Cootamundra Shire Noxious Weeds Inspector Graeme Worboys is urging local residents not to purchase plants or seeds off the internet following a recent case in Barmedman.
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Mr Worboys said a Barmedman resident advertised for sale some Kochia seeds on Facebook after purchasing 10,000 seeds online from China.
The seeds were advertised for sale in lots of 100 at $3 each and were to be posted out to purchasers.
A concerned Wagga resident notified a local council weeds officer when they saw the advertisement on Facebook.
Following this notification, the Bland Shire Noxious Weeds Officer was contacted and after visiting the cooperative resident confiscated the seeds and found out that none of the Kochia seeds had been on-sold.
The seeds were then destroyed after being handed over to the Australian Government Department of Agriculture.
Mr Worboys said the quick action taken avoided any of the seeds from being distributed and the weed potentially becoming established in the state.
Currently, Kochia is not known to be present in New South Wales and is classified as a Class 1 State Prohibited Weed.
Kochia is known to be toxic to livestock and produces compounds that inhibit the growth of nearby plants.
In NSW it has the potential to infest pastures, crops, roadsides, railway lines and amenity areas and once the plant gets into paddocks, it will significantly reduce pasture and crop production.
“It is important to understand the potential risk of purchasing plants and seeds online and it is much safer for people to be buying plants and seeds from a recognised retail business,” Mr Worboys said.
