David’s Horticulture and Agriculture Notes

27/01/2017

Watch out for Spined Citrus Bug and Bronze Orange Bug as these pests are very destructive and cause citrus fruit to fall before they are ripe. Photo courtesy of www.greenharvest.com.au

26/08/2015

Thank you to all new comers that like my page. My audience is slowing increasing, I hope that my new posts on medical cannabis will get other people to help the Government understand that this medicine is helpful to patients and the fears of unregulated use is unfounded as the Governments has the necessary powers to regulate an important industry like medical cannabis and industrial cannabis use as a food as if properly processed industrial h**p contains no compounds that would react with Police drug tests. Tests are underway in N.S.W. to show that this complaint from Police is unfounded with formal trials.

26/08/2015

Our 24 year old son has a terminal cancer diagnosis. He is receiving great benefit from using medical cannabis to manage his nausea, vomiting and poor appetite.He is also using cannabis oil in a bid to halt the progression of his disease. We can see the changes in him and fully believe that cannabis…

21/07/2015

My visit to Papua New Guinea was full of surprises, photo at the left is me at the wrong end of an arrow. The Kooka Kooka tribe provide Phillip Lahey with security for his poultry and orchard enterprises. The second photo was how I wanted to take the photo in the first place. Security a Lae was a bit of a culture shock in the third photo. The last photo is of the village of Zenag where I colleced some Citrus accessions for the breeding program in Bundaberg all through Quarantine procedures of course. These photos were taken in 1998 when I was a consultant for Phillip Lahey.

23/03/2015

Apart from industrial h**p breeding, I am also breeding passion fruit that may be a shorter term goal as I have only another cross or two left to make my final selections. The passion fruit I hope will give growers some woodiness virus tolerance.

03/03/2015

I am now focusing my effort on industrial h**p breeding of low THC lines for sub-tropical conditions. This crop has a lot of merit for the environment and carbon friendly building materials.

01/01/2015

Happy New Year to all my facebook friends!

02/11/2014

Foe those of you following the notes on aphid control by natural means would be pleased to know that the lady birds have eaten all the aphids on my citrus trees. There are still a good number of the small blue lady birds that are devouring the small amount of white louse scale on the trees. With biological balance no spraying was necessary.

01/11/2014

There are a number of beneficial bacteria and fungi on the market for growers and some growers have found they can cut down on regular fungicides using these products. It is very costly to register such products so suppliers make no claims about them. One is Bacillus subtilis and there are others including beneficial fungi. These beneficial organisms occur in nature and have found to be non pathogenic to animals but help plants grow by improving nutrient uptake and acting on organic remains of plants and animal manures and making them available to crops and improve soil structure. They are increasing in use in horticulture. They may soon come on the market for home gardeners.

29/10/2014

Would the gardening or budding horticulturists, agriculturalists like to learn some crossing skills to create new varieties of plants? I will need some support from you to do this by liking and commenting this post. If I receive some general support I will show you step by step how to do this with a series of photos to demonstrate the mechanisms of different plant types and their sometimes unusual way of reproduction and how to achieve crosses. I can show a range of crossing techniques for a fair range of genera to give you an idea of how to go about it.

29/10/2014

While we can not stop aphids flying in there is a way to help prevent their build up apart from natural enemies. W**d out any milk thistles and other weeds that attract aphids. The less hosts the fewer targets that are available. Let nature with a little help control what is in your garden.

29/10/2014

How to manage aphids in your fruit trees and garden: Keep an eye on natural enemies such as lace wing lavae who put dead aphids on their backs to to hide themselves. Other important aphid predators are lady birds. Only use white oil on part of your plants if the aphids get out of hand. Doing this does not disrupt the predators that help you but blanket spraying will disrupt them. Some of the lady birds also control white louse scale on citrus. So keeping a balance in the garden is important to control pests and encourage natural enemies of pests.

29/10/2014

Here are some photos of beneficial lady birds. While there are still aphids on the tree these ladybirds will devour them within the next week. No need to spay.

07/10/2014

In addition to rotational systems in agriculture and horticulture, there is a need to change to organic forms of farming that enrich our soils rather than poison them with artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Growing with organic amendments not only improves soil water availability but provides a rich medium to grow stronger plants with less disease problems because the micro flora and fauna suppress plant diseases and provide nutrients in an organic form that is available to plants. This also means that our runoff from farms contains less nutrients, pesticides and herbicides running into our water ways, ground water. rivers and oceans by using organic mulching systems were ever possible.

05/10/2014

Industrial h**p is an excellent crop in rotation systems whether they be agricultural crops or horticultural crops. Unlike cotton industrial h**p can be grown without chemicals if managed correctly with releases of parasitic wasps that lay in pest lavae. Many beneficial insects can build up in industrial h**p for subsequent or nearby crops. Native and introduced bees use the pollen from "boy" plants (dioecious) or monoecious plants (separate sexes on the same plant) to produce bees wax. Industrial h**p when harvested returns close to 70% of the nutrients supplied for the crop in leaf and root system breakdown. The root systems are very beneficial as they improve the water holding capacity of the soil and improve fertility by decomposing to humus. Growers have experienced improved yields from crops after industrial h**p has been used in rotation.

Picture is of a young dioecious crop "boy" and "girl" plants.

04/10/2014

I have bred industrial h**p, a new renewable resource for building materials, bio-degradable plastics, clothing and of course food if it were approved for human consumption in Australia. This industry has the potential to earn trillions of dollars but nobody wants to invest and Australian and State Governments do not get the real potential of this industry. I would like to continue breeding this crop for entrepreneurs who would like to get involved. The public also need to grasp that it is a worth while agricultural crop. Canada, New Zealand, England, France and many other European countries support research and development in this crop.

03/10/2014

Watch out for aphids with the temperatures rising. Only take action if over 10% of the limbs on your plants have aphids on them. Look out for predators such as lacewings and lady beetles and if these are in good numbers then delay action but keep monitoring.

27/09/2014

have a look at my new about section in the longer description section. Well worth a read and I would appreciate any comments on it.

27/09/2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX9cYSeiFXU

What Is H**p Plastic? H**p plastic is a bioplastic made using industrial h**p. There are many different types of h**p plastic; from standard plastics reinfor...

26/09/2014

Following the grafting video I shot earlier here is the link to the successful graft.
http://www.agriculturalmicrobes.com.au/blog

Grafting was successful after showing the grafting video earlier. Here is the graft now shooting. Although the stock was a bit woody at the time of the graft still took as grafting allows some...

12/09/2014

Some nice results of beneficial fungi suppressing grey mould of strawberries see my website news item. http://www.agriculturalmicrobes.com.au/news.html

Some test results just in on test plates showing good suppression of grey mould (isolate from strawberries) being suppressed by a new beneficial fungi. Plate on the left is just an isolate of grey...

23/08/2014

This program is well worth while to improve your diet and well being.

In this two-part Gut Reaction special, reporter Dr Graham Phillips investigates whether the Western diet could be contributing to a whole litany of diseases by causing an imbalance in the bacteria deep inside our gut.

23/08/2014

While the weather is cool it is a great time to get out into the garden, make compost out of the weeds you pull out and add decomposed compost, manure and mulch to your garden to prevent weeds coming up. Also add natural gypsum to your garden to prevent blossom end rot problems (Calcium deficiency problem) and restore your soil structure so that you have healthy root systems and aerated soils for your plants.

15/08/2014

A grafting demonstration is now on my webpage: www.agriculturalmicrobes.com.au/budding-grafting. Please click this link to see the video.
Budding-grafting
Actual demonstration of the whip and tongue grafting - click on the video below.
AGRICULTURALMICROBES.COM.AU

Actual demonstration of the whip and tongue grafting - click on the video below.

29/07/2014

I have been had a lot on my plate this last month doing a subject with Master Electricians. I will be posting a video on grafting soon. For all you gardeners, now is the time to do your winter weeding and prepare for spring planting. Where possible incorporate manure or compost now to enrich your soil, add blood and bone and your plants will get a good start.

18/06/2014

Having the flu is not much fun but trying not to spread it around!

17/05/2014

I finally have my own domain at http://www.agriculturalmicrobes.com.au Please if you have the time have a look at it and comment on it thank you. It will need some professional work to set up a page when I have my beneficial microbe available for sale.

An agricultural/horticultural consulting firm with FertCare C accreditation that also is researching useful beneficial microbes that are at the trial phase before sale. Director: David Gillespie

08/05/2014

The free services available through the Bundaberg Regional Council are marvellous and they network with other people to provide Business help. The eventbrite service is interesting to arrange meetings where people have to register to attend and bring a ticket produced by the system. Very nice way to safely hold a meeting.

Proudly supported by Bundaberg And Districts Chamber Of Commerce, Bundaberg Region Rising and Bundaberg Regional Council, FREEto Bundaberg and Wide Bay Businesses, GlobalCare continues to bring you the outstanding business Sales and Marketing workshops previously attened by hundreds of Bundaberg Bus…

04/05/2014

Australian assassin bugs can give you a nasty puncture wound. Young children and the elderly should not handle these insects. Highly allergic people like ones sensitive to bee stings should also be wary of them. I received a puncture wound from one but had no long lasting problems. Other members of this group from Africa and South America are highly dangerous so be wary. You can see a photo of a juvenile assassin bug in one of my earlier posts. The Australian assassin bugs are useful insects in integrated pest management programs and do a wonderful job.