This Blog section is for news about Rainbow & Brown products and their application but especially new products.
06 Oct
In reply to a customer question about controlling gorse in amongst Flax.
I don't have a clear answer, at least not from practical experience.
I once tried several weed sprays on some unwanted flax (a small stand of flax that was going to have to be removed) to see what was safe and what wasn't. It was not a very illuminating experiment!
Glyphosate definitely damaged the flax.
Less certain was GrassMate and Triclo, which are both grass-friendly herbicides. Flax is a grass-like species, and I'd expected that these two herbicides would be safe. But there was still some damage … and it wasn't consistent; on a couple of flax 'bushes' the effect was zero-to-minimal damage from these sprays, but on one or two others there was moderate damage.
One herbicide I did not try, but should have, was MSF600 gorse & brush weed spray. It does not damage, or at least does not seriously damage, many native grasses in both NZ and Australia, so perhaps it may not damage or at least seriously damage flax.
I abandoned my flax experiment without ever having reached a clear conclusion, I'm afraid. And nobody has ever asked me the question since then anyway … about 10 years ago! Until yourself, I mean :)
Approaching the problem from the 'opposite' side (i.e. what does control flax?), there's no references that I can find anywhere about herbicides to use to deliberately kill flax. Not surprising; it's a native and is therefore not normally a target for herbicide control. Nobody in NZ registers any herbicide for that purpose of course.
So here's what I can say:
• Glyphosate kills the gorse, and will severely damage the flax.
• MSF600 kills the gorse, and MAY be acceptable around the flax.
• GrassMate and Triclo will kill the gorse, but they have a variable and unpredictable effect on the flax.
15 Jun
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Healthy horse paddocks in NZ need a three-pronged seasonal approach: weed control for persistent species like docks and buttercups, residual fly and tick management through summer, and trace mineral support to fill gaps that good pasture alone can miss.
✓Docks and buttercups reduce pasture quality and can irritate horses; treat in early spring..
28 May
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Foliar fertilisation means spraying dissolved nutrients directly onto plant leaves, where they're absorbed through the leaf surface and bypass the soil entirely. It's most useful for correcting mid-season deficiencies quickly, delivering micronutrients that soil chemistry is locking up, and supporting plants at critical growth stages when you can..
10 Mar
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Note: This article was last updated March 2026
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