What does privet look like

Dark green leaves x cm are glossy on the top surface and arranged in opposite pairs on the stems. Tiny fragrant, creamy flowers make up flowerheads 25 x 20 cm, Nov-Mar and are followed by bluish or purplish-black berry-like fruit 6 x 5 mm coated with a powdery 'bloom'. Produces many highly-viable seeds in widely-dispersed berries.

Very tolerant of shade, frost, damage, grazing, all well-drained soil types, high to moderate temperatures, damp or drought conditions, salt and wind. Birds, vegetation dumping and soil movement all spread seeds.

Common seed sources are roadsides, farm and urban hedges, gardens and wasteland. Forms dense carpet of seedlings on forest floor, and grows through understorey to dominate and replace canopy trees in most forest types. Poisonous berries may possibly impact on native fauna, especially insects. Most coastal and lowland forest types intact and disturbed , shrublands, fernland, cliffs, and coastline.

Its sprays of white flowers, blooming now, are actually quite pretty. You've also smelled it. That sweet odor that seems to permeate the neighborhood at the moment? It comes from Chinese privet blossoms. Something else comes from those blossoms. Many people are highly allergic. Later on, the flowers give rise to countless small, bluish-black fruits containing seeds.

Birds eat the fruits and poop out the seeds all over. Search your yard today and likely as not, you'll find some privet seedlings. Let them be and they'll grow into monsters 20 feet tall and wide, choking out native plants around them. In the woods and on roadsides, they form solid thickets. Hardly anything else grows. Believe it or not, it's still legal in the South to plant Chinese privet!

I saw some for sale at a local garden I will not name just last week. You do not need Chinese privet in your garden. We do not need Chinese privet in this country. That is why I urge you to kill it wherever you find it. The way to do this is to cut off the trunks an inch or so above the soil during the growing season and then immediately paint the remaining cut surfaces with Roundup or Brush Killer. It is also cost effective in terms of labour and volume of herbicide required.

Drill or make cuts into the sapwood and fill with herbicide immediately within 15 seconds of making the cut. Treat every stem. Increased nutrient levels often contribute to the presence of privet infestations. Reducing or stopping the movement of nutrients in water from residential or industrial areas into riparian areas may help prevent establishment of large privet infestations.

See Using herbicides for more information. Withholding period: Nil. Withholding period: Nil recommended not to graze for 7 days before treatment and for 7 days after treatment to allow adequate chemical uptake in target weeds. Apply only to bushes up to 3 m high when in full leaf and actively growing. Thorough coverage is essential. Picloram Apply 5 mm layer on stems above 20 mm.

Stem inject application for trees: Make a series of cuts mm deep around the trunk using an axe or saw. Space cuts evenly with no more than a mm gap between them. Apply a 5 mm layer of gel over the lower surface of the cut. Herbicide group: I, Disruptors of plant cell growth synthetic auxins Resistance risk: Moderate.

Withholding period: Nil Herbicide group: I, Disruptors of plant cell growth synthetic auxins Resistance risk: Moderate. The content provided here is for information purposes only and is taken from the Biosecurity Act and its subordinate legislation, and the Regional Strategic Weed Management Plans published by each Local Land Services region in NSW.

It describes the state and regional priorities for weeds in New South Wales, Australia. Privet - narrow-leaf Ligustrum sinense. Biosecurity duty. Royal Botanical Gardens and Domain Trust. Weed futures: Determining current and future weed threats in Australia, Ligustrum sinense. Macquarie University. Users are not absolved from compliance with the directions on the label or the conditions of the permit by reason of any statement made or not made in this information.

To view permits or product labels go to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority website www. For technical advice and assistance with identification please contact your local council weeds officer.

General Biosecurity Duty All plants are regulated with a general biosecurity duty to prevent, eliminate or minimise any biosecurity risk they may pose.

Any person who deals with any plant, who knows or ought to know of any biosecurity risk, has a duty to ensure the risk is prevented, eliminated or minimised, so far as is reasonably practicable.