# Using splatter guns to control lantana **URL:** \ **Category:** Nature Talk\ **Tags:** question\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228 "2022-09-05T02:09:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![marion\_iam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@marion\_iam](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marion_iam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/1 "2022-09-05T02:09:31Z")
Hi there, not sure if this is the place to ask this question but hoping someone could provide advice on this. I am working on restoring our block of bush in the Watagans mountains in the Hunter Valley, NSW. We are so lucky to have so many beautiful native species. The biggest issue are some pretty severe banks of lantana in the gullies. I have just started using a splatter gun to bring these infestations under control. I have been super careful with the application to ensure i don’t contaminate any other species or the soil. My question is, I didn’t use a full back pack of spray and I am wondering is it ok to leave it in the back back with the sprayer attached until i go back for a second pass in 2-3 weeks’ time? Again, if this is not the place for this question, I would appreciate some references to other websites for this info. I have scoured the manufacturers sites and can’t find anything on this. Thanks heaps! ---
**Author:** ![robotpie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/robotpie/32/630_2.png) [@robotpie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/robotpie)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/2 "2022-09-05T02:35:56Z")
Just to be clear, the thing that is splattering in your splatter gun is plant spray? Depending on the size of your block of bush, perhaps uprooting all the Lantana one by one may be the most effective (???) albeit very tedious. But don’t listen to me, I have no experience in this. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/3 "2022-09-05T02:42:49Z")
I’ve never heard of a splatter gun and I don’t know what you have in it, but generally it’s never advised to leave pesticide in the applicator. Depending on the local laws it might even be illegal. I’m assuming your area has some kind of department of pesticide regulation, or perhaps an agricultural commissioner, who could answer this question for you much better than we could. ---
**Author:** ![vreinkymov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vreinkymov/32/58876_2.png) [@vreinkymov](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vreinkymov)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:00am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/4 "2022-09-05T03:00:55Z")
Assuming that by splatter gun, it’s not [this technique](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gnFCnh32bmA)? If you are referring to a typical back-carry type sprayer that sprays a herbicide such as [glyphosate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate), the spray looses efficacy after being diluted in water after a few days because the pH of the dilute solution degrades the product. What brand/product is being applied to the [Lantana](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/50334-Lantana)? ---
**Author:** ![marion\_iam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@marion\_iam](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marion_iam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:12am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/5 "2022-09-05T03:12:31Z")
thanks for that. it’s Lantana DP 600 Herbicide. (and yes it’s a back pack spray applicator) ---
**Author:** ![marion\_iam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@marion\_iam](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marion_iam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/6 "2022-09-05T03:19:40Z")
Thanks you for your interest… splatter guns are used in Australia in the case where the lantana is completely out of control and you can end up with valleys filled with the noxious stuff… so one by one just won’t cut it unfortunately! It’s actually also an interesting technique because the plant dies in situ, which maintains the structure of the soil (less erosion), and provides protection for small critters and native plants to grow up in their place. If you rip it out en masse, you could end up with soil erosion and disturbed soil, which is perfect for… lantana! Thank you again :) ---
**Author:** ![vreinkymov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vreinkymov/32/58876_2.png) [@vreinkymov](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vreinkymov)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/7 "2022-09-05T03:26:53Z")
Not sure about this one, from the label directions [here](https://specialistsales.com.au/shop/woody-weeds/woody-weed-herbicides/liquid-chemicals/lantana-dp-600-herbicide-dichlorprop/) under SDS & technical, there’s only storage information about the undilute product. Active ingredient is [dichlorprop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichlorprop). @lotteryd, would you happen to know more about biological half-life or stability of this one in water? ---
**Author:** ![lordcaravan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/lordcaravan/32/32958_2.png) [@lordcaravan](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/lordcaravan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/8 "2022-09-05T13:54:27Z")
Machete is the best organic pesticide money can buy. You can use the tip of the blade to cut around the root ball and remove the entire plant structure mas o menos. ---
**Author:** ![robotpie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/robotpie/32/630_2.png) [@robotpie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/robotpie)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/9 "2022-09-05T14:12:56Z")
> [@marion\_iam](#): > > where the lantana is completely out of control could say that for places all over the world honestly, eg. I can vouch for Hong Kong being riddled with Lantana flowers. And goodness where I live in the USA they even sell Lantana flowers for garden!!! > [@marion\_iam](#): > > If you rip it out en masse, you could end up with soil erosion and disturbed soil, which is perfect for… lantana! Darn it ---
**Author:** ![zygy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/zygy/32/1134_2.png) [@zygy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/zygy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/10 "2022-09-05T15:03:53Z")
> [@robotpie](#): > > could say that for places all over the world honestly, eg. I can vouch for Hong Kong being riddled with Lantana flowers. And goodness where I live in the USA they even sell Lantana flowers for garden!!! Yes, and I love my Lantana flowers almost as much as the butterflies do. They are beautiful to look at, the flowers last for months, and they don’t get eaten by deer or groundhogs to boot. It’s too cold here for them to overwinter or proliferate (I live in zone 5/6), so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with planting them in my garden. If you live in the southern US or further south though, you might want to plant a sterile cultivar or something else like butterfly weed. ---
**Author:** ![vreinkymov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vreinkymov/32/58876_2.png) [@vreinkymov](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vreinkymov)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/11 "2022-09-05T15:38:04Z")
Flowers are definitely pretty to look at! Do you grow the yellow , red-yellow, or purple kind ([_Lantana_ x _hybrida_](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/472077-Lantana---hybrida), [_Lantana camara_](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/50333-Lantana-camara), [_Lantana montevidensis_](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/77624-Lantana-montevidensis), respectively)? The issue with these is the berries which can be eaten and pooped out by birds, depending on the climate. In my zone (9,10), these are popular in new home construction, probably because they are quick growing with pretty flowers. I expect them to become the [_Schinus terebinthifolius_](https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/profile/schinus-terebinthifolius-profile/) of my generation. They already have a [high risk](https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/risk/lantana-camara-risk/) rating! ---
**Author:** ![egordon88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/egordon88/32/29204_2.png) [@egordon88](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/egordon88)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/12 "2022-09-05T15:41:11Z")
> [@zygy](#): > > If you live in the southern US or further south though, you might want to plant a sterile cultivar Or there’s nothing wrong with planting native flora in its native range (southern USA, Mexico, and Central America) [http://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Lantana](http://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Lantana) ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/13 "2022-09-05T15:52:19Z")
if there’s a native Lantana and a non-native Lantana growing near each other, and a bird eats a fruit from the native Lantana and poops out a seed, what kind of Lantana will that seed grow into? ---
**Author:** ![egordon88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/egordon88/32/29204_2.png) [@egordon88](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/egordon88)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/14 "2022-09-05T16:24:28Z")
I don’t know if species easily hybridize in that genus. I have 4 different Helianthus in my garden and seeds are still true to the plant that produced them. ---
**Author:** ![zygy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/zygy/32/1134_2.png) [@zygy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/zygy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/15 "2022-09-05T17:36:42Z")
That’s a very good point! ---
**Author:** ![jasonhernandez74](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jasonhernandez74/32/33615_2.png) [@jasonhernandez74](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jasonhernandez74)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/16 "2022-09-06T03:26:01Z")
> [@egordon88](#): > > I don’t know if species easily hybridize in that genus. On iNat, everything easily hybridizes. That’s how identifiers deal with variation. ---
**Author:** ![anthonywalton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/anthonywalton/32/6124_2.png) [@anthonywalton](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/anthonywalton)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/17 "2022-09-12T15:51:34Z")
I have experience with eradicating many different species and grades of alien vegetation in South Africa, _Lantana camara_ being one of them If Lantana grows in Oz anywhere close to how it grows in the east of my country, I’m willing to wager that you are likely killing precious few of them regardless of how fine or broad your nozzle diffuser is. Lantana is an extremely hardy plant and can survive with just 10%, or even less, of its mature leaf cover. You’d have to cover each leaf with a flush screen of liquid for 90%+ of the total leafy coverage then to even have a hope of killing one plant, and the reason that this is nigh impossible is because of the obtuse, boxy shape the Lantana grows around. You’d hence need to spray each plant from multiple angles which, again, is eye-wateringly difficult due to the habit of the species to form huge congealed thickets along drainage lines and watercourses. If you have managed to kill any Lantana using solely the sprayer, I really do commend you as its not an easy job. I’d caution against compensating for the difficulties using a more potent herbicide as you’ll soon start doing more harm to the local fauna and ecology than good Here in South Africa, the focus on how to get rid of Lantana is shifted more around the use of biological control agents. There are several different taxa we use against this plant, each with varying but fairly low success rates. For example, there is one species of Lepidoptera used in humid bushveld valleys in Eastern Cape and KZN provinces, which starts out devouring alot of leaf tissue in the early instars but who’s major downfall turns out to be the presence of larva predating parasitic wasps, which quickly target the early generations and add up to the effect of curbing adult fecundity, meaning only a few specimens survive and tend to develop shy habits in very localized areas ---
**Author:** ![anthonywalton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/anthonywalton/32/6124_2.png) [@anthonywalton](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/anthonywalton)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/18 "2022-09-12T15:54:25Z")
Against Lantana with their hookey, flesh tearing rows of fine thorns, with multiple bushes growing through and over each other, a machete will prove pretty useless, especially since Lantana are avid coppicers ---
**Author:** ![lordcaravan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/lordcaravan/32/32958_2.png) [@lordcaravan](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/lordcaravan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/19 "2022-09-12T16:32:16Z")
in my experience, this doesn’t seem to slow anyone down here in Ecuador, we use machetes for _everything._ ---
**Author:** ![jasonhernandez74](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jasonhernandez74/32/33615_2.png) [@jasonhernandez74](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jasonhernandez74)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228/20 "2022-09-13T01:25:01Z")
> [@lordcaravan](#): > > we use machetes for _everything._ Same in the Dominican Republic. “When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” [Next page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-splatter-guns-to-control-lantana/35228.md?page=2)