News

The NSW DPI Macadamia Plant Protection Guide 2020–21 is online now and heading your way in hard soon. This guide is available online at NSW DPI for free download HERE. 

Jeremy Bright (DPI) said, ‘We have learnt valuable lessons through the extreme conditions experienced in the 2019–2020 growing season, and these are reflected in a number of feature articles in the guide.’

One feature article, ‘Lessons learnt from the drought’ covers a range of strategies to make your farm more resilient.

The other feature, ‘2020 hindsight: plagues, fire, wind and water’ describes how the dry weather dramatically changed the life cycle and habits of our common pests and diseases (like FSB and BSB, and how conditions were ideal for old pests we had not seen for a while (like Leptocoris).

The IPM project updates are also described with some interesting outcomes regarding inter-row plantings. 

The pests and disease section has had a major overhaul, including a new format and some spectacular close-up images. Each pest has:

• a ‘risk period’ which shows crop stage when the pest will be most active
• a description for identifying the pest
• details of how the pest damages the crop
• how best to monitor and manage the pest using cultural, biological and chemical controls.

Of interest is the number of ‘new pests’ or ‘background pests’ that were always there, but that do not have product registered for their control.

The section on nutrient disorders describes the role of each nutrient and includes images showing what the deficiencies look like in the field. It is important to use annual soil and leaf analyses as the actual symptoms may be due to reasons other than nutrients, such as pH or chemical imbalances. The section is delivered to give growers an awareness of these issues rather than to replace consultants.

Other articles cover chemical compatibility and tank mixing chemicals (including getting the mixing procedure right, getting good coverage and ensuring efficient use of chemicals).

We have also reviewed the ‘Legal responsibilities’ section.

The guide will be distributed to every macadamia grower through their processors, NSW DPI and AMS.

Hint to the reader: enjoy the hard copy version but use the pdf version to make use of hyperlinks that take you directly to topics, Primefacts, manuals, webpages and permits etc. 

For more information, contact Jeremy Bright, NSW DPI, 0427 213 059, [email protected].