Arum Lily Blitz

A coordinated effort with significant landholder contribution

The Arum Lily Blitz campaign began in 2019 with funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program. It brings together Nature Conservation, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, City of Busselton, Shire of Augusta Margaret River, Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association, Main Roads WA, Yallingup LCDC, Friends of the Cape to Cape Track and private landholders for a coordinated, strategic and sustained control effort.

The campaign strategy prioritises control to protect good quality remnant vegetation. It also supports our community more broadly to reduce arum lily across the region.

Without management, arum lily will continue to spread and increase in density, outcompeting native vegetation and increasingly dominating our landscape. The Arum Lily Blitz has demonstrated that this outcome is unacceptable to thousands of people. There are currently over 2000 properties registered with the Arum Lily Blitz across 24,000 ha, with hundreds joining the campaign each year. Landholders are undertaking arum lily control on their properties doing the work themselves or employing spray contractors. This high level of interest and engagement inspires us and drives the campaign.

Why join the Blitz

The scale of the issue across the Capes region is huge and achieving the aims of the Blitz will take at least 30+ years. The seeds of the plants are spread by birds, so success relies on all landholders controlling the species on their property. We invite you to be a good custodian of your property and a good neighbour and join us in controlling the most widespread, damaging weed in our beautiful region.

Register as a participant in the Blitz so we can let you know about assistance available, keep you informed on progress, and so we can track where arum lily control is being undertaken. This allows us to recruit other properties in your area, improving efficiency and reducing the risk of reinfestation. It also demonstrates participant numbers to our funding bodies, helping our chances of future funding for ongoing work.

How to control arum lilies

The best time to control arum lily is when 50-70 per cent of the plants are in flower. In our area that is usually from August to October. Successful control takes many years although the amount of work required gets significantly less each year. As with all weed control, commitment and persistence is needed.

Free herbicide and instructional videos on arum control 

If you plan to undertake arum lily spraying yourself we can help by providing free herbicide and instructions for use of chlorsulfuron for arum lily control.

Please also watch the video on how to spray arum lilies to ensure that you undertake the work in a way that minimises risks to yourself and the environment.

If you prefer to outsource the job, we now have a Bush Regeneration Team who can be contracted to carry out spraying and arum control. Our team are experienced, thorough, careful and know the region intimately.

Record your progress with arum lily control 

We ask that you provide us with data on the spraying you do so that we can track progress and evaluate the success of the Blitz. The Herbicide Application Record can be used by you or your spray contractor to record the work done. Please email us a copy of the form each year. Or record the work done using our easy Herbicide Application Record – Online Form. 

If you plan on removing arum lilies by hand rather than spraying, make sure you watch this handy video and follow the links to learn more.

We recommend that you monitor the success of your control work by taking some before and after photos. There is information about this and more in our Guide to Arum Lily Control.