Water Hyacinth Is A Floating Booby Trap

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 98, 20 September 1950, Page 5

Water Hyacinth Is A Floating Booby Trap

(Contribnuted by E. R. Marryatt, Fields Instructor, Whakatane)

A description of the rapid spread of water hyacinth, “The World’s Worst Weed”, in Rangitaiki drainage canals appeared in the Journal of Agriculture for April, 1949. Through ignorance of the danger some person threw a plant into the Orini Canal on the Eastern Boundary (Golf Links) Road probably with the idea ( of beautifying the scenery. This action resulted in about eight miles of waterways becoming smothered in the plant in less than two seasons. Every single visible plant has now been removed at a very high cost indeed to the public purse! not less than £2OO a mile. Not for nothing has this plant been called “Million Dollar Weed.” No matter how beautiful this evil plant may be it must not be allowed to become established again There is not now a single visible plant in these canals. One plant can increase the water surface covered more than 100 times in three summer months. Only a watchful public can prevent it from again becoming an expensive nuisance.

Water hyacinth can easily be controlled if the following three points are observed: — First: On no account should water hyacinth be put into streams, drains or lakes.

Second: If water hyacinth is noticed or suspected in any place then the nearest office of the Department of Agriculture should be notified immediately. Removal of the plant on to dry land is the easiest and only satisfactory method of control. Third: People in the vicinity of the Rangitaiki canals should watch for the re-appearance of the plant and report or remove any which should appear.