Moth Plants are a green, fast-growing vine with plump pods and are detrimental to our environment. They chock and kill any plants in and around them, particularly our native trees.
Inside every pod, there are thousands of small black seeds that nestle on a bed of white fluff. When the pods open, the black seeds travel with the wind and spread far and wide. To protect our native environment, the pods need to be collected and disposed of.
The annual competition amongst Auckland secondary schools is to collect the most moth pods. There are cash prizes for the most moth pods collected, and a prize for the thickest vine. For the past two years of this competition, Santa Maria has been close to winning; this year we hope to win.
On Tuesday, 5 April, a group of students collected moth pods from Barry Curtis Park after school. This trip was extremely successful; 280 pods were collected within an hour, most of them being high up. Thank you to all the students who went picking!
By removing these pods from moth plants, we are helping stamp out this deadly weed, and are ensuring New Zealand’s beautiful nature flourishes.
