G’Day Mate! No Worries! These two phrases capture the spirit of our host country’s people as we toured the nursery and horticulture industries across Australia. The conference and meetings were part of the International Plant Propagators annual board meeting, tours and educational seminars held in Coff’s Harbour, Australia during the last two weeks in May. Their horticulture industry had many similarities to our own but a number of distinctions evolved as we sampled gardens, nurseries, and landscape projects. There was an obvious pride and dedication to conservation of Australia’s natural resources incorporated into their businesses. Although we were in sub-tropical regions ranging from arid deserts to rain forest climates, there were many plants and nursery practices that stimulated ideas to use and share. Unfortunately, they also share many of our concerns and problems with government regulations, labor, invasive weeds and a sometimes uncooperative confrontation with the extremes of nature.

Before sharing the horticultural ideas we enjoyed, I want to discuss one of the great practices that deserves adoption by US businesses. It appears to be a birthright tradition inherited from the English by the Australians: morning and afternoon Tea Time. American tradition seems to put everyone in a frenetic race from morning to night to get THERE. Most of us have realized that THERE is just a line on the horizon that is never reached. The short break in the morning and afternoon is a nice breather and probably a life extending benefit on the way to THERE.

Enough philosophy, bring on the Green Stuff!

We began our tour in Alice Springs and Ayers Rock in the central Northern Territory of the Outback region of Australia. The boonies in the US may be 10 to 50 miles from the nearest city. The Outback could be defined as 100’s of miles from the nearest boonies.

This area was presented to us through the eyes of the Aboriginal people who once inhabited all of Australia but suffered a similar fate as our Native American Indians. In the past 20 to 30 years the government has returned some of the lands to the Aboriginal people and subsidized their very poor but now westernized lifestyle. Very few live the nomadic lifestyles, surviving in the desert like their ancestors. However, they do present the beauty of the desert through the renewed pride they retain from their ancestors.

So, the plant material was presented in terms of what it meant for survival in the desert. The area is described as a desert but actually is very lush and rich in plant and animal life and BIG! A person could go “Walk-about” for a year in one direction and see the same terrain, at least to the novice desert person. The region averages about six inches of rain per year. Water is life in this dry region and everything in the area was presented in light of the ecology and relationships for survival.

Locations of scarce water sources like this were documented in hieroglyphics on cave walls and passed through generations by the Aborigine natives.

Light blue, white and silver are the predominant colors of plants which reflect the intense sunshine.

Leaves are needled or slender and often project upwards to minimize the angle of the sun’s relentless attack and also serve to funnel limited water along the branches and bark to the roots. Books were available on the large number of species of Eucalyptus and Acacia which I am sure confuse even the best taxonomists. Red River Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Ghost Gum (Corymbia apparerinja or Eucalyptus papuana) were the predominant trees in the area. Red River Gums have mottled red streaks in the white bark with silver/blue leaves and occur in the deep sand in the middle of the dry riverbeds

while the Ghost Gum has beautiful bright chalky-white bark and appears on the higher rocky banks.

The trees have the ability to self-prune large limbs during periods of extreme drought which offers nice habitats for animals seeking shade in the tree cavities.

Colorful desert birds fly freely in the area. An attractive Spinafex grass is the predominant groundcover in the desert. It is high in cellulose which is great for termites but poor for cattle grazing. The termites which devour all fallen wood in the area are part of the lower food chain supported by this grass.

Spinafex grass (Triodia pungens) has been challenged by an introduced species, Cenchrus ciliaris, that mimics some of our own ecological blunders.

Millions of acres are dedicated to free range cattle production which supplies McDonalds and many other corporate beef needs. Three hundred acres are required for the culture of each cow. They are all on their own to breed and “beef-up” before the round-up. The grass, Cenchrus ciliaris L. (syn. Pennisetum ciliare) (Buffelgrass, anjangrass, African foxtail), was introduced to Australia (1870-1880) via the harnesses of Afghan camels and was used as a forage plant by the cattle. It has aggressively swept through many areas of Australia and is choking out native plants. It has another damning characteristic that allows it to burn 5 times hotter than native grasses and results in the death of many native tree and shrub species.

The government has instituted an aggressive eradication program which is projected over the next 40 years. I hope they are more successful than we have been with the control and eradication of our Kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese privet and other costly mistakes. Other threats to the native plants and birds are rabbits, wild camels (introduced by the Pakistanis), horses and feral cats.

One of the botanical gardens offered these warning signs to adventuresome rabbits.

We saw no pot-in-pot production but did see a limited amount of plastic bags and fabric bags with handles used for container tree production.

Forty-eight liter to 1000 liter bags were used.

A trend toward branding and going to smaller pots is similar to the trends in the US. Profit margins have continually been squeezed and expectations for service have increased over the past few years. It has become harder to make a living in the nursery business. One adjustment is to try to get added value from branding or name recognition. Another adjustment has been to take plants that were normally sold as trade gallons and put them in 1 or 2 quart pots where you get quicker turnover and increased profit margins. This is a strategy where everyone wins in the US or Australia. The customer gets a plant that will survive and grow well and is affordable. The producer cuts production time and space while getting more profit for smaller plants and the retailer also shares in the increased profit and less space on the retail floor.

Water quality and conservation were critical to most of the nurseries we visited. Most nurseries had collection ponds to capture all of their runoff and it was part of their certification program to achieve this BMP.

One nursery used a very elaborate program of chlorination for frequent clean-up of irrigation pipes while using UV light for killing undesirable pathogens in the water. This nursery also used a standard pan evaporation container to calculate the daily water loss then factored in a plant requirement coefficient to determine daily irrigation requirements. Sample emitters were placed in graduated measuring containers to keep tabs on the volume of water applied to each container.

Over time, a number of irrigation programs were developed to handle most weather conditions and plant sizes. These are kept by the controller to make quick adjustments.

A nursery that made their mark with a long history of grafting exotic tropical fruits offered a key tip to its success which was to run both the understock and scion wood dry for two days before grafting. They used a parafilm-type tie and white plastic bags to cover the graft.

Queensland University horticulture department has the philosophy that students should learn in a realistic wholesale production environment. So, the department manages a tissue culture lab and nursery that produces native and unique plants for the retailers and wholesale nurseries. Part of their offering was grafting Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon) on an understock that would tolerate wet landscape soil conditions. There are opportunities in our nurseries to experiment with clonal and seedling rootstocks to make our ornamentals more adaptable to harsh landscape soils.

Another nursery found some surplus highway dividers and used them for media bin walls.

I have always appreciated the gravity flow potting benches that nurseries have engineered. I saw one at a botanical garden nursery area that was constructed of metal with a raised media bin in the center that allowed for easy manual potting of 1 and 3 gallon containers. The potting bench was on wheels for easy moving to a more convenient area or to get out of the way when not in use.

A product that I had not seen was a bubble mat that was rolled out on greenhouse floors to keep flats out of the drainage water. Depending on cost, it appeared to be an easier solution than putting flats on another upside down flat.

Australian nurseries face the same governmental OVERSIGHT that frustrates our nurseries. Some entrepreneur saw a niche to help nurseries meet the need for pesticide storage and produced a storage shed with the proper ventilation, showers, MSDS storage area and all the required signs, overflow capture and other items needed to meet the regulations. It was a nice idea to take away one headache. Of course, I did not hear the price, so the decision may not have been as easy as it appeared.

When I saw the poinsettias and other tropical plants used as bedding plants and shrubs, it rekindled a thought that we should look at all these plants for use as annuals or possibly perennials in our landscapes. Colorful foliage and flowers in shade, especially dry shade is hard to find. This may offer some additional choices for our plant pallet.

I always enjoy different ornamental grasses combined in the landscape and grasses like zoysia allowed to grow in its natural form.

Brisbane Botanical Gardens held a large collection of Bougainvillea. The curator of the gardens gave his stamp of approval and great praises to ‘Little Caroline’ which is a compact form. I do not know enough about the available cultivars to know if we have this selection available in the US.

An interesting example of the heightened concern and appreciation of native plants by Australians was a small city’s use of in-laid bricks in the sidewalk illustrating endangered plant species. A nice idea not just for plants, but for other areas where you could offer an outlet for education at your feet.

Australians’ had their version of tree tubes at many plantings at highway interchanges. Three stakes and a clear plastic covering were used to surround and protect the new planting.

Mango trees were required to be planted along the river banks to stabilize the banks and prevent siltation.

There were a number of ideas that were relatively new to me. The most noticeable was the sub-contracting of space to specialty niche stores that offered expertise and convenience of a total outdoor living and beyond gardening experience. Wal-Mart, and many of our convenience stores have adopted these partnerships. Hawkins offered specialty shops for furniture, water features, restaurants, shade structures, irrigation, pottery and even a travel service to help with gardening tours.

Since the industry is now offering many small plants, a logical marketing tool is to place in the display a mature specimen plant so that the consumer can envision the future of these small plants in their home landscapes. It would be a good marketing strategy of the wholesale nurseries to provide this mature specimen in their displays to help their sales.

A specialty shade structure niche business was another unique idea. The intensity of the sun in parts of Australia made this a popular stop. It may have potential in the US. They had many innovative shade cloth designs that were very attractive and effective. An artist and engineer could create a nice business.

A seasonal TO DO board can be very helpful and generate sales.

Rock engraved numbers was another small niche business that would have a tough time surviving on its own but I am sure, combined with the rest of the garden center niche businesses, would do well.

Yard art and other artistic pieces are great for the garden center and the garden.

Under CDP, producers will be reimbursed for qualifying crop production and quality losses to crops (other than sugar cane, sugar beets or tobacco) for either the 2001 or 2002 crops. Payments will be issued for losses exceeding 35 percent of expected production at:

• 50 percent of the established price for crops that were covered by crop insurance
• 50 percent of the established price for crops for which crop insurance was not available
• 45 percent of the established price to producers for crops that could have been insured but were not

The statute requires 2001 and 2002 crop disaster payments for production and quality losses to be calculated by the same formula and loss thresholds used for the 2000 crop disaster program. This means the prices used to calculate disaster payments for crops insured under the Federal Crop Insurance Program will be the Actual Production History (APH) prices. For crops not insured, five-year average market prices will be used.

The statute also requires the 2001 or 2002 crop disaster payments be reduced if the sum of :

1. the disaster payment
2. the net crop insurance indemnity
3. the value of the crop that was not lost, exceeds 95 percent of what the value of the crop would have been in the absence of a loss

(from the Weekly NMPRO for June 17, edited by Todd Davis).

(from the Weekly NMPRO for June 17, edited by Todd Davis).

Most of the 144 April samples were ornamentals and turf. Rust diseases (a variety), Exobasidium on azalea and camellia, and Botrytis blights were fairly common occurrences in April, during which time there was a moderate amount of rainfall and moderate spring temperatures of 50s-80 in most parts of the state.

Rust diseases were noted on geranium, oxalis, and pine. The Puccinia, rust on geranium developed as small, diffuse yellow leaf spots on leaves. On the lower leaf surfaces of infected leaves, the characteristic orange-brown rust spore pustule could be seen. Oxalis Puccinia rust is similar to the geranium rust disease with the yellow diffuse spots on upper leaf surfaces and orange powdery pustules of spores evident on lower leaf surfaces. Coleosporium needle rust develops as white-orange pustules on needles. The orange spores are produced inside a white plant tissue structure. Control of rust diseases typically involves sanitation (removal of infected plant material) and possibly application of a mancozeb type fungicide.

Exobasidium is a common disease of azalea and camellia in April. Leaves and twigs may develop green swollen areas or galls. Eventually the galls become white or pinkish in color due to the development of a surface powdery layer of the fungus. Fungal spores produced will be carried by wind to nearby azalea foliage where infection occurs. These new infections will remain inactive until next spring when galls will develop. Control of this disease may be achieved by removing all galls before they become white. Removal of white galls is still desired, but these galls have already released spores capable of causing some new infections. If desired, protective sprays of Bayleton may be applied in the early-mid spring to prevent infections.

Botrytis is a common problem in the greenhouse, nursery, landscape, and field when temperatures are in the 60s-70s and humidity/water availability is high. Disease control may be achieved by pruning to open up the foliage canopy so that relative humidity levels will drop. Increased spacing of plants would also caused decreased relative humidity. Increased temperatures into the 80s usually causes a reduced development of disease. In addition, there are many fungicides labelled to provide protective control of Botrytis blight on a large number of plants. See the Alabama Pest Management Handbook.

Fireblight on ornamental pear has been noted. Usually the bacteria enter through the blossoms and then blight spreads downward from that point. Pruning severely, 9-12 inches from the damage, is usually recommended as the bacteria may spread to a considerable distance from the noticeable blight symptoms.

April temperatures and rainfall were near normal for the month. We received several samples with cold injury following the late spring freeze on March 31. Warm-season turfgrasses, some ornamentals and fruit trees received the most damage. Some of the more common diseases seen last month included: leaf gall on azalea and camellia, brown patch on warm-season grasses. The lab received 132 samples during the month of April.

Disease Possibilities For May
As is usual in May, we are seeing an abundance of turf grass samples. Thus far, many of our turf samples have involved non-infectious situations as is typically the case for turf problems sent to us in April and early May. We have, however, seen brown patch and take-all patch disease thus far this spring. Also, powdery mildew diseases and anthracnose leaf spots have recently been noted on a variety of plants.

May was busy as May usually is. We saw 126 plant samples come into the Auburn lab in May.

Some of the common diseases seen in May were the following: Exobasidium gall on azalea and camellia; anthracnose on bentgrass; anthracnose leaf spots on a number of trees and shrubs; spring dead spot on bermuda grass; brown patch and take-all patch on turf grasses; powdery mildew on dogwood; several problems on Leyland cypress including Cercosporella blight; Phyllosticta leaf spot on maple.

Heavy rainfall was the big story for many locations in North Alabama during May. The reported rainfall total was 17.23 inches at the Birmingham Airport (normal rainfall is 4.83 inches). The previous recorded rainfall during May was 11.1 inches recorded in 1969.

The lab received 187 samples during the month of May. Some of the problems seen last month included: rust on bermudagrass, downy leaf spot on hickory, and Cladosporium leaf spot on iris.

Fire blight has been very common this spring on ornamental and fruiting cultivars. It=s too late to apply preventative treatment. However, removing all symptomatic branches by pruning 12 inches below any visible cankers and discarding the pruning can limit further spread of the disease. Remember to sterilize pruning tools between cuts. Refer to Extension publication, ANR-542 Fire Blight on Fruit Trees and Woody Ornamentals (http://www.aces.edu/pubs/anr/anr-542/anr-542.html) for more information on this disease including a list of fire blight resistant plants.

Rust on bermudagrass is not commonly seen, probably due to the high levels of resistance in most bermudagrass cultivars. Bermudagrass rust (Puccinia cynodontis) begins as small, grayish purple pustules on the underside of older leaves. As pustules mature, the leaf tissue ruptures to expose red-brown urediospores. In contrast, zoysiagrass rust (Puccinia zoysia) has yellow-orange urediospores and only affects zoysiagrass. Following nitrogen fertility recommendations is a critical factor in rust control strategies for warm-season turfgrasses. The fungicides propiconazole (Banner Maxx, and Fertilome Systemic Fungicide), triadimefon (Bayleton, and Bayer Fungus Control for Lawns), and myclobutanil (Eagle, and Spectricide Immunox) are labeled for rust control. For more information refer to the Extension publication ANR-621 Leaf Spot and Rust Diseases of Turfgrasses (http://www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/publications/anr/anr-621/anr-621.html).

Disease Possibilities For June
The following are some of the disease samples we have seen thus far in June: Fusarium stem rot of pepper; Phytophthora blight on vinca (Catharanthus); Bipolaris leaf spot on bermuda grass.