Environmental initiatives

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Make sure you check out the hard work of the local Buf­fel Bust­ing experts:

• Alice Springs Land­care: alice​springs​land​care​.com
• Olive Pink Botan­ic Gar­den: opbg​.com​.au

Read more about Buf­fel Grass on the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment website

What is Buf­fel Grass?

Buf­fel grass (Cenchrus cil­iaris and C. pen­niseti­formis) is a tus­sock grass from Africa, India, and Asia. It was delib­er­ate­ly intro­duced to Cen­tral Aus­tralia and has since spread uncon­trol­lably, out­com­pet­ing native plants, reduc­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty, dam­ag­ing cul­tur­al sites, and increas­ing fire risk. Buf­fel grass is a declared weed under the Weeds Man­age­ment Act 2001 due to its severe envi­ron­men­tal impact.

What’s the prob­lem with buffel?

It Out­com­petes Native Plants

• Grows aggres­sive­ly after rain and sur­vives drought, graz­ing, and fire.
• Spreads eas­i­ly via long-last­ing seeds.
• Alters land­scapes to favour its own growth

It Threat­ens Cul­tur­al Land and Foodways

• Dis­places bush­foods, cov­ers hunt­ing tracks, and hides snakes.
• Invades water sources, restrict­ing access to cul­tur­al­ly sig­nif­i­cant sites

• Cre­ates dense, flam­ma­ble fuel, lead­ing to hot­ter, more intense fires.
• Recov­ers quick­ly after burn­ing, fuelling fur­ther fires.
• Many native plants, includ­ing trees, can’t sur­vive the increased fire fre­quen­cy and inten­si­ty, lead­ing to habi­tat loss and reduced food sources for wildlife.

Buf­fel grass identification

Deep-root­ed grass up to 1m high, form­ing dense tus­socks. Varies in appear­ance depend­ing on time of year; straw-coloured when dry.

Leaves

• Bluish-green leaves which are hairy, flat or fold­ed and with point­ed tips.
• A ring of short hairs at the base of leaf blades 
  
• Leaves can grow 30cm long and to 1.3cm wide.

Seeds

• Seeds enclosed in a clus­ter of bris­tles, which gives them a ​‘fluffy’ appearance
• Seed heads in a dense, hairy, cylin­dri­cal spike up to 15cm long and 2cm wide 
  
• Seed heads with a pur­ple appear­ance which fades to white as they age 
  
• A ​‘zig-zag’ shaped, rough tex­tured axis which becomes vis­i­ble once the seeds drop.

Con­trol Methods

Pre­ven­tion is key! Pre­ven­tion is the most suc­cess­ful and cost-effec­tive way of man­ag­ing unwant­ed plants.

Pre­ven­tion Tips

• Pri­ori­tise erad­i­ca­tion of iso­lat­ed plants. 
  
• Con­trol minor infes­ta­tions, iso­lat­ed out­breaks or seedlings first.
• Sup­press seed pro­duc­tion through chem­i­cal con­trol, slash­ing and, in some sit­u­a­tions, grazing.
• Mon­i­tor areas that you have already treat­ed — watch for re-infestations.
• Work strate­gi­cal­ly — either work out­ward from buf­fel-free zone and increase the size of the area; or con­tain major infes­ta­tions by work­ing from the edges inward.
• Try to dis­turb the soil lit­tle as possible.
• Start by set­ting a good exam­ple by remov­ing inva­sive grass­es from your yard. Then encour­age your neigh­bours and friends to do the same.

Man­u­al Removal

• Man­u­al Removal is labour-inten­sive but effec­tive for small areas like yards and dri­ve­ways. It works best for iso­lat­ed weeds and new out­breaks before they release seeds.

Removal Steps:

1. With gloves on, gath­er the grass clump.
2. Use a dig­ging bar or mat­tock around the base to loosen the soil.
3. When the roots start to give, pull firmly.
4. Remove the entire root ball.
5. Bag and dis­pose — do not home com­post, the seeds can sur­vive com­post­ing. You can use the grass as mulch or a base for raised beds if you are care­ful to avoid seeds and keep on top of any regrowth.

Chem­i­cal Control

• No autho­ri­sa­tion is required to apply Bioweed, Glyphosate, or Flupropanate on pri­vate land (e.g., yards, dri­ve­ways). Always fol­low label instruc­tions care­ful­ly. If you are unsure, con­tact Weed Man­age­ment Branch: (08) 8951 9210
• Buf­fel grass can be cut before apply­ing herbicide.
• Bioweed: An organ­i­cal­ly cer­ti­fied, pine-oil-based her­bi­cide that effec­tive­ly kills buf­fel grass seeds. Selec­tive to weeds.
• Glyphosate: A fast-act­ing, non-selec­tive her­bi­cide. Care must be tak­en as it is potent and will kill most plants. Best applied to green, active­ly grow­ing buf­fel after sum­mer rains. Kills treat­ed plants in 1 – 4 weeks. 
  
• Flupropanate: A slow-act­ing, semi-selec­tive her­bi­cide that may affect some native species. Can be applied year-round, but best 2 – 3 months before rain. Takes 2 – 12 months or longer to kill buffel.

⚠️Impor­tant!⚠️

• Watch out for snakes! Poke the buf­fel grass plant before you begin any work.
• Do not slash or mow— the roots must be ful­ly removed, or it will grow back.
• Soil dis­tur­bance pro­motes regrowth, so fol­low-up, ongo­ing con­trol is needed.

Get Involved!

Good news! There is already a hard-work­ing com­mu­ni­ty of buf­fel busters doing incred­i­ble work.

• Alice Springs Land­care runs month­ly field days from autumn to spring: alice​springs​land​care​.com
• Olive Pink Botan­ic Gar­den runs field days every sec­ond Sat­ur­day: opbg​.com​.au