Gauteng ' s fire season is still a couple of months distant , but now is nonetheless a good time to examine your property , particularly your trees , to see whether you can do anything more to protect your home from fires . The aim of most smallholders is to encourage trees to grow on their land for shade , wood and landscaping . However , there are some which will do the opposite from protecting your property when they catch fire . It is well know that conifers such as pine and other fir trees , cedars , cypresses , spruces and yews are highly flammable because of their resin . Even conifers that are indigenous , such as the Mountain Cypress , are highly combustible . Blugums and other eucalypts are also most susceptible to fire . The windblown embers from pines and gum trees can travel a considerable distance and start spot fires . Another incendiary alien invasive tree is Solanum
FIRE WATCH
Plant indigenous to fireproof your smallholding
mauritianum or bugweed . This is a Category 1 declared weed , which requires that it should be controlled immediately . Large plants need to be cut at ground level and any regrowth treated with a suitable herbicide . Although not a tree , pampas grass is also likely to burn quickly and increase the intensity of a blaze . It too is a Category 1 weed . There are other ornamental grasses that will be equally problematic . Not all invasive alien trees burn quickly - Acacia mearnsii ( Black Wattle ), A dealbata ( Silver Wattle ) and Salix babylonica ( Weeping Willow ) aresomeofthemore threatening of the invasive trees but they are well adapted to fire . With the wattles there is the further complication in that they produce an abundance of seeds that accumulate in the soil . These seeds are stimulated to germinate en masse by fires , which means that burning can dramatically increase the number of plants .
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