Growers are encouraged to save the date for two upcoming production nursery pest and disease management workshops scheduled the Northern Territory (NT) and South Australia (SA) this June.

The workshops are scheduled for the below dates and locations:

• Wednesday, 13 June, Berrimah farm, Darwin, NT
• Friday, 15 June, Urrbrae TAFE, Adelaide, SA.

These workshops are the first of a series of informative events to be held in each state and territory throughout 2018, as part of the project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002), a strategic levy investment under the Hort Innovation Nursery Fund.

Registrations for the NT and SA workshops will open shortly, but now is the time save the date for the event and share it with other interested networks. More

The Lendlease headquarters at Sydney’s Barangaroo South has 5000 plants in Australia’s first “breathing” wall.

The push is on for the health and social benefits of green infrastructure to be scientifically recognised in sustainability rating tools commonly used within the Australian infrastructure and building industry.

The project Integrating plant life into building and infrastructure rating tools (NY16007) seeks to inform the development of sustainability rating tools to formally recognise and ‘credit’ the benefits vegetation has in the built environment, and to promote the integration of more plants and green space into urban development projects.

A strategic investment under the Hort Innovation Nursery Fund, the project recognises that architects, urban designers and developers are key influences in either increasing or decreasing green infrastructure.

Sydney-based sustainability consultancy Edge Environment has spent the last 12 months collating scientific data on the benefits of green infrastructure to inform two sustainability rating tools used by key influencers the Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Tool (ISRT) and Green Star.

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Dutch elm disease

Month: April

Disease: Dutch elm disease – Ophiostoma spp.

Importance: Exotic – Australia has one of the best elm tree collections in the world because most other countries have had theirs devastated by Dutch elm disease (DED).

Symptoms: DED is a vascular wilt disease and symptoms vary depending on whether trees were infected through beetle feeding wounds or through root grafts. Where beetles are involved, trees show wilting, curling and yellowing of one or more branches at the top of the tree. If the disease progresses rapidly, infected trees may only survive for two to three years, or they may survive for years with the number of wilted branches increasing annually.

Transmission: There are many bark beetles which are potential vectors of DED spores, but only a few are regarded as significant vectors. It may be spread by root grafts between closely planted elm trees.

Host range: Most Ulmus spp. from Europe and North America are highly susceptible. Some Asian elms have a greater level of resistance. DED has been recorded on the genus Zelkova but it is highly resistant. More

More than 50 delegates from across the nursery supply chain had an opportunity to tour local production nurseries and landscape suppliers on the NGIA wholesale tour ahead of the national conference held in Hobart last month.

Tibballs Nursery, Granton Plants, Horticultural and Landscape Supplies and Westland Nurseries opened their doors to conference delegates providing a first-hand insight into their businesses and the broader operating environment in Tasmania.

The tours – both wholesale and retail – are an important prelude to the NGIA national conference held every two years and provide a valuable platform for local businesses to share knowledge, showcase innovative practices and discuss issues faced and solved.

On this year’s wholesale tour, delegates visited Tibballs Nursery, a third-generation family owned wholesale business established in 1946. The business primarily grows flower and vegetable seedlings, along with a diverse range of edible and ornamental plants.

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Catherine Wundele

The recently held International Women’s Day serves as a timely reminder that there are great opportunities for women to pursue in their given careers, particularly when it comes to mentoring and encouraging leadership, management and communication skills for other women in business.

Catherine Wundele plans to pursue this very opportunity as a scholarship recipient of the Executive Ready leadership program, run by Women & Leadership Australia (WLA) in partnership with Hort Innovation.

Currently the admin and HR Manager at Plant Growers Australia production nursery in Wonga Park, Victoria, Catherine will shortly begin an intensive seven-month professional development program, covering topics including team dynamics, driving performance, communication and influence and leading innovation and change.

Plant Growers Australia production nursery employs more than 80 staff, and produces more than 300 lines of native and exotic varieties that are supplied to independent and larger retail chains across Australia.

As the only woman in a senior management role in the business, Catherine sees the program as an opportunity to build essential skills to progress her own career and the career of those around her. More

Registrations have opened for two free webinars to equip production nursery managers with the latest insights on sustainable pesticide usage and effective phytotoxicity management.

Hosted by Dr Andrew Manners from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), the following webinars are part of the nursery levy funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002), a collaborative project between Nursery and Garden Industry Australia (NGIA), Horticulture Innovation and DAF. More