By John Fitzsimmons
By now, most of us are familiar with the key performance criteria of potting mixes but it doesn’t hurt to refresh our knowledge periodically, particularly with the growth in specialist lines available to industry and for resale. It’s also worthwhile to consider the expanding list of applications; potting mixes are not necessarily just for pots any more.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Denis Crawford
For insects which go through a lifecycle of complete metamorphosis, the pupal stage is a critical one. But sometimes the pupal process is not smooth sailing.
Only insects which pass through a lifecycle of complete metamorphosis (holometabolous) have a pupal stage.… Continue reading
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An aerial image shows The Cape’s restoration of the natural environment progressing alongside the residential construction (Image: Alan Foon)
By Georgia Warren and Eily Schulz
The Sustainable Landscape Company (TSLC) is contributing to the delivery of The Cape, a zero-emissions housing community in Cape Paterson, transforming a degraded former cattle station into a thriving habitat site for residents as well as flora and fauna.… Continue reading
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Tillandsia plants installed at level 92 Eureka Tower where they have survived on their own biology for over seven years (Image: Lloyd Godman)
By Lloyd Godman
As the honeymoon period of vertical gardens ends, a critical question asks, How can plants be integrated into architecture in a sustainable manner?
Tillandsia SWARM is an ongoing ecological art project where Tillandsias (air plants) are mounted on a range of extreme urban sites, left to their own biological devices to survive, and monitored over time.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Bruce Thompson
Encountering raised garden beds where corn, tomatoes, beans, lettuce and parsley are growing, isn’t something you expect to see when you’re offloading your truck full of recycling bin items at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and yet this is the experience of truck drivers who visit Mackay Regional Council’s facility.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Denis Crawford
The populations of some insects can vary dramatically in size from one year to the next. Why does that happen?
As I write this Pest File my garden is a-flutter with clouds of cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae).… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Denis Crawford
Most cultivated plants are attacked by a mixture of introduced and native insect pests. You may be surprised which pests are the native ones.
I recently found some caterpillars chewing into the leaves and stems of my climbing guinea flower, Hibbertia scandens.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Bruce Thompson
As a waste educator who is also a horticulturist, the talks I give on resource recovery at Mackay Regional Council’s Materials Recovery Facility are very much skewed towards connecting people back to mother nature as a means of reducing what goes to landfill.… Continue reading
Read MoreBy Denis Crawford
The arrival of insects en masse can cause alarm, but as you will see an ‘invasion’ may not necessarily result in an infestation requiring management.
Just as our borders were reopening post-COVID, there were some arrival flights of a different kind in my region.… Continue reading
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Cabbage aphid parasite enters the colony bottom right (Supplied by Denis Crawford of Graphic Science)
By Denis Crawford
Aphids thrive in warm, moist conditions so they are often the first insect pests that we notice in spring. Most of the aphids that cause problems in Australia are introduced from elsewhere and it’s likely they are here to stay.… Continue reading
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