In article , Trish Brown wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:

On a new property I have a serious weed problem. The place is: warm
temperate, about 1200mm (48in) annual rainfall, deep heavy fertile soil,
on a river bank. Down by the river there are trees growing along the
banks quite densely, producing shade and part shade.

Here I have small leaf privet (ligustrum sinense) and wandering jew
(tradscantia fulminensis) both noxious weeds, going rampant after the
recent rains. The privet grows mainly in part shade (where the slasher
cannot get to it) but the trandescantia seems to do well even in full
shade. I will be taking advice on direct weed control methods from the
relevant authorities but it will probably come down to hack/spray for
years. Such is life.

You're going to need to drill fill / cut paint or hand pull the
privet, and you will need to remove all tradescantia. It sounds like
you live in an area like mine. The groundcovers we have that do well
a

Dichondra (kidney weed)
Hedycaria (native violet)
Comelina (scurvy plant)
New Zealand Spinnach
Oplismenus gracilus (nice low pretty grass with no common name, does
well in shade).
If you can get cabbage palm seeds, they work as a groundcover for the
first few years.

You will need to ensure the privet seed bank is exhausted (that's
about 2 years of vigilance) and you will need to spend a lot of time
removing the tradescantia first time round, less the second time
round, and should eradicate it completely the third or fourth time,
particularly if you've done a good enough job the first time.
"Bringing back the Bush" by Joan Bradley (Landsdowne Press, ISBN
186302574X) is the book you want to read to learn how to do this
without getting overwhelmed, although things have changed since it was
written due to the invention of Glyphosate.

Hope this helps.

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