Dealing with ink disease in Kangaroo Paws (Anigozanthos)

Kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos) - they can be my best friend or worst enemy! If you cut them right back as soon as they have finished flowering you can save yourself SO MUCH work. The people who we brought our property from had left these to grow for many, many years and they are now all riddled with Ink Disease (fungal disease). If you are dealing with this Ink Disease, you have 3 options:

1.Cut them right down to the ground (I mean RIGHT down, some people just whipper snip them or mow right over them) and hope they re-grow without the disease

2. Dig them out (this is a BIG job when they are big plants, their rhizomes are never ending 🤣) and BURN or throw away the diseased parts

3. Treat them with fungicide - not my preferred option as they are almost all full of chemicals. Some people say you can treat them with Neem Oil but I don't think a bucket of Neem Oil could save these guys!

NOTE: I ended up hacking these out altogether and just leaving some rhizomes underground. I still have heaps of these to cut down and dig up and between looking after the property and doing uni, it's going to take me a while to get on top of it! I have included a photo of some smaller, younger ones that are a beautiful pink colour that I'd actually like to keep, and as they were still fairly small I have just cut them down as opposed to digging up the rhizomes. Photos are in my Facebook Group "All Things Home and Garden"-   / 764089914595859  

REMEMBER: Sterilise your equipment after dealing with anything that is diseased!