Dan Judkins is on a mission to wipe out the runaway noxious moth plant currently thriving in the city.
It’s Monday morning and Whangārei father Dan Judkins has just spotted a Facebook post from a member of the public who’s noticed the noxious moth plant at Kiwi North. He loads his car and sets off to destroy it.
Judkins is on a mission to wipe out the runaway noxious moth plant currently thriving in the city. The fast-growing invasive pest plant, often mistaken for a picturesque vine, is rampant around Northland and takes out its host trees, including large natives.
Around part-time work and parenting, Judkins helps tackle the weed, free of charge, on both private and public properties in a bid to help eradication and spread awareness of the plight.
He has been battling back the invasion of noxious weeds creeping on to his own property from the neighbouring Whangārei District Council (WDC)-owned reserve for the six years he’s lived there. He moved in to the reserve itself working, singlehandedly, he believes, to eradicate them and that’s how, by default, his interest in invasive plants began.
“The battle started with the acre or more of wandering Jew [Tradescantia Zebrina] that was slowly creeping into my lawn and garden,” he recalls. “As I cleared away more, I found that moth plant was then starting to grow in the cleared areas. It encroached very rapidly.
“When I saw how fast it could suffocate a well-developed native tree, it became nearly an obsession and I’m now on a personal mission to destroy all moth plant.
The more I battled, the more I researched, the more I learned about the widespread epidemic of invasive, noxious plants in our community and nationwide.”
Moth plant has been brought to the public’s attention over recent years as it spreads across the city, and volunteer groups have been working to destroy and remove it.
It originated in Brazil where it was an ornamental garden-scape plant before being introduced to New Zealand in the 1880s as a pretty garden creeper.
With the botanical name Araujia hortorum or sericifera, it starts as a vine, which many mistake as a picturesque addition to their garden.
However, the noxious vine snakes its way up tree trunks, developing a mass of leaves, forming a canopy preventing regeneration of other plants and eventually smothering and killing the host tree, including mature natives.
It is believably named because butterflies, moths and bees are attracted to its flowers and can become trapped in them.
It is an evergreen leafy vine which can grow up to 8m high, with clusters of small creamy-coloured tubular flowers that are sometimes tinged with pink and are followed by large seed pods, similar looking to the vegetable choko.
The pods burst open in the summer and release 250-1000 feather-light parachute-like seeds per pod which can be dispersed 30km away by wind or spread on clothing or by animals.
Moth plant seed has made its way from the mainland to the likes of nature sanctuaries such as the Poor Knights Islands. Matakohe-Limestone Island rangers and volunteers have also been battling the weed for years. The seeds are poisonous and stems contain a milky sap which can irritate people’s skin and eyes.
Judkins said: “When reaching out to WDC, NRC [Northland Regional Council] and DoC [Department of Conservation] for help, I soon learned that very little, if anything, was being done in the realm of eradication.”
WDC parks department senior technical officer Spencer Jellyman said with all it pest plant control, council is guided by the rules the NRC has in its Northland Regional Pest and Marine Pathways Management Plan which has only one rule it must follow; it outlines the prohibition of selling, propagating, breeding, distributing or otherwise spreading any pest or unwanted organism.
“We have limited budgets for controlling all weeds, and within those budgets we control some moth plant, but this is not comprehensive when considering all the sites we manage. I believe the NRC are currently reviewing their Pest Management Plan and if changes in the rules occur for all weeds, we will have to review how we manage the weeds. But in the meantime, we do the best we can in controlling moth pant, with the resources we have available.”
Moth plant is not currently included as a listed species in the NRC Regional Pest and Marine Pathways Management Plan 2017-2027. However, it is included in its Biosecurity Partnership programmes.
NRC confirmed it is reviewing the plan and is in the initial stages of seeking feedback from interested parties before a more formal consultation process in late 2025.
Meanwhile, its partnership programmes, such as Biofund, Community Pest Control Areas, High Value Areas and community-led Tiakina Whangārei, provide education and advice on control and support landowner and community control and advocacy efforts.
NRC biosecurity manager for pest plants Joanna Barr said herbicide and tools are also provided to landowners and community groups through their partnership programmes.
She confirmed that weed control of widespread weeds that are not part of a regional council-led biosecurity response is the responsibility of the landowner, which, for the district councils, includes the park, land and road reserves they own or administer.
Volunteer groups, such as Weed Action-led Mega Moth Plant Movement at Whangārei Heads, Stamp (Society Against Moth Plant) followers, Onerahi Weeds Group and Waimahanga Track Action Group, have been tackling such locations for years. Various weed-busting groups are also scattered around Northland.
Judkins follows the nationwide STAMP group Facebook page where all areas of concern that are reported to the page are added to a mapping system. From there, he carries out voluntary eradication for locals, often the elderly, who have reached out and, apart from the ongoing eradication of the reserve bordering his property, he usually reports moth plant he spots on public land through the official channels of those responsible for the land.
“The Kamo bypass is a great and horrid example of invasive plants left to thrive. Kiwi Rail has told me they plan to start attempting to control the moth plant in their property along the bypass on April 1 this year. Better late than never, I suppose.”
It is also well-set into the mangroves on Lower Port Rd which he finds worrying: “The pods float so they now have our waterways as a dispersal system.”
On the contrary, he was at Whangārei Heads earlier this week and didn’t spot a single moth plant pod. “The community out there is doing very well at controlling it!
“It can be very rewarding work, clearing away moth plant and other noxious plants and pests from our own properties.
It is just as rewarding to help others out with their properties, including local government land. On the other hand, it can be very disheartening when official pest plant control programmes are not targeting moth plant specifically, when it’s an obviously visual threat to the local environment.
Judkins and a staff member collected 95 pods off the one plant at Kiwi North on Monday.
Though they have a two-man crew who do their best keeping 25ha free of pest plants, this one escaped their attention. Staff were most-appreciative.
“I would love to see a pamphlet in every mailbox, a spokesperson visiting every school and billboards in every suburb.”
For support in urban areas, email info@TiakinaWhangarei.co.nz, ask for help on the S.T.A.M.P. Facebook page or go to www.nrc.govt.nz/pestcontrolhub for more information.
To provide feedback for the Regional Pest Management and Marine Pathways Plan, email pestplan@nrc.govt.nz or sign up for updates on www.nrc.govt.nz/pestplan
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