Between 2019 and 2021, Greater Sydney Landcare’s Glenda Steain ran a number of Sustainable Agriculture Workshops and Field Days. They were presented by weed and pasture specialist Harry Rose. These events were funded by Local Land Services.
Soil Health Series – Educational Videos
A series of videos was created to help landholders assess their soil health. On the video below you can click the icon which shows three lines and reads 1/15 underneath to show the full playlist of soil health videos.
The 15 videos in the Soil Health Series cover:
- Ground Cover
- Indicators of Soil Health
- Penetrometer
- Infiltration
- Top Soil Depth
- Soil Structure
- Soil pH Acidity
- Slaking and Dispersion
- Soil Texture
- Soil Macro Life
- Fill in the Hole
- Soil Health Card (Part 1) – Recording Results
- Soil Health Card (Part 2) – Interpretation
- Soil Health Card (Part 3) – Management Options
- Books
Glenorie – Glaston Pasture and Weed Management
This workshop was for both small and large landholders.
The core message of the field day was: Before you can successfully manage weeds there are three fundamental things you need to know about your property.
- Soils and their limitations
- Pasture species and their characteristics
- Weed species and their characteristics
Session 1:
Participants were shown how to identify what pasture species and weeds were present on their properties.
- Participants were taken through how to use the publications: Grasses of Coastal NSW and Pasture Weeds of Coastal NSW.
- Participants then undertook an outdoor practical session identifying groundcover species around the venue.
Session 2:
Participants then used the books to determine the soil and environmental requirements, toxicity and weed/productive value of each species. This was followed by group discussions.
- Participants were encouraged to go home and identify the major pasture and weed species on their properties and bring along the species lists to the next workshop where we discussed their specific examples.
Afternoon session:
Participants were taken through how to assess the productive potential and limitations of their soils using the soil health card (see video).
Please note: Our presenter Weed & pasture specialist Harry Rose compiled a series of demonstration videos which are available for viewing on Greater Sydney Landcare’s YouTube channel. View the Soil Health Series here.
Central Coast Plateau Field Day & Workshop
In 2019, Greater Sydney Landcare ran a Healthy Soils & Integrated Weed management workshop for improved land management on the Central Coast Plateau.
The day provided an opportunity to bring along problem weeds and have them identified by a specialist weed agronomist.
The day focussed on integrated weed management, which involves using a variety of methods to:
- prevent weed entry and spread
- make your farm environmentally stronger
- specifically target the destruction of weeds
This field day demonstrated practical tools to monitor soil health, as soil health plays a part in weed success.
The Field Day also looked at:
- characteristics of weeds which make an integrated weed mangagement approach essential
- costs of weed control and how it changes with time since invasion
- different methods available for control
- examples of integrated weed management for specific weeds
- where to find information on the management of different weeds
