End of Winter Newsletter
You could be forgiven in thinking that we had disappeared but the truth is very much the opposite. Since this time last year when we were all reeling a bit from Covid and its impact, we have had our heads down and been very focused on the business and where it is headed for the future.
We are very pleased to say that we have come out of Covid with a very strong team, some great projects on the go and EmGuards selling strongly all over the country. They are found from North Cape to Bluff and everywhere in between so we can truly say we have well changed the industry, especially when we see the copies that are being done of our original tried and well proven guard. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. For the true EmGuard, look out for our lovely logo or the EmGuard word stamped on the guard. EmGuard is the industry standard for ease of use, durability and proven success.
The team has expanded considerably and we have moved our base to the main road in Hira, beside the Hira store. We needed a home for 150,000 bamboo canes and 20,000 EmGuards at the beginning of the season and with the wonderful expansion in the team, we needed lots more space. We are now at 769 Hira Road and have office hours of 8am-3pm daily. Office phone number is 02734975838
We welcomed to our team this year a number of new staff.
Bridget Kenny is our Team Leader in Marlborough. She comes to us with a background in horticulture and the wine industry and has incredible experience in restoration projects.
Dan Arnold joined us as a trainee back in April. He has come from a background in DOC and brings some great skills. Now he is learning all about plant ecology and linking that to his existing skills.
We also have a great team of casual staff helping with planting, Desiah Neho, Alvin Bartley (Look for O and the Mo on Facebook) and Paul Sullivan so we have really enjoyed expanding the team and Mitch, Ben and Pete are very pleased to have some willing assistants to tackle all the big projects we are involved with.
Work continues to expand throughout the region, with some great projects happening. We are working on a major restoration project on Rough Island, for Tasman District Council, restoring a large area that was in pine trees, back into native coastal forest. This brings huge ecological gains to the Waimea estuary area.
We also have another large project in the Wakapuaka catchment in Nelson North which is part of the MFE Jobs for Nature program. This forms part of a larger project of restoring forest and farmland into a much more biologically diverse environment that works in with an exciting adventure tourism business. The vision is a national park type environment that you can do cool activities in.
At the same time, we have a wonderful range of customers throughout Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman who are all doing really cool projects along with fighting the usual things like old mans beard, blackberry and willow trees clogging up streams. We also get to see some amazing projects round the country in terms of where EmGuards are being sent to. So exciting to be part of a literally “growing” industry. Keep up the great work everyone as it is what is truly important in our challenging world.
We spent much of the summer continuing on the eradication of Asiatic Knotweed in the wider Motueka catchment. It was great to see how the work last year certainly had an impact on this difficult weed, but concerning to find more infestations. However, with the high level of vigilance that we have approached this project with, we are confident that we can win this particular battle.
One of the biggest challenges we had this year was destroying a massive wasp nest on the side of the Cable Bay Road.
Robert was the brave one who tackled it. The air was just swarming with wasps when we arrived at the site about 8pm in the evening. I was too scared to even get out of the ute so photographed from behind the safety of the glass.
Robert just used a puffer with dust to dust (Permex) and a short wand on it so had to get up very close. He would squirt a dose in and jump back in the ute while the wasps got madder and madder. Dying wasps were pouring out of the nest like a waterfall.
It was incredible to watch.
It took 5 trips to the nest and about ½ kilo of product to kill the nest over 3 days and we were then able to take the young boy who had found the nest to help us take it apart.
WAR ON WEEDS.
Common Name: Smilax - Asparagus asparagoides also sometimes known as Bridal creeper.
This is a scrambling or twining perennial with dense clusters of white, fleshy, tuberous roots and twisted, thin, wiry branched green stems. Oval, shiny, pointed leaves 10-35 x 4-15mm with 7 veins. Greenish white flowers 5-6 mm in July and August which are followed by red berries.
The issue with this is that it has tough, long-lived tubers which will resprout easily and are spread by soil and water movement as well as birds spreading the seed. It tolerates a range of environments from moderate shade to full sun, low to moderate rainfall, salt and wind. It forms dense patches and smothers low growing plants and seedlings.
Control by digging out tubers and disposing to landfill or burn. Spray in spring with glyphosate 20m/l + penetrant. Avoid runoff. Cut about 1 foot from the ground and spray.
Common Name: Mothplant- Araujia hortorum also known as Kapok vine, milkvine, milk weed, wild choko vine.
Rampant, evergreen vine with smelly, miky sap and twining flexible stems that are covered in down and woody near the base. Dark green leaves are hairless and dull on top, greyish-downy underneath. Leaves sit opposite on stem. Clusters of 2-4 bell shaped flowers – Dec_May occasionally with pink streaks. Have distinctive thick, leathery pear shaped choko-like pods which split open to disperse many black, thistledown-like seeds.
It grows very rapidly to form a large, heavy and long-lived mass of canopy. It produces masses of viable seeds that are wind spread. It tolerates shade, drought or damp, wind, salt, many soil types and mechanical damage. However, it doesn’t like frost. It is poisonous and irritant inducing so when trying to clear it, make sure you are protected by gloves and long sleeves. Avoid contact with your eyaes at all costs.
To get rid of it, pull out seedlings year-round. Remove and destroy any seed pods making sure they go to landfill, are burnt or buried very deeply. Stump swab in summer/autumn with Cut N Paste Gel.
Spray with Grazon in summer/autumn.
(Weedbusters)
Be purposefully excellent rather than accidentally great.
(Meg Matthews, Chairperson, Cawthron)
SOME OF THE SPECIES WE HAVE BEEN WORKING TO INTRODUCE INTO PLANTINGS.
• Plagianthus regius
We have been working with the local school to plant a Plagianthus Forest in a reserve out in Hira.
Much of this lowland river flat would have been covered in these trees in the past but they have more or less disappeared from the landscape.
We have been planting a number of them over the past few years and they particularly like the EmGuards for some reason. They will get to 2 metres high in just one season from a root trainer grade in the right place and create a good sturdy trunk as well. They are one of New Zealand’s few semi-deciduous trees.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
Riparian planting
After flood events such as those of July 21 we often get asked about the wisdom of planting in the riparian zone. Our view on this is that riparian planting needs to be in the riparian zone. That is, right next to the water, which is where all the action is taking place - shading, filtration, habitat provision and edge stability. This means we need plants right down next to the water’s edge, but this also means there is risk of damage during flood events. To alleviate this, we ensure that we get the right plants in the right place, Carex grasses that will fold down right on the edge and taller woodier species such as Plagianthus further back up the banks.
We need to get shading and protection of edges in place, but we don’t want to impede water flow during peak flow events. The right species in the right place is crucial to success in planting in the riparian zone. We find that the plants will knit into the ground in only a matter of a few weeks and thus will hold in place.
Occasionally the flood can be so severe as to scour out banks and totally remove plants or will deposit sediment and cover plantings. In my experience we just need to plant again where we can. There may not be another flood like that for 20 years and this is all lost time when we need to be focusing on restoration.
View showing Poormans Stream 4 days after major flooding. Planting of Carex was done one month ago and all survived the flooding.
Thinking of all our clients in Marlborough as well. There are some massive cleanups required right through the region.
NOTEBOOK
What we have been reading:
All the team are avid readers which is great. For a challenge about where mankind has come from and may be going try Ishmael by David Quinn. If you are interested in what happens under the ground you can’t go past Underland by Robert McFarlane. I’m not planning on going caving anytime soon!
The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn is a lovely follow up to her first book The Salt Path.
Interesting stories from the paper.
Thank you Rachel Sanson, Nelson City Councillor for raising these https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelsonmail/opinion/300353062/thenelson-city-councils-forestry-debateis-not-about-politics-its-commonsense
Good Service
Sam, David and Jeroen From Call a Geek have been lifesavers around our computer issues.