Questions for Peter

[Jennifer Goode]

My husband and I were lucky enough to attend a presentation by Peter Andrews last night in Mansfield but were unfortunate in having to leave before his presentation finished. As such I had some questions to ask of him and was wondering whether this was a forum for posting a couple of questions and having them answered by him.

If not, could you let me know how I can contact him; and, if so, here are the questions:

1. Peter mentioned plants that can live harmoniously with Eucalypt trees by utilising their phenols (?) and wax but he didn’t mention which ones. Could he list some for us as we have an increasing number of gums growing on our property and a depleting understorey.
2. The other question was what plants would be best planted on top of our hill, which is natural bushland feeding down to our aquifer and our cleared pasture. The site is over run with Paterson’s Curse and St John’s Wort following over grazing by our predecessors and the presence of vermin (pigs, deer, rabbits, etc.) from the adjoining state forest? We asked him earlier in the evening about the Willows for the aquifer but forgot about the large overgrazed and depleted area above it. We noted in his second book the reference to saltbuch and wondered whether that may be the answer or a combination with deciduous trees.

Peter visited the Freasers property while in Mansfield and that is almost neighboured to us; we are to the south of them and back onto the same state forest, so he may recall the type of lowland country we own. We do not have stock on our 135 acres as it is a lifestyle property but we have some alpaca and we will buy some sheep purely for land management purposes. These animals will be rotationally grazing. We are committed to the NSF method of land management but are seeking more detail to ensure we take the right steps at this point.

I would be very pleased if Peter could respond to our email either with the answers or a means of speaking briefly with him.

With kind regards


Jennifer Goode

[duane]

Jennifer

There are many plants that can live as an understorey wit Eucalypts.
A comprehensive list is best made by trial and error with advice from local nurseries or forestry. Tube stock or long stem plants are best.

If the gums are on the hilltops then the hydraulic pressure there will be negative meaning plants that will grow here do not require a great deal of water.

Some suggestions but not comprehensive would be both exotics and natives. Avoid fire resistant plants if possible.

A list could include such plants as
acacias,
acmena,
actinotis,
agapanthus,
agonis,
ajuga,
allocasurarina,
angophora,
atriplex,
swamp banksia,
bedfordia,
brachychiton,
bursaria,
carpobrotus,
casurina,
crowea,
einadia,
enchylaena,
ficus,
grevillea,
hakea,
hymenosporum,
jackosonia,
lagunaria,
lasiopetalum,
maireana,’
melia,
myoporum,
pittosporum,
rhagodia,
sarcozona,
scleranthus,
selliera,
zygophyllum.

In other words, there is a plethora of species, these are just a few. The idea is to build biodiversity.

I was informed recently that back in the early 1900's there were 1,000,000 koala pelts sent overseas. To get this number of perfect pelts they would probably have killed another 1/2 million or more.

I have never seen a koala in the wild. But imagine that here we had a specialised animal, adopted to eating only gum leaves. In their gut would have been micro organisms to break down the waxes and phenols. As the koala dropped their dung on the ground those micro organisms would have been present in the soil breaking down the fallen gum litter. When you take these animals out of an ecosystem it falls into imbalance.

You can try all of the decidous plants as well and saltbush.

The Pattersons curse is trying to restore your soil to a more alkaline pH. There is a blog on weeds which describes the successional process of these plants...I wont repeat it here but look for Mondo's blog.