SoilCare  Inc,    P.O.  Box  525,  Alstonville,  NSW  2477    Ph:    0448  026  230  E:  info@soilcare.org        Web:    www.soilcare.org      Facebook:    www.facebook.com/soilcare  

     

 

North Coast Local Land Services Project Ground Covers and Cover Crops for Soil Health

Ross Arnett Malua Farm - Macadamias

  Project Objective: Demonstration of ground covers & cover crops to improve soil and tree health. This project

has two parts. The first being the use of Dolichos Lablab as a cover crop in a new macadamia tree planting and the

second component is the use of cover crops and compost to repair previous poor practices using herbicides around

small trees.

Farmer’s philosophy on farm & soil management: Farming to me is all about the soil. It is the foundation of good

farming practices. I am very much focused in this area and

believe that among other things increase the organic matter

and diversity of plants in my ground covers will lead to a much

healthier & productive macadamia orchard. Ground covers play

a critical role in adding to the diversity of the orchard. While a

macadamia orchard may appear to be a monoculture to the

casual observer - by having ground covers and not bare soil

and a diverse range of species within that groundcover you

create an ideal environment for many species of organisms to

thrive above and below the surface.

Groundcover/Cover Crop demonstration steps

Lablab was used as a kikuyu grass suppressor when

planting 800 new macadamias

• The new rows were marked out and rotary

hoed twice 3 weeks apart to kill the kikuyu

• The Lablab on maturity was then slashed

across the rows to allow room for tree

planting

• The Lablab has been allowed to keep

growing providing protection and soil

improvement for the new trees

Fumig8tor (a biofumigant) along with compost

enhanced with Trichoderma has been used to

suppress Phytophthora in 8 year old macadamias.

A nursery area has been set up to grow Pinto

peanut, Shaws Creeping Vigna & Kenya White Clover

as ground covers in the older part of the orchard.

Dolichos Lablab

    SoilCare  Inc,    P.O.  Box  525,  Alstonville,  NSW  2477    Ph:    0448  026  230  E:  info@soilcare.org        Web:    www.soilcare.org      Facebook:    www.facebook.com/soilcare  

     

Proposed benefits: • Increase soil organic matter

• Increase infiltration

• Improve soil structure

• Decrease runoff

• Decrease soil erosion

• Conserve soil moisture

• Increase nutrient availability

• Supply/maintain nitrogen

• Suppress weeds

• Suppress soil-born diseases/nematodes

• Attract beneficial insects

• Increase crop yields

Additional information/ how to monitor The Lablab I expect to prevail for 2 to 3 years. When the

Lablab starts to decline I will look at planting other suitable

cover crops to take its place until the macadamia trees are

mature enough to compete with the kikuyu.

I plan to use the soil health card and photography to

monitor and assess the changes to the health of the

Phytophthora effected trees.

The Pinto Peanut, Shaws Creeping Vigna & Kenya White

Clover grown in the nursery will be planted out in the

orchard as the kikuyu recedes due to shading from the

macadamias.

A ‘good bug mix’ is planted in headlands to further attract

beneficial insects to the orchard.

Arnett  Family  Macadamias  

 Sunflower  cover  cropsprovide  multiple  benefits  

 Propagating  Pinto  Peanut  

For more information contact: info@soilcare.org Subject line: Ross Arnett

 

 This project is sponsored by SoilCare and Richmond

Landcare with funding from the North Coast Local Land Services (NCLLS)

 

Description Quantity Unit Price Cost

Lablab 100kg $ 2.56 $ 256.50

Fumig8tor 6 kg $ 7.20 $ 43.20

Good Bug Mix .5kg $ 90.00 $ 45.00

Shaw Creeping Vigna .5kg $ 90.00 $ 45.00

Sunflowers - Grey striped 25kg $ 2.28 $ 57.20

Phytoguard 1pkt $ 178.20 $ 178.20

Organic compost - donated to the project by Northern Rivers Waste 20m3 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Total $ 625