Cut’n’Paste on Mauke Cook Island courtesy of PII Pacific Invasives Initiativecourtesy of PII Pacific Invasives Initiative

Cut’n’Paste is doing good work on Mauke in the Cook Islands through PII, the Pacific Invasives Initiative.

The target invasive plant in this short video is Java plum or Pistash (Syzgium cumini); planted as windbreaks for orange plantations but have taken over since the orange market (Raro orange juice) collapsed. The technique is a great example of how to use Cut’n’Paste. The sooner the operator with the applicator bottle gets to the stump to apply the gel the better.

Many of the Pacific Island have suffered very badly from invasive weeds that were introduced by the armed forces in WW2 to create camouflage and other purposes without any idea of the chaos that would be caused.  Now we see many huge vines like Big Leaf, taking over areas of jungle.