StryderNotavi

joined 11 months ago
[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago

Not much growing because I was running down the beds to complete a planned reorg, replacing one larger bed to end up with three smaller ones that give me more total growing space and better access to each bed.

So now I have some small seedlings getting started in fresh new beds, will see how I go.

 

I've got a wattle that currently has a thinner than ideal trunk. I've been looking into what I can do to encourage it to develop a thicker trunk. Mostly this seems to be about only providing the minimum amount of support it needs and keeping it loose so that the wind / swaying stimulates trunk growth.

But in passing I've heard that trimming the lower branches can also help. So far this is just a rumour to me and I'd like to substantiate it somehow. Have others heard the same?

Also - with the heat we're getting lately do I need to worry about stressing out the tree? I probably don't need to remove that many branches (should be less than 10%). Is there a good guide for how much I can trim without stressing the tree?

[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 1 points 10 months ago

Honestly, better to just have an official government server with official government accounts.

They can then federate as needed - official correspondence would be recognizable as it comes from their domain.

Meanwhile people would be able to remain on the servers they've chosen and follow whatever is of interest.

[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 1 points 10 months ago

GMO crops often use glyphosate for weed control, which works because the frequently the GMO crops themselves have been engineered to be resistant to glyphosate.

That's not the case with non GMO crops because glyphosate isn't selective - you'd kill your crop along with the weeds if you tried the same approach with non GMO plants.

Hence the use of GMOs is frequently coupled with more intensive use of glyphosate.

[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for that, that's a much better resource than what I managed to find.

So it seems that there are is guidance aimed at keeping it out of composts and manures that people might use on their garden. It does sound like there's still some risk that a supplier might cut corners or a farmer might lie in order to get a better price for contaminated feed/manures but having it in place does at least reduce the overall risk a fair bit.

[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Yes, exactly those. It sounds like there are others (chrolopyralids, picloram and others), but aminopyralids are the longest lived in the soil, so the biggest concern.

A lot of the resources on it are discussing the issue from a US or UK perspective, and while a lot of the issues are similar it doesn't help me assess how much of a risk a bag of manure from the local Bunnings or garden centre might really represent to my vege garden.

It'd also be worth hearing if there's been any regulatory responses to this issue locally

 

I've been reading up on the various persistent herbicides that are out there and how they can pass through animals and composting intact and I was wondering how significant an issue this would be for those of us gardening in Australia.

For my fellow gardeners, I'd like to know whether you've encountered this issue in your gardens and what steps you take to reduce the risk of contaminated materials entering your garden?

[–] StryderNotavi@aussie.zone 1 points 11 months ago

Thanks for your response - it's fairly new (planted about a year and a half ago years ago as a 1m high tree from the nursery) and has really taken off over the last Summer. It's quite a tangle at the moment and needs some neatening up.

It sounds like I'm over thinking things a bit - I know that different plants respond differently to pruning but it sounds like trees are broadly similar even if they do have some variations.

From your response, it sounds like I should probably wait a little until I'm confident that there won't be any more strings of 30°+ days to avoid stressing it out - it should recover better once conditions are a bit more mild.

 

I've got a young silver banksia that is getting a bit unruly and I'm looking for a useful guide for understanding how they respond to pruning. Ideally want to understand what they respond well to and how I can train them to grow to suit my garden.

I basically want to encourage it to grow upwards more, so that it can rise above a fence to gain better access to light and provide screening from neighbours. Also hoping that as it grows it'll create room for a bit of an understory in the same location.

Does anyone have any recommendations?