Late Monsoon Season for Australia

Mid January 2020 and still no monsoon arrival.  Getting quite late but not yet the latest date recorded.

However, it could be some time away  with a few of the global weather drivers looking decidedly dodgy ie not especially positive for a monsoon burst anytime soon.

Read the current Tropical Climate Note from earlier this week  [http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/tropical-note/ ] and note the eastwards movement of the MJO away from our region, usually negative for rain across N Australia.

Today's weather reports refer to hot and drier conditions across the north over the next few days, although there may be storms.

Please continue to wait.......and wait...........and wait.

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3 February 2020 - UPDATE - now coming .........the monsoon onset!!   Latest ever for Darwin and even now it is still not quite here YET.  Maybe in a few days still.  While a monsoonal low is moving west several hundred kms  SW of Darwin, officially not yet for Darwin! 

Citrus Canker Update for NT - 15 June 2018

At a press conference this morning a new location has been announced where citrus canker has been detected - the Marrakai area SE of Darwin.

The Press release is here - http://mediareleases.nt.gov.au/mediaRelease/26747. 
As noted, once again as for all others, it is present on nursery stock supplied from a single nursery in the Darwin area.

While there seems to be no detection of the disease on commercial citrus producers so far, the question that is absolutely pertinent has not been openly explored.........what is the origin of the infection in the nursery?  Everyone seems to be skirting around this issue, or at least can the identification of possible sources be explained, and also how long it may have been present.

So far the traceback is extending to 12 months before first confirmation, so presumably, it may have been around in the nursery for that period, or up to that period.

While getting on with methodical work locating the movement of material from the nursery continues [ and there seems to be evidence quite a lot have gone interstate], the method of infection is not openly discussed, or argued.

Maybe it was windborne spores .......technically possible, if insects can move into the region from airborne travel in monsoonal weather [ blue tongue insect vectors for example].

Biosecurity Problems for North Australia - New Issues

Two biosecurity issues have emerged recently in the Darwin area, both with potentially catastrophic outcomes for Australian agriculture if not solved.

A few weeks ago citrus canker was detected in a nursery near Darwin, and subsequently found on six properties in the near Darwin area.  Today it has been announced now also found in the Kununurra /Wyndham area of WA with the source apparently from an NT nursery.

This is potentially a  major issue for the Australian citrus industry.  Early days, but eradicating it will be a big task.  Yet, in Florida where outbreaks occur with some monotony, it is also regularly eradicated from large orchards but using a cut and burn approach.  Serious stuff requiring a serious approach.

The other is a detection of Asian honey bees in Karama, a Darwin suburb.  The swarm has been eliminated, but they are seeking any nests and these require checking for varroa mite, the main problem.  This is some distance from the Darwin port, and with ports seen as a likely point of entry, the distance away from the port is perplexing.  Will be more to come on this one too.

If detected there are larger implications for the whole Australian honey and queen bee industry [ yes, Australia exports queen bees!].

Both early days, and there is more on this web site, and the ABC Rural has had stories on both subjects recently.

See - https://dpir.nt.gov.au/citrus-canker 

A word of advice - check your citrus tree or trees for citrus canker!! 



UPDATE - 7 June 2018

More citrus canker has been discovered.........with a number of trees including one with a severe infestation, discovered in the Katherine area.

Not a good find!

Check any citrus trees on your property, and do not move fruit or vegetative materials of citrus.  Check the link above for the current current situation.

This is a very serious issue, for local citrus producers as well as the huge citrus industry interstate. 

Zoysia matrella - Manilla Grass - History in North Australia

The first known widespread use of Zoysia matrella in northern Australia seems to be in Darwin at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in about 1963.  The church still has extensive areas of Z.matrella around the buildings with the Smith St frontage in very good condition, and at the adjacent residential buildings, although some areas are somewhat degraded from poor maintenance, low nutrition and ingress of weeds. The weedy grass Chrysopogon acidulatus has been a significant invader in some areas, as have a few other taller perennial grasses.

It seems that the material was sourced from the Philippines by a CSIRO rice agronomist/ breeder [ECB “Butch” Langfield] who spent considerable time at IRRI at Los Banos in the early 1960s as part of rice variety assessment, but along the way became intrigued by the turf common at IRRI as well as in parts of Manilla where it was used as turf.  The exact source is unknown.

However, it did come to Darwin through quarantine and was provided to the Bishop of Darwin during the building of the Cathedral in 1962-63, where it was planted.  The house site occupied by Butch Langfield at Humpty Doo CSIRO village also had a full Zoysia matrella turf area on the large house block by 1967.

The author developed an early interest in Z. matrella turf after seeing these areas and then found Z. matrella was present over a small area at the first house owned in Darwin [1968] and subsequently developed to plant the entire allotment.  The origin of the small patch is not definitively known but had been planted by the original house occupant, presumably from the Catholic Cathedral – it seemed to be the only place where it was grown.  Material was provided to others between 1968 – 1975 to start zoysia lawns, and by 1976 also used to plant another entire suburban allotment where a new house was built after Cyclone Tracy [and zoysia is still present as the turf on the lot].  

As far as is known, no commercial sod producer of zoysia was active in Darwin or anywhere else in the NT or Australia prior to this time, so use and movement was based around a few local enthusiasts who saw Z. matrella as a superior turf to the local strain of a very itchy Paspalum notatum also non commercially distributed as required between households.

An upsurge of interest in turf and garden activity occurred following Cyclone Tracy, and planting material was readily supplied to neighbours and colleagues.  The same materials were also supplied to the Department of Primary Industry at Berrimah Farm for turfing a large area around a new building there at around this time [1975 – 78], and propagation and herbicide evaluation trials carried out.   

Availability and use of slow release fertiliser from the late 1990s has also been an important cultural improvement for this relatively slower growing turf species, allowing steady but low levels of particularly nitrogen and potassium with reduced “surge” growth. 

Reduced problems with lawn grubs has also been noted with Z. matrella in the NT in comparison to most other local turf species with both leaf silica levels and use of slow release nitrogen possible beneficial factors.  It is also non-itchy to bare skin eg if laying or sitting on the turf.

Movement of the Z. matrella material seemed to transfer into the commercial arena in the late 1970s and the 1980s, capitalising on the early local success with Z. matrella with interest from a number of local nurseries who began using it for domestic landscaping projects and selling the product to householders, albeit in a modest way as plugs, not as full sod rolls.

The local type around Darwin which superficially appears morphologically close to Emerald, is now quite widespread, but several turf sod growers now also commercially supply other named lines including X japonica types mostly since the mid-1990s to meet local demand.

It is commonly known locally just as zoysia, not the more widespread common name Manilla grass.

Zoysia matrella lawns Legislative Assembly Darwin overlooking the harbour

The local zoysia was the turf of choice for the immediate areas around the new Legislative Assembly Building when constructed from 1990 [completed 1994] and the iconic site for this zoysia type is now on the Speakers Green outside the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly overlooking Darwin Harbour. 

Sandalwood Oil - Potential Cure for Warts

The hot, north west of Australia seems to be in the middle of a potential new medical breakthrough.

A US company has demonstrated that sandalwood oil, might be a possible cure for warts.  Warts - which most people have somewhere on the body including the genitals, are caused by a virus.  Early trial results indicate that sandalwood oil, applied topically, over a period of a few days, seems to cause the wart to blacken and drop off, with the sandalwood oil apparently moving into the body and removing the virus in the bloodstream such that the warts go away ........not to return.

Much more trial work is needed before any commercial development is approved, but it could rapidly increase the demand for sandalwood oil from current uses - mainly perfumery and similar areas into the medical area. With potential demand increasing quite dramatically.

It is also an area where the oil, rather than any extracts would be used, because of the complexity of the product and a tricky issue to actually identify any very specific molecule as the active agent.  It might  be syngeristic effects anyway, involving a few or many compounds in the oil - and there about 300 of them present.

Sandalwood oil is now produced in and around Kununurra, and production is also being extended to the Katherine area of the NT.  Growing the tree commercially is a tricky project as it is a hemi-parasite requiring both nursery production followed by growth in the field.  A nursery is shown in the photo.  Sandalwood is grown in association with several host plants both in the nursery and in the field, and these vary in different parts of the world where it is produced.  As well as indian sandalwood in the north west, some native sandalwood is also harvested in temperate areas of WA.

It could be a very interesting development, and potentially a considerable profitable industry for the north west region of Australia.