Using SWOT to beat a major weed

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The pest is a plant that is native to South America. Since its arrival in Australia, it has become perhaps the worst weed of the high rainfall areas of south-eastern Australia.

Certainly serrated tussock (Nassella trichotoma) was this particular farmer's worst weed until he did this analysis and then followed up in the field.

Serrated tussock sets up to a billion seeds to the hectare (400 million seeds/acre). Quite a few, to put it mildly. For this reason it is a noxious weed in the area. A noxious weed is a plant that must be controlled or the local weed inspector pays a visit and lets you know the penalties.

And that is exactly what happened. The farmer's family farm was hundreds of kilometres (miles) outside the district and he bought the farm without having spent enough time to get to know the area. So he had no idea what the weed looked like because it was unknown in his area and so he saw very few weeds on the property.

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What this means

More on SWOT:
SWOT is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis. If you have never done a SWOT analysis, it would be worth reading SWOT analysis to boost profit then coming back to look at this example of a SWOT table.

Soon after the property was in this farmer's hands, the inspector paid a "Welcome to the district" call. The welcome included a tour of the weed that was scattered all over the property, instructions in how to control it, a notice about how long the farmer would have to control it before the inspector brought in contractors to treat it (at the farmer's expense) etc.

The farmer was somewhat surprised to find that he had serrated tussock in patches of up to 100 square metres (yards) plus individual plants scattered through pasture, trees and scrub. Many were well hidden in patches of other tussocky plants (mainly useful native poa grasses that were doing well in the drought at the time).

Some were under the spindly eucalypts (gum trees) that covered the higher hills on the property. Some were in the middle of the field and easily visible once the farmer got his eye in.

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Using this

SWOT analysis of serrated tussock from the weed's point of view

Note that you would get a different result for a SWOT analysis of serrated tussock if you did the SWOT analysis

on a different farm
from the point of view of the grazing animal
from the point of view of the farmer or
from the point of view of the competing pasture.

	Strengths Advantages it has	Weaknesses Disadvantages it has
C u r r e n t	Produces masses of seeds Can tolerate drought better than much of the pasture Established on northern neighbor Wind-blown from north on prevailing winds at seeding time	Poor seedling establishment/survival "Needs" bare ground Slows down or stops after heavy frost After heavy frost, top is frosted and stands out by being a different color Easily removed with mattock
	Opportunities Situations where it can get ahead	Threats Situations where it can be beaten
F u t u r e	Extra seeds are usually dormant in the soil near any serrated tussock plant because the seed that grew to become the plant was part of a seedhead that landed there with many seeds on it Weak pasture Bare ground in late spring to autumn Sheep that are set stocked avoid it while they tend to overgraze other parts of the pasture and as a result encourage the weed	Strong pasture: Tall pasture, Good competition, 100% ground cover Visible in grazed fields after frost Vigilance followed by unrelenting use of hoe or mattock then scattering seed in the resulting holes Sensitive rotational grazing
	Positive	Negative

And the management that resulted from that included:

Maintaining maximum ground cover in affected areas from late spring to the autumn break
No bare ground in severely affected fields from late spring through to the autumn break
About five years after they were planted, the tree belts along the northern boundary keep out most seedheads invading on summer winds
Continuing use of mattock. The farmer always has one in the utility (pickup truck). He grazes hard after frosts to expose the weed: Sheep avoid serrated tussock and it gets frosted and is obviously different from the green grasses nearby. After hard grazing the serrated tussock is left standing tall compared to the short grasses nearby. They are then easy to spot and mattock out. He drops a small handful of his grass and clover seed and fertilizer mix in the holes as he goes. He rests the field to allow the desirable plants, including the ones he has just dropped into the holes, to get ahead
Vigilance in mid-late spring as serrated tussock flowers and particularly when it sets seed. Then
- Mattock and remove whole plants with flowers and seedheads intact
- Drop his seed and fertilizer mix in the hole to fill the gap. This not only fills the holes, it suppresses most or all of the serrated tussock seeds that almost always lurk under any serrated tussock plant.

Note: The serrated tussock plants removed whole with seedheads and or flowers intact have been piled into areas of the home vegetable garden surrounded by straw bales. These have then been covered with a thick layer of compost ingredients - particularly rich organic matter. For some reason, not one serrated tussock seedling has emerged in all the years this has been done. Presumably

the richness of the soil is not as conducive to germination of this weed as a depleted soil.
being buried doesn't stimulate or discourages germination
the serrated tussock seedling is eaten before it emerges
or something else

But whatever it is, it means the organic matter tied up in the plants is not wasted. Instead, a problem is turned into a solution to something else - how to feed the farm family.

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Taking this further

When you do a SWOT analysis, you can take the viewpoint or perspective of:

you as a farmer
you as a marketer of your produce in the market place
your crop
the pest
your business.

If one these viewpoints does not give you a suitable set of strategies, sometimes it is worth trying another viewpoint.

If you are looking at a printed version of this page and you would like to visit it on the internet and get a stack of other info that may assist you, the full web address is
http://www.OrganicExchange.com.au/all/fc910061.htm

Related info:

SWOT analysis to boost profit

Learning from pests

Beat pests by using advantage

Niche

Do weeds come to heal the soil?

Understanding the causes of weed problems

Weed control without chemicals

Green manures

Ground cover

Selective grazing

Allelopathy

Choosing a farming course and teacher

Green manures in orchards and vineyards

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