2nd Monitoring/ plant releasing 1.11.2020
PLANT RELEASING for GO AHED FARM REVEGITATION and STREAM CARE
Date of first Plant releasing 1.11.2020
Had a team of 10 peaople to release 1000 plants which were planted along two kilometres of Ephemeral stream in Kotinga Golden Bay.
These where planted on the 27th of July 2020
Cheeked the plants. Nice to see that most are doing really well and coir mats are still doing a good job keeping weeds out.
Removed some guards to re- steak
Cordoline australis growing well
Good growth rate and very good survival rate
There has been more than enough rain in the past months but these plants seem to be happy about that.
Plant health is good no evidence of any disease.
No signs of excess flooding.
Straightened some steaks and guards.
Weeded around Carex secta which had no guards, placed bamboo steaks around them.
As it has been decided that spraying is no longer an option on this farm the grass will get very tall in the coming months so would recommend some scrub cutting around plants so grass doesn’t take over and plants will grow better without high grass around them.
Here link to Doc site with for wasp info: https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/animal-pests/wasps/
They asian paper wasps pose a health and safety problem for weeding and working around plants would not want any volunteers to get stung especially if allergic. So in future would recommend taking wasp power or setting up VESPEX stations on Farm.
Plenty of evidence of spittle bugs, lucky they don’t effect Native plants much.
(Inside each little white foam pod lives a spittlebug. The insect, which is related to aphids and cicadas, feeds off the liquid inside plants and as a result, constantly produce foam, like from a latte. The foam also protects the bugs from predators.
Was great to be out there on the first sunny day in weeks, with a good fast working team. Nice to see good plant growth and no disease so far. Coir mats working well. And all the guards on.
The next weed releasing will need to be done in 8 to 12 weeks.
The next time plants will be larger so would be good to weed a little further out than just the size of mat and also get the weeds that are sneaking in under matts and suppressing tree growth.
Over all it is looking like a very successful planting and can’t wait to see that Carex grass nice and big spreading into stream.
These guards will need to be removednext winter
Looks great! Must be very satisfying seeing the muddy farmland transform into native bush. Are your helpers all volunteers? Is it easy to find enough people to help out?
ReplyDeleteYes they are all volunteers, luckily it is not my job to find them the organiser of the regenerative fam panel for this farm does it for me.. If you give people lots of time and a good feed its usually not to hard to find people for planting days but not so easy to find people who want to realise plants and weed around them.
DeleteWow, that is an amazing effort by 10 people! just shows how much can be done with a few helping hands.
ReplyDelete"Many hands make light work"
Seems like spittle bugs and wasp are at all revegetation sites this year. Good to know that they don't harm the natives though!
Is it the same volunteers that come back to check out the site ? or is it new ones every time?
Its mostly the same people who are on a regenerative farming panel and the farm family they have three sons. but sometimes school kids join or the scouts.
DeleteGreat effort Meret. What are your thoughts about the trees coping with the grass? Do you think they will be doing a regular weed eat?
ReplyDeleteBe great if you can continue to monitor and report progress on this blog -