WIREWEED

Wireweed (Polygonum aviculare) is a hairless, ground-hugging or sprawling, annual or perennial herb with small oval leaves and small clusters of pink-tinged flowers. It is aggressive and fast growing with a strong, deep, tough, fibrous taproot.
The seed germinates from autumn to early summer, and it flowers from late spring to autumn depending on the location.

Wireweed , a serious weed of cereals, competes with crops during their growth and , particularly in late-sown crops, interferes physically by blocking harvest machinery. Effective herbicidal techniques (Department of Agriculture , South Australia, 1981) are widely used in cereals but hitherto , because wireweed has been recognized as useful summer feed for over a century (Anon., 1859), it has been tolerated in pastures.

Wireweed was reportedly a ‘troublesome’ weed in the vicinity of Perth by 1843 (Inquirer 22 Feb) It was formally recorded in Australian herbarium records from Adelaide in 1847, WA in 1848, and at Port Melbourne in Victoria in 1850, although earlier collections may have been sent to Kew. In essence, although generally unrecognised as such at the time, this was one of a number of weed species whose first explosive arrival in the southern colonies of the 1840s and 1850s was a stark indicator of the rapid devastation of indigenous soils and vegetation under the grazing and trampling pressure of imported livestock.

Spray FireHawk Bioherbicide Concentrate: 50 mL/L of water. Respray when regrowth occurs from roots and/or runners. May require repeated application to obtain long-term weed control.