KiNZ Mission Heights Participates in Moth Plant Pod Competition

As we learn more about our local area, we have embarked on a journey to build deeper connections with our place, while engaging in sustainability through te ao Maori perspective. We found a great opportunity to engage with whānau in caring for our places, through the Howick Ward Schools Moth Plant Pod Competition 2022.

Our understanding on the threat that our native flora and fauna are facing became clearer when we saw for ourselves how moth plants spread, tangled, choked and replaced native plants in our area. It was great to see ngā tamariki, kaiako and whānau engage in making sense of the interconnectedness that exists with people, places, and things. Our actions of moth plant hunting increased our understanding of how we can make positive changes. Ngā tamariki, whānau and kaiako also developed turangawaewae- a sense of belonging to their place, and confidence in identifying native flora and fauna as well as pest plants, as they engaged with the programme.

Rawe to Team Kaitiaki KiNZ Mission Heights for collecting over 5000 vines with roots and pods. The participants contributed relentlessly, with personal time as well, to get on top of controlling this pest plant. When kaiako were talking about the furry seeds and how they spread easily, James (4 years) added, “When they drop down, they start to grow another one. And then you need to pull that one out. It is going to be gigantic… it is going to tangle. It is going to tangle people,” as he related to his experience of moth pod picking. He shared how it had tangled around the cabbage tree and how his sister and he managed to free it with lots of determination and resilience.

Eradication of pest plants helps to protect food sources for our precious native animals. It protects our precious insects from dying due to getting stuck onto the sticky sap.

Ron Matthews, Team Manager for Natural Environment delivery at Auckland Council shared in an email to us; “Being conservative, at 20 pods per plant times 600 seeds per pod this equates to potentially 55,152,000 plants that have been removed from the environment. This is only the next generation not counting multiple generations after this.”

Though the competition has come to completion, we are proud to have created a sense of awareness in our community. We will continue to keep our eyes vigilant to identify, remove, report (to mothplantlocations@gmail.com) and continue with our efforts until we completely eradicate this pest plant from our environment. We invite you to do the same.