climbing asparagus
Family
LiliaceaeOrigin
South AfricaRPMS Status: Regional pest management strategy
General description
Scrambling & climbing plant; can also grow in trees as epiphyte. Slender, extensively branched stems wrap around small trees & saplings. Fine, fern-like foliage, small, delicate leaves attached to hook vines. Tiny white flowers (Sept-Dec). Many round, berries ripen green to red-orange.
Habitats
Very shade tolerant: interiors of undamaged & modified forest, forest edges.
Dispersal
Birds spread seed. Vegetative spread by tubers.
Impact on environment
Kills host plants by smothering or ring barking. Carpets the forest floor preventing regrowth of native seedlings.Fast growing, rapid coloniser.
Similar species
Asparagus setaceus
Asparagus fern is more branched and has more than 3 cladodes at each stem node. The berries are purple-black.
Asparagus aethiopicus
Bushy asparagus cladodes are spiny in comparison to the finer cladodes of climbing asparagus.
Asparagus asparagoides
Smilax cladodes are wider and are arranged alternately along the stem. There is only one cladode per stem node.
Control
Site Management:
Maintain rolling front of control, work in from edge of infestation. Follow up at least 6-monthly. Replant treated areas where possible after 2-3 treatments to establish dense ground cover & minimise reinvasion.
Recommended approaches:
- Use vial treatment. Cut stems above ground, insert ends into vials of glyphosate (10 ml/30 ml water), dig out all roots & tubers.
- Weed wipe (300ml glyphosate/1L water, no penetrant, total coverage not required).
- Spray lightly spring-early summer, avoid runoff, total coverage not required (200ml glyphosate/10L. Do not add penetrant when spraying against tree trunks). Spray autumn- winter only in frost-free areas on healthy growth, (increase rate to 300ml glyphosate/ 10L).
Disposal:
Tubers can be composted, buried or solarised.
Caution: when using any herbicide or pesticide PLEASE READ THE LABEL THOROUGHLY to ensure that all instructions and safety requirements are followed.
Page last updated: 18/03/2008
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