cheers, Rose.

I have read that the red flowering variety is the hardest to kill.
There are a few herbicides available for lantana but as the government site says, they have varying degrees of effectiveness..........as in it works on one plants and not the next?
Sorry I cant be of help.
They also say any shrub over 2 metres high will possibly not die?
Its a hard call, also, I didnt have too much so I did mine by hand as Glyphosphate had almost no effect on my ones here, the leaves dropped and then grew back.

Audioaus and everyone...thanks for the info. Negotiations for an extension of time are underway with council as they recognise the problem with herbicide treatments during drought.

I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers and thanks

David

Had a yarn with my sis about red in her area. She finds the "splat gun" (coarse drops) technique useful: glyphosate 360 1:10 with water. Particularly where there is regrowth for whatever reason; wait until it's , say, 18 inches plus height to give enough leaf area to absorb the chemical.

She also commented on the large number of seedlings she finds post-kill about the mature plant with red lantana.

David,
Timing of application is the controlling factor - like with most weed control. The best times are spring and early autumn when there is active growth and that also depends on drought.

You may have had some of the recent rain and if not wait until the plants are growing actively between now and hopefully end of October. Use generic Glyphosate 360 @ 10 to 15 mls per 1 litre of clean water sprayed with a fine spray to run off and if the new leaves still do not wet easily add Agral wetting agent. Roundups major problem is the potent wetting agent in it which is very toxic in waterways.

Your problem even if you cut the stumps and yourself then paint with Glyphosate @ 3:1 painted on immediately you cut, will be getting back later to the regrowth in the dead tangle. If you can burn spray some of the grass or plants on the edge 30 days before you get fire authority to burn. There will be some regrowth which you may have to spray in spring and early autumn for this year or two. Good luck

UPDATE: Still no rain. However some lantanta clumps in full sun started to sprout (despire no rain/moisture). Couldn't resist testing a few large clumps,cutting them and painting some with Garlon/Diesel and others with RoundUp.

Got some lovely cuts and scratches on me arms as the lantana tried to strangle me as I crawled under its canopy and proceeded to cut off its four inch lifelines and give it a special drink.

Will let you know how these tests progress.

Certain (rainforesty) trees in the gully near the lantana are simply dying off as the dry really takes hold...not to mention the bushfires.

Hi Birdvalley, similar this area also, but we had our bushfires 3 weeks back now, don't have to worry about a thing now scorched earth, bare soil exposed to the elements and next rain will see all run down the hills and end up in the valley below.The only good thing to come out of it was it saved all that cutting and spraying.Will have to work on statagey to stop slope erosion now. Its a challenge this caring for the land?? isnt it. Peter R.

"The Council has given you four months" !! Surely you are not responsible for the lantana growing there. Once it is removed, will the Council prevent it re-establishing on your property from other areas ! Sounds like your Council is as backward, draconian and midaeval as Wollongongs

Dnaaa,
No the birds are responsible! But if I'd done something earlier, it would have been much easier to control. The place next door is really badly covered and I hope they do something.

I guess if everyone in my local area did their bit to control it, it wouldn't be the problem it sadly is.

Cheers,
David

Ive found that in rainforest country slowly but surely certain species will begin to push through the Lantana and shade it out. Species such as Archontophoenix cunninghamiana
and Elaeocarpus angustifolius will successfully beat the Lantana.
Has anyone see this before?

Kris

What about smothering with choko?

Kris,
The selvage of the wet tropical rainforest in the Johnstone River watershed, specifically at Palmerston and Mena Creek grows the lush orange lantana, stinging tree, wild raspberry ++ as early invaders which then allow the early rainforest trees (sasparilla, milky pine) to emerge - provided the area is left to mend itself. CSIRO Forestry at Atherton must have a pile of data gathered now over the last 30 years unless they too have been razor ganged out by the Canberra philistines and leaden bean counters.

UPDATE: Three months later and no shoots from Garlon/Diesel treated cut stumps. However, roots about a foot from the main stump are still a bit green although they have completely died back to that point. While we've had some rain, I hope they don't shoot if we get a bit of a wet spell. If they stay dormant till April, I reckon that'll be the end of them.

Round-Up treated stumps have sprouted strongly from base and are a mass of green leaves - just about the only green thing left on the property.

Kris,
Send me a truckload of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana
and Elaeocarpus angustifolius. Plus some chokoes.

Cheers,
David.

Hey all,
Is Glyphosate harmful to livestock? I have plenty of lantana on the council side of my boundary fence and the council has cut it back, but has not removed the roots, i was hoping now to get in there and try and poison it off whilst i have the chance. But im not sure what i can use which wont be harmful to my horses who graze on the other side of the fence.
Any help would be great.

Hey all,
Funny that I have the same problem with Lantana and I live in the northern province of South Africa.I have also tried Glyphosate and had some plants die, while others just lost their leaves. There is something that works very well when sprayed on active growing leaves.It is called Browser and the main ingredient is Picloram potassium salt, it is however expensive but it really works.I am going to try the Gallon/Diesel way this winter.My biggest problem is that there

is no law inforcement, and my neighbours do nothing to control lantana

I have dense lantana that is inaccessible, so I loaded an old fire extinguisher with diluted Glysophate, and pressurised it to 80 PSI, which then allowed me to discharge it some distance into the growth. It was a great success. A word of warning, don't use glysophate anywhere where it will run into water courses, since it is not good for frogs.
I have also cleared large areas of lantana, ( 26 acres, and 5 acres) where the trunks were as thick as 200mm, with a large Bobcat, and I found that it will crush and roll up quite well, allowing follow up treatment to be more effective.
On the smaller job, It was so dense that I found a collapsed WWII house full of ex army supplies, and a boat concealed beneath, and an old horse living in the gloom. Took the boat as payment!

http://www.conquestag.com.au/Types%5CLabels%5CHerbicides%5CConquest%20Metsulfuron%20600%20label.pdf

There is registration for metsulfuron, you can mix it with Glyphosate as well.
If you are going to hit it, hit it with both, the hard part is being there and doing it Metsulfuron is dirt cheap.