[City of Yarra Bulletin 09 May 2014] MELBOURNE — City of Yarra, who are the 1st Council in Melbourne, Australia to complete a major pilot program using steam instead of toxic chemicals, found that Weedsteamers’ steam weed management was an effective way to eliminating weeds and control seed bank regrowth. The pilot program for steam weed control was conducted over a four month period within an area of Carlton North. The company engaged to undertake the works was Weedsteamers Pty Ltd, who utilise the Weedtechnics system of ‘saturated steam and hot water technology’ for weed control. The mixture of saturated steam and boiling water cooks the weeds on contact. The streets within Carlton North taking part in the trial were treated four times from September 2013 to January 2014. The trial determined that steam application was effective in eliminating weeds and controlling seed bank regrowth. The streets within Carlton North taking part in the trial consisted of bluestone kerb and channel and laneways. The benefit of steam weed treatment is that overtime it controls and limits the ability of weeds to generate new seed banks, while traditional herbicide spraying does not. Therefore it may be assumed that after a number of years of steam weed treatment, a large portion of seed banks will be eliminated. This reduces the number of applications required to control remaining weed growth, which in turn should reduce the overall cost of future treatments. ${imageDescription} Comment
