We have been lead to believe by the US supplier Patten Seeds in the last quarter of 2016 - that seed of both varieties would be available in Australia for use in 2016/ 2017 summer planting periods, through sales to a single nominated importer in Australia.
This story - saga maybe is better- developed from late 2016. Through numerous updates and apparent recleaning plus further seed testing it festered along over many months, with an expectation that seed would be able to meet Australian biosecurity requirements and market quality requirements, and ship to Australia.
Our business continued to inform users, based on expectations that seed would make the grade and get shipped.
As April rolled around it had reached the stage where use in northern Australia was about the only place where sowing was considered possible, even there growth would be in a period of much cooler nights and predicted to be much slower such that waiting for warmer weather in August / September might be a better option.
However, the Australian importer has been informed recently that seed would not be coming to Australia at this time - it did not make the quality cut for import.
So all potential clients ........... it is NOT going to happen anytime soon - availability of both varieties in Australia is still some time away. Do not be misled by overseas or international web sites offering zoysia seed for sale at this time - it is unlikely to be acceptable for use in Australia, and offers are really directed at US spring sowing options.
New season's production is likely to be harvested by June/ July and maybe this seed might get to Australia by the Australian temperate regions spring sowing period.
We are keen to assist potential growers of this class turf from seed, as we think it offers many advantages, both in quality of turf and costs, albeit with more time required to develop a full turf cover compared to laying full turf sod. Most of our previous purchasers are extremely impressed with the outcome, independent of whether Zenith or Compadre variety was used.
As users and promoters of zoysia turf in Australia it is a significant setback to get so seriously screwed around by the major seed producer in the US who seems to not acknowledge that there is burgeoning demand outside of the US market including Australia. If seed is not produced that market will die, yet the specialised and quality production areas cannot meet demand of a quality product for the Australian market!
We hope to keep the users and potential users informed, but it is unlikely much news will be available before June or July.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment