For over ten years I have fought/given in to the onslaught of kikuyu from the fence line(500 metres+) of two of my neighbours. The trouble is I have fenced off fifteen acres to a riparian zone that is on the border of my property and the neighbours' kikuyu just loves to head toward it. Kikuyu is considered here as a valuable pasture species.
Even the primary industries cannot dispel it's use. Though to their credit they are suggesting other less invasive native species like Hemartia.
Anyway, this riparian zone has been left to the natives. I won't bore you with the other weeds or the rare species I am trying to protect. However with the kikuyu's never ending invasion it is almost impossible for any existing vegetation to self sow. I have sprayed the fence many times over the years only to give in as I hate the stuff for obvious reasons. And yes I use the frog friendly stuff.
So yes, I dont wanna die from glyphosate poisoning year in and year out in my fight to save this wilderness area. And it's way too far from my house to use a chook tractor or pigs in a riparian zone or too expensive to dig a plastic weed barrier. What I would like is to find a native solution(preferably endemic) the equivalent of pampas grass or agapanthus as I don't want to introduce another weed!
I am in a temperate zone south of Adelaide so please don't suggest comgrey or arum lillies and all the regular species in the Permaculture Manual. They don't work here! Hey Bill, any help?
I'm a horticulturalist specialzing in native vegetation, so don't hesitate to throw some plant ideas at me that i may have missed.
And if u have a non plant based idea - I'm all ears.
It would be nice to be able to hold my neighbours liable for the control of their invasive kikuyu and see whether it is worth paying the price for its value as pasture. But then I suppose that would be like suing the white man for encroaching on the land of the aboriginal!