Many people have fond childhood memories of buddeleia bushes, picinic days at a river where buddeleia gave shelter from the wind, little did we know that it would spread and become one of our unwanted plants.
Very little will grow under buddeleia, it smothers other seedlings so it has been placed on the undesirable list.
In 2006 SCION introduced a weevil into NZ on behalf of Forest Companies to combat buddeliea that had become an aggresive weed. It is a native of China. Extensive testing was carried out before permission was granted to release the weevil to ensure it only attacked buddeleia. The lava stage of the life cycle feeds on leaves, sucking all the green out of them. It is spreading throughout NZ and is hoped to considerably reduce the plant.
Now it has been seen in Pukawa so we shall be watching it with interest.
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