Help eradicate Rooikrans -- please weed out seedlings

There will be a sponsored Competition starts on Wednesday 13th December, 2017 until after Christmas.  All participants are asked to collect their bags from the Shop, give in their name and contact details.  

​For every bag stuffed with Rooikrans seedlings returned to the Shop - and recorded by Wimpie and/or Monique - the participant wins a Magnum ice cream. ​
To assist you all in deciding where to go to commence your weeding have a look at the following plots:

• Klein Rooiels
  • Erfs 12, 13, 17, 16,19,24,23, and the river frontage.
  • Also the public open areas of erf 10,11, 29 and 28
• And all along Porter Drive that was affected by the fire.

Unless these seedlings are removed whilst they are “easy pickings” we will be left with forests of rooikrans trees like we had 30 years ago.  They are a serious fire hazard and also crowd out our natural fynbos
As a direct result of the fire that swept through Rooiels on 19 March 2017 we are faced with a profusion of rooikrans seedlings that are sprouting in all areas affected by the fire.   Fire stimulates the seed bank of these Australian acacia invaders, destroys any other vegetation that might restrict their growth and provides nutrients to speed the growing process.  This coupled with the late rains last month have meant that Rooiels is faced with an exponential burst of rooikrans seedlings.  At the Hack on Saturday 2 December, 4 members of the hack team sat for almost two hours weeding a portion of an erf affected by this invasive growth.  They cleared less than a third of the erf despite having pulled up 1000s of seedlings.  The situation is dire- the Hack team CANNOT fight these invaders on their own and need HELP. 

COMPETITION TO FIGHT THE ALIEN INVADERS
A generous Rooielser has very kindly donated R 1000 which he has given to Wimpy Stals at the Village Shop.  Pick ‘n Pay at the Somerset Mall has donated 100’s of their small vegetable plastic bags.  Wimpie and Monique have volunteered to monitor the competition and assist wherever they can.

The Competition starts on Wednesday13th December.  All participants are asked to collect their bags from the Shop, give in their name and contact details. 

​For every bag stuffed with Rooikrans seedlings returned to the Shop and recorded by Wimpie and/or Monique the participant wins a Magnum ice cream.   

In addition the overall winner; i.e. the person who brings in the highest number of filled bags by 1200 on Saturday 30 December wins R 100.
Second prize will be R 50, third R 30 and 4th prize wins R 20 in addition to their Magnum ice cream.

There is no restriction on the age of participants although we would dearly like to see the children of Rooiels taking a full part in cleaning up the invasives!
Depending on the success of this first competition we may well do it again in January but for this we need new sponsors please. 

Pick ‘n Pay are very keen on the idea and will send out a PR team on Wednesday 13 December at 1200 to photograph the activity and record their sponsorship.
​
Please publicize this amongst all your family members and friends so that we have a good turnout of “weeders”.  Good luck with the competition!
 
Kind regards and a happy Festive Season to you all!
 
Dick Lockley
Convenor of the Rooiels Hacks
028 273 8852
083 454 3964
[email protected]



​