Boneseed

Physical

Seedlings and juvenile plants can be hand pulled as they have shallow roots with no tap root. Larger plants can also be hand pulled if the soil is damp, gravelly or sandy.  Best method here is to grab the trunk and rock the shrub back and forth until the roots loosen, then the plant can but pulled out and upturned. Hand tools may be required in drier and heavier soils.  Broken root fragments left in the soil won’t give rise to new plants.

Chemical

​​Due to bonseed having a high seed bank, a single herbicide application will not be sufficient as seedlings will rapidly replace treated plants. A follow-up treatment post new seedling germination will likely be required, otherwise conduct the first herbicide treatment just prior to flowering period. Performing a later initial herbicide application on larger Boneseed plants is likely to require a higher rate but decrease the need for secondary treatment.

• Cut stump: Glyphosate 360 g/L at 50%.  Cut trunk with handsaw and paint with herbicide immediately. Herbicide can be added at intervals during cutting. 
• ​Foliar spray: Glyphosate 360 g/L at 5 or 10 mL/ 1 L water, ensuring full leaf coverage. Best results achieved when treated at peak flowering during winter. Use higher rate on plants over 1.5 m high.
• Tebuthiuron 200 g/kg at 1.5–2g per m2. Sprinkle evenly over the ground after removing mature plants. This is a soil residual herbicide that will target germinating seed in the seed bank if follow up control cannot occur in the next year.  Do not apply near water catchments or areas with high surface run off.  Note tebuthiuron is non-selective and will affect all plants and seedlings attempting to grow while active int the soil.

Managerial

Controlled burns should be considered for larger infestations and only if a program of followup control can be applied to address the stimulated seedbank.  All burn events will need to consider a program of follow up control as the burns will stimulate the seedbank to germinate.