Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!apple!uokmax!munnari.oz.au!comp.vuw.ac.nz!cc-server4.massey.ac.nz!A.S.Chamove
From: A.S.Chamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove)
Newsgroups: bionet.agroforestry
Subject: Re: gorse = juniper?
Keywords: gorse
Message-ID: <1990Dec7.035507.11614@massey.ac.nz>
Date: 7 Dec 90 03:55:07 GMT
References: <9012062126.AA07007@genbank.bio.net>
Organization: Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Lines: 36
X-Reader: NETNEWS/PC Version 2.2

Thanks for the info on Napthalene Acetic Acid.

Gorse is a very spiny plant introduced from the UK to NZ.  When the
natural cover of slow-growing evergreens was cleared for sheep farming
here, the gorse (introduced for hedges) were able to compete because they
are not palatable to sheep while the natives are.  The gorse form a bush
about 3 meters high and across with no commercial value and a bitch to
get rid of.  I dont know what keeps them in check in the UK, but they
do take over motorway (freeway) verges there and have to be cut and
burned. 

MY goal is to produce a hillside of mixed grass and open trees where one
could walk or ride or even graze a few of the local pigs (grass eating
variety: kuni kuni).  It would be an amenity area; now it is impenatrable
because the of the heavy gorse infestation.

The area is not dry and has green grass all year.  Rain can be intense
and so I want to maintain at least grass cover as much as possible.  It
is very windy here in NZ, very windy for short periods of time (one or
two days).

From the advice given, I plan to cut the gorse by hand and roll it down
the slopes into rows above the stream at the base of the gullies.  HEre
it can be crushed and left to degrade.  The regeneration could be dealt
with by spot applications of a herbicide or inhibitor.  I will then plant
rapidly-growing trees between the dead gorse stumps.  Hopefully the trees
will shade out any germinating gorse, and the trees can be thinned at 5
or 10 years to give a more open, park-like setting.

thanks for your contributions

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arnold Chamove
Massey University Psychology
Palmerston North, New Zealand