Tauranga City Council weed spray contractors are to undergo refresher courses after a resident discovered the wrong spray was used to kill off agapanthus in the dune reserve at Girven Road.

Contractors used Escort spray to kill agapanthus and acanthus mollis in response to a specific request to remove the weeds - a spray that was listed by TCC as only for use on wild ginger and gorse.

Tauranga City Council weed spray contractors will go through re-fresher courses after the wrong spray was used on the sand dunes.

The mistake was raised by resident Antje Lankemau at yesterday's city council city council strategy and policy committee.

An asthmatic, Antje noticed the wrong spray was being used because when she began struggling to breath in her nearby home.

She's already on the list of people who get notified by city council whenever spaying takes place in the neighbourhood.

'That makes me aware of how much spray is being applied,” says Antje.

Agapanthus is highlighted as highly invasive in the BOP Regional Council's weed busters booklet.

Escort is on the list of Tauranga City Council approved chemicals, but is to be used only on wild ginger and gorse.

'The council got it wrong,” says Committee chairman Bill Faulkner.

'They are putting steps in place to ensure that it doesn't happen again.”

Antje complained that dune spraying is killing of the eco-system that supports a range of insect and animal life. She also questioned the efforts to restore the dunes native planting.

City park rangers team leader Warren Aitken says the spraying was done with a back pack sprayer to reduce spray drift as much as possible.

The spraying was carried out on December 4, 2012.