Tags
ecology, farm, Fleurieu Coast, kangaroos, revegetation, seasons, sheep, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, winter
Reforesting the Fleurieu, one tree(guard) at a time.
Over the June long weekend, once again our loyal crew of tree-planters descended on Yarnauwi for the fourth year of tree planting. This year we planted 600 plants, local species associated with pink and red gum woodlands.
The 2016 Crew
After 3 years of planting, many patches of seedlings are now well established, and on rainfall only they’re slowly growing into the landscape. Our mission for this year was to fill in some unplanted spaces, trace windbreaks and corridors between islands of vegetation, replant tricky spots with specially selected vegetation and to expand some of our successful woodlots. Spots that we cleared junk from earlier in the year were planted out, and areas of erosion control will also be planted with sedges and reeds this season.
Planting
Richard works on the windbreak while the sheep work on the mulch pile.
Keeping an eye on the local seedling lovers.
As the sun set, we could just make out wind turbines on the Yorke Peninsula.
The soil was moist, the weather benevolent, and the company exquisite! With the surviving planters, we celebrated our two days planting with a rockpool ramble hooking along the nearby coves.
A celebratory rockpool ramble
An enormous, heartfelt thanks to Alejandro, Andrew, Anthony, Claire, Eric, George, Innis, Jeff, Jeremy, Kathy, Lily, Marg, Mary, Richard, Sal, Shane, Steph and Sue.
Yarnauwi Farm 
So very great to see your projects. It is exciting to see pictures of tree planting. It really is, particularly those mattocks up in the air. How are you going with managing weeds, or what are your strategies if any to help the trees grow free of weed competition. At the moment I am mulching heavily and this has served me well so far. I really really don’t want to use Roundup I don’t want to go down the poison path as that path is never ending. The 150 trees/shrubs I planted around the wetland did magnificently and quadrupled in size over 6 months but then the kangaroos or maybe it is the huge hare on site cut then back to half or less in some cases. I need to fence off areas as the tree guards aren’t enough once the trees outgrow the guards. Thank you for your comment on my post. Really great to see your very beautiful and inspiring work. It is a wonderful thing to plant trees. There are so very few of them on farming properties. Much care to you and family. Mara
Hi Mara, thanks so much for your kind and supportive words! We’ve found that mulching can have a good impact too, although it can be tricky to get around and mulch everything to the level that we’d like. When we plant, we scrape an area about 30cm square from the planting area, and this seems to serve as weed control while the plant gets established. With our exposed site, we now try to put all plants in korflute guards to provide some sun and wind protection and keep humidity levels up, while also putting them in ‘Mallee mesh’ guards, which provide protection from kangaroos (but not sheep). Our early plantings are now topping the mesh guards, and with 150+ kangaroos roving the property over winter we’re now facing the dilemma of what to do next! With bigger plantings of grasses or sedges, we construct small fences using panels of shark mesh or Malle mesh connected together. Of course, ideally you don’t want you bushland filled with bits of mesh and wire, so we’re hoping we can reach some equilibrium with plant growth and kangaroos in the future! We’re starting to look at improving the habitat value of our dam and creeks and gullies too, so we’ll be sure to spend some time looking at what you’ve done on your blog too! Thanks again, and good wishes for your inspiring project! Joel
Hi there good people.
i am planting up on Cole rd Delamere and have had similar roo problems.
We have countered this by using three hardwood pallets around each tree.
it is working!
we got 2000 free pallets delivered this winter for the cost of the freight from Adelaide. pallet contact- Jason 0402406826 . for priority i offered them a carton of beer per load. We used Trevor- South coast lift and shift. Costs about $300 per load for for 280 pallets to Delamere.
if you have any questions, or would like to see what we have done, please feel free to give me a call. Justin 0430365305.
Hi there good people.
i am planting up on cole rd delamere and have had similar roo problems.
We have countered this by using three hardwood pallets around each tree.
it is working!
we got 2000 free pallets delivered this winter for the cost of the freight from Adelaide. pallet contact- Jason 0402406826 . for priority i offered them a carton of beer per load. We used Trevor- South coast lift and shift. Costs about $300 per load for for 280 pallets to Delamere.
if you have any questions, or would like to see what we have done, please feel free to give me a call. Justin 0430365305.
Hey Justin, thanks for the tip we’d love to come and see what you’re up to sometime. Just today I was experimenting with a guard made from old vineyard posts which sounds like it’s perhaps a smaller version of your idea. Definitely need something robust for paddock trees as well as we’ve found our sheep enjoy rubbing off their coats on the guards too. Look forward to meeting you!