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The Fun of Discovery ...
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Posted by brushturkey
163 days ago
under Environment
AFTER MORE than two decades of walking through the Rainforests of the Blackall Range it's still possible for me to come across a plant I haven't seen before, which is such a buzz!
On a bushwalk recently I was lucky enough to see two plants I hadn't seen before, Hairy Helicia (Helicia ferruginea) and Milk Bush (Neisosperma poweri). Also we found a new location for the rare Blackall Range Velvet Myrtle (Lenwebbia spp. Blackall Range). All three of these plants are either listed as Rare or are at least uncommon, with their ability to spread and establish new populations already under threat, these guys need our help if they are going to have a future.
In my last column I discussed the establishment of pioneers in revegetation to provide rapid habitat cover;Pioneers as discussed are short ...
Guarding Your Stock and The Contentious Flying Fox Workshop
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Posted by brushturkey
213 days ago
under Gardening, Pest Management
YOU CAN plant without tree guards but when it comes to revegetation and planting large areas they can be a valuable aid in protecting the time and money you have invested. Tree guards protect your trees from several threats including weeds (why can't our trees grow as fast!), Weeding (oops, did I just spray my tree too!), frost (cold enough to freeze your leaves off!) and last but not least grazing animals (always up for a free feed!).
There are many tree guards available on the market from polyurethane bags, cardboard guards and Coreflute guards. At Brush Turkey we've been experimenting with many over the years but have settled on two types of guards that we are very happy with. At the bottom end of the scale we use a 2 Ltr juice/milk carton. These guards are quick to install, cheap and ...
Inspirational
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Posted by brushturkey
248 days ago
under Environment
LAST Saturday, Karen and I went for a walk in a great patch of rainforest at Flaxton. The amazing thingabout this rainforest is that most of it was planted or regenerated over the last 5-15 years!Surprisingly, this isn't a national park or undertaken by a large organisation or community group. This is the work of a passionate and dedicated couple and the skilled bush regenerators they have assembled to help them with their project. Truly inspirational! So in this article I'd like to pay tribute to all those great landholders out there who are revegetating the landscape and the great benefits these dedicated people bring to us all.
The hills and valleys of the Blackall Range have been fertile ground (pardon the pun) for a developing culture that appreciates the diversity and richness ...
The Humble Gum Tree
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Posted by brushturkey
276 days ago
under Environment
Gum Trees (Eucalypt spp.) are the iconic Australian tree. Hum trees occur in almost all Australian ecosystems from deserts, to the edge of Rainforests, from beach sides to mountain tops, from the tropics to the Australian Alps. Gum Trees literally frame the Australian character.
There are a few Gums that are small such as the Plunkett Mallee (Eucalyptus curtisii), but the vast majority of Gum's are big, some very big. The Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) - tallest flower plant in the world, from Victoria & Tasmania is recorded historically at over 120 metres. Closer to home we have Flooded Gums (Eucalyptus grandis) & Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis) which can grow to over 60m.
Where am I going with this I here you ask, well Gum trees as discussed are often b...
War on Weeds - The Winter Campaign
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Posted by brushturkey
339 days ago
under Gardening, Pest Management
It's that time of year when the thermometer takes a dive and the cool winds the Blackall Range is famous(or infamous) for can howl across the hinterland. In spite of, or perhaps because of this, I reckon now is the best time of year for getting stuck into the weeds any weed control on your block, because once they are down, they tend to stay down (for at least the cooler months...). The key to winter weed control is, don't bite off more than you can handle. That said, now is the perfect time for controlling lantana, because the native pioneers that the lantana has been suppressing will pop up in spring and quickly takeover - given half a chance. The most important facet to weed control is to make sure you won't have to control the same weeds year after year. Good bush regeneration is all a...
Myrtle Rust Strikes the Hinterland
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Posted by brushturkey
381 days ago
under Environment
In late 2010 a highly contagious, debilitating and potentially deadly disease spread rapidly across the Blackall Range.
Now that I've got your attention... and just to reassure you - this is a plant disease. The disease is known as Myrtle Rust (Uredo rangelii) and its potential victims include plants within the Myrtle Family (Myrtaceae). This family includes all of our Gum trees, Bottle Brushes, Paperbarks, Ti-tree, Lillypilly's and many other rainforest shrubs. Plants in the Myrtle Family dominate the Australian landscape and so the potential for this disease to wreak ecological havoc is quite scary!
Myrtle Rust evolved in South America. From some of the articles I have read it leapt from their native myrtles, such as Guava, onto the many Eucalypt plantations that have been establishe...
The Right Plant in the Right Place
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Posted by brushturkey
412 days ago
under Seeds
ONE OF THE services we provide to local councils is the assessment of native bushland parks for their "resilience". That is the bushland's ability to recover from disturbance and to regenerate itself (basically provide a safe home for the next generation of flora, fauna & fungi).We assess the resilience on what threats are present (such as weeds) and the general health of the native bushland. One of the unusual situations I often come across are revegetation areas that have been planted, often 10 or more years old, that are showing little or no signs of native seedlings popping up. For all intensive purposes they may as well be timber plantations or landscaping, because they are certainly not, on so many levels, helping to restore native ecosystem function (basically provide a safe hom...
The Big Wet
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Posted by brushturkey
444 days ago
under Waterways
The recent floods have had a massive impact on the people of South East Queensland. The flooding along the mighty Brisbane, Lockyer and Mary Rivers, has had a huge impact on those communities within the flood zone. There has been widespread loss of infrastructure, homes, crops and sadly, lives.
Those prolonged wet periods when it rains hour after hour, and day after day, can also impact severely on the local wildlife. Just like we need shelter from the storm, so too does our local fauna. I'm guessing most of us think animals can survive all that nature throws at them, even the weather, but habitat loss combined with extreme weather can have major impacts on local fauna populations.
You as landholders can help restore habitat for fauna to help get them through extremes in the weather and...
Successional Weed Management
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Posted by brushturkey
477 days ago
under Environment
SUCCESSIONAL WEED MANAGEMENTDISCUSSION PAPER, By Spencer Shaw, Brush Turkey Enterprises, August 2010.
“We must remember that good bush regeneration is not weed control, but that it is the restoration of native ecosystem function.
This may seem like semantics and somewhat philosophical, because weed control is all that we seem to be doing in bush regeneration – but our focus is on ecological management and the restoration of native ecosystem function.
What we should focus on is not so much control of all weeds, but restoring ecological function through control of weeds if and as required.
Some weeds may assist or be able to participate in ecological function and ecological succession for the purpose of restoring native ecosystem function – some weed may have negative a...