Wattles for revegetation.

We haven't even began to seriously explore the possibilities of wattles for regeneration in Australia.

I have been looking to see about mixing in the right risobia strains that are needed in pellets around the seeds. (Acacias have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria - which they accumulate in nodes on their roots. This enables acacias to make the nitrogen they need to grow quickly in poor soils.)

We still need to see what species grow and where. The next question is how ... how to grow them...

Species, providences and an understanding of how risobia work, we need to do more on this. Then we need to understand how to plant them.

Spacing, thinning and interplanting with other species ... there seems no doubt that acacias help eucalypts to grow.

We are still block planting we haven't yet got into more innovative ways of planting, to fit into the environment. Block planting can work well if rainfall is sufficient.

John Broackwell, who has retired from CSIRO's Plant Industries Division. Is looking at putting wattle seeds pelleted with risobia and planting them at the back of a spreader. This could be an economical way to establish large areas with many varieties.

We have to think more laterally. There is lots of variation. Risobia types are species specific, we have come up with a soup mix of 3 strains that work for about 20 species. Jayfields nursery used sterilised soil and their acacias were failing. Then John helped them by added risobia strains to the their potting mix.

Lousie Maud down the South Coast area of NSW is doing field trials on wattle planting. She is getting 3 metres in height within 18months - in a drought. She is working in a dairy farming area planting into raised soil banks ... she will need to remove the competion before the trees start declining.

Acacias are prone to insect damage when stressed. The insects come after the stress, rather than the cause of the damage before the stress. I've looked at thousands of trees over times and the stress has always been there before the damage. Root pathogens, yes they get in and cause damage.

Perhaps as part of a soil regeneration rotation cropping cycle using wattles insects and root pathogens could be used to help clear an area?

That's a new idea.

Talk to John Wetherstone. He has a lot of experience on his farm about 80 km from here.

We were sold a revegetation dream. We jumped well ahead of our knowledge. Farmers were told that we were going to plant a billion trees ... and that we want to do this or that. They were leap frogging the ability to do the possible! The thing about John Wetherstone is that he has done much of what is possible, and he has now been doing it long enough that he has even surprised himself.

Remember, we are interested in collecting the tentatively possible and then juggling all this to give new ways of looking into the future. We are concerned about the ASSUMPTIONS that go into what believe we can do!

John Williams - head of this Division and my boss - is also very interested in this. He will give you the big overview.

As scenists we are now being asked to use a whole systems approach, not to know more about less and less but to consider about how economics fits in with water use, farming styles and so on - the overall picture.