If you’ve placed an order for seedlings for planting in winter 2023, you might choose to take a rest and not think about the trees again until we contact you in July to come collect your plants.

But, in fact, you can do some prep work now that will make your planting easier, and more successful this winter, getting you a better strike rate and healthier plants, with less fewer hassles to get it all together in July!

Particularly for those of you with very winter-wet sites, now is the best time to get out there are start the preparation process, otherwise, you may find it hard to access your site at planting time!

If you can, while it’s still dry, RIP & MOUND

  • Rip your planting lines, going over the lines 2 to 3 times to really loosen the soil, especially if you have very heavy clay soils.
  • If your site tends to be underwater or waterlogged in winter, we recommend mounding your rip lines.
    • Mounding helps your seedlings establish by keeping them from drowning in the first winter. They can reach their roots down for moisture, but won’t suffer from waterlogging.
    • Sandy and well-draining sites don’t generally need mounding.
    • Opening the soil up now, and mounding, is really helpful in saline sites, as opening rains can help flush out heavy salts, which will help your seedlings establish.
    • Even saltbush would prefer to not sit in heavily salted soil in their first year. Remember, they are coming out of a perfect soil and water situation into one of the most challenging and inhospitable soil conditions WA has to offer! Give them their best chance of surviving their first year and they will repay you for years to come.
  • Before planting, spray for weeds, with a fair withholding time to prevent any losses of your paid-for plants from residuals.
  • And if you are able, it’s a great idea to rip again before planting, particularly in heavy soils, to break the soil up again and make it easier to plant into.
    • Depending on your planting method, ripping again may not be required. For example, if you are using a tow behind planter that has a scalper/ripper/mounder feature, this might be unnecessary.

Many people will choose to just “chuck ’em in the ground” in July with little to no prep, and this does work to an extent. But the best results we see are in well-prepared sites, with 80-90% strike rates being the norm. (Although we are still unable to do anything about the rabbits and parrots mucking with your plants!)

For your preparation and planting requirements, we have available for hire a small ripper-mounder and we have pottiputkis and kidney buckets for hand planting for a small fee. Contact Amy on 0428 479 623 or via email nursery@katanninglandcare.org.au to book equipment.

We do not have a tow-behind planter available, but Wagin-Woodanilling Landcare Zone do have a Chatfield’s Tree Planter and a Kylera Tree Planter available for hire. Contact Gen Harvey on 08 9861 2222 to enquire.

Ripper Mounder

Pottiputki

Kidney Bucket

FENCING

It is also a good idea to fence your site off now, while it’s still dry, and before planting to ensure that no livestock get at your planting site and eat all your hard work and money spent on plants and preparation! Plus, getting your tractor bogged trying to put in your fence in the middle of winter is just a pain!

Fencing is also great for controlling livestock while plants are establishing, and allowing better controlled grazing, particularly in areas where saltbush is being used. Saltbush fares well with a good crash graze, but needs recovery time between grazings, and fences will make this easier.

And fencing may be a requirement of grant funded planting programs, so if you are a part of a Landcare project, be sure to double-check your requirements in your contract, or chat with your Landcare Officer.

If you are thinking of placing an order for planting in 2023, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet, take a moment to download an order forms from here: https://katanninglandcare.org.au/native-plants-for-sale/ . Then just complete the order form and send back to Amy via email: nursery@katanninglandcare.org.au

For any other Nursery inquiries, please contact Amy via email or phone 0428 479 623.

Our Terms for 2023 are:

  • 5% Early Bird Discount applied to whole order if ordered before 30 November, 2022.
  • 50% Deposit Invoice sent upon receipt of order (1 September 2022-14 March 2023), non-refundable after 15 March 2023.
  • 50% Final Invoice (or 100% if ordered after 15 March 2023) from 15 March-31 May 2023, non-refundable after 31 May 2023
  • Small orders (less than 20 trays) will be invoiced for full value at time of order
  • All plants must be paid for prior to collection/delivery. Delivery charges additional.
  • We will not charge you for plants we are unable to supply, so your final invoice will reflect actual trays provided, or a refund / credit will be applied.
  • Orders will be held after 30 May 2023. Enquiries/orders can be placed, but no orders will be confirmed or distributed until all existing orders are graded and picked, and remaining stock can be confirmed.