- Part 5

Poor plant growth? Get Grow Help

by Levy Communications • Technical Program News

When it comes to the management of pests and diseases affecting your plants, knowledge is power.

Diagnostic services can help with identification and assist in tailoring management actions that suit your business; production nurseries are urged to make good use of the detective services they offer.

One such service is Grow Help Australia – a service offered through the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. This service is heavily subsidised for Australian production nurseries through the levy-funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002). More

Pest of the month: Sudden oak death

by Levy Communications • Tech Talk, Technical Program News

Infected Azalea leaves

Pest of the month: Sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum)

Category name: Fungi

Importance: Emergency disease

Symptoms: In oak trees, the earliest symptoms are the appearance of a bleeding canker, burgundy-red to tar-black thick sap, oozing on the bark surface. The disease is typically found from the root crown (the area where the trunk fans out to the roots) to a height of 2 meters. Symptoms on secondary hosts include leaf spots, leaf blight, stem and twig cankers, and shoot tip and branch die-back. Infections on Rhododendron cause brown lesions on leaves and young stems. On Viburnum, the infection usually occurs at the stem base causing the plants to collapse.

Transmission: The organism can be spread in soil and water. It can survive in moist conditions for at least one month. In USA it has been recovered from soil carried on hikers shoes. The fungi can reproduce rapidly on leaf surfaces, allowing rapid build-up of Phytophthora spores, which serve as a source of infection. More

Biosecurity pays off for Pohlmans Nursery

by Levy Communications • Media Releases

About Pohlmans

When Pohlmans Nursery first started looking at ways to improve pest, disease and weed management, they never expected the results would include a saving of around $350,000 per year on day to day operations.

Having worked their way up to certification under the industry’s on-farm biosecurity program, BioSecure HACCP, Pohlmans are also helping to revolutionise the way production nurseries carry out interstate trade. Pohlmans have made additional savings in excess of $110,000 per year by eliminating external biosecurity inspections, as well as reducing internal administration costs.

The largest independently-owned plant producer and production nursery in the Southern Hemisphere, Pohlmans cover 150 acres in the fertile Lockyer Valley, with 50 acres of intensive state-of-the-art production facilities. More

Nursery levy to continue building argument for green space

by Levy Communications • HIA

The nursery industry levy is helping to fund a number of innovative research projects, as part of the Green Cities Fund set up by Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation).

This Strategic Co-investment Fund builds on the foundation of the 202020 Vision and shares a common goal of building scientific knowledge and providing policy makers with facts and figures to back up their decisions to increase green space.

As the Australian population grows, urban developers and government are increasingly recognising the importance of green space in a community. The research generated through these projects can help inform government policy, nursery industry decisions and customer advice. More

A new approach to collecting nursery statistics

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Collecting data about nursery production and its value is challenging, due largely to the diversity of the industry and the number of times plants can be sold before reaching the end user.

A new project is being funded by the nursery levy to collect statistics accurately and in enough detail to help with industry strategic planning and resource prioritisation, follow market trends, and track industry performance over time.

Advisory panel welcomes new Chair

by Levy Communications • HIA

Michael Worthington has been appointed as Chair of the Strategic Investment Advisory Panel (SIAP) for the nursery industry.

michael-worthington Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation) recently selected independent Chairs for all SIAPs, to ensure the defined objectives of the panels are met while maintaining good governance and process around discussions.

Mr Worthington brings more than 25 years of vertically-integrated food and agriculture business experience to the role. Currently Chairman of the Fresh Product Safety Centre, he has worked across an extensive range of enterprises, including production, processing, supply chain logistics and marketing for Australia, Asia, UK and US markets.

The SIAP held several face-to-face meetings in 2016, reviewing the current R&D nursery program and marketing outputs as well as assessing proposals for future investment. More

About Levy Communications

Posts by Levy Communications: