After a wetter winter, we’ve had a dry couple of months at Frahns Farm, Monarto, so we’ve completed the first watering of our June 2020 plantings which included 23,000 seedlings and 12 hectares of direct-seeded native grasses.
Given the scale of the plantings, we trialled the use of a 13,000 L water truck to deliver water to our seedlings and grasses via fan sprays. The water that was sprayed out over the graded rows firstly watered the direct seeded native grasses, before extra runoff was funnelled into the deep water bowls (where the tubestock seedlings were planted), using the natural slope of the land to ensure that the seedlings received enough water. While we certainly plan to tweak our planting method in 2021 to further improve our results, we were thrilled with how well this method worked! The technique has great promise for ensuring that we can deliver enough water to large-scale plantings through dry summers to improve survival rates…99% of our 2020 seedlings are still alive and most look super healthy!!
A huge thank to the Old Red Brick Co, who generously lent us their water truck – “Dust Suppression Unit 13” – for the weekend! Thanks also to John Morley, our long-term volunteer and truck driver, who skilfully negotiated the vehicle around our native plantings to deliver the precious water to our plants. Finally, thanks again to everyone who helped prepare such deep water bowls in June for our seedlings when they were planted. All your hard work has already paid off!
