Once you have determined where you will be planting or direct seeding and for what aim, ideally order your plants and seeds as soon as possible but definitely by the December before you plant. This allows the nurseries and seed collectors time to source the best seed, propagate it and get the plant to a size where transplanting into the ground is not too stressful (for everyone).

Decide whether you will be able to plant the plants or whether you will be seeking planting contractors to plant and direct seed. If using contractors book them early.

Decide whether you will be guarding your plants. This might be required if sites have heavy pressure from rabbits and hares. Where possible do a control program before planting.

The following landscapes profiles of West Hume Landcare area will help you determine what plant species are most appropriate for your site. (Profiles come from the South West Slopes Revegetation Guide).

Click here to access a downloadable excel spread sheet with plant species to help you with your ordering. Note on the form most of the plant species have a little symbol next to them to indicate what animal, bird or insect’s use the plants.

As a guide:

• for a cleared site your will need approximately 400 plants per Ha (this is at a 5mt spacing between plants)

• Aim for 80-70% shrubs and 20-30% trees species. So every tree there will be 32 or 28 shrubs. Often at the time of planting the spacing of 5mts looks huge – it doesn’t take long for the gaps to fill.

Local native plant nurseries will grow plants suitable for the West Hume Landcare area. Remember to ask, if possible, to use seed sourced as local to the planting area plus include some plants where seed has been sourced to accommodate for climate change predictions.

Native Plant Nurseries that will grow plants suitable for the West Hume Landcare area.

Jayfeilds Nursery (Holbrook)

Australian Native Farm Forestry (ANFF) (Cobram)

Sandy Creek Farm Trees (Yackandandah)

Our Native Garden Nursery Inc (Wodonga)

Wagga Nursey (Wagga Wagga)

Park Lane Nursery (Wangaratta)

DIRECT SEEDING

Direct seeding large areas offers an alternative way of revegetating sites. Generally, direct seeding is best for larger areas and some contractors may only considered sites of a minimum hectare area. As a guide, a site of 1ha is the equivalent of 4 km of direct seeding (and approximately 200-500g seed per km). The ratio will vary in sites with existing tree cover.

Direct seeding is a great method for reintroducing diverse shrubby layers into sites and has the advantage of being able to work in remnant patches between trees. It is also great for sites with lower fertility and few exotic ground covers.

The key for successful direct seeding is reduced ground cover or biomass prior to seeding and ease of accessibility for the direct seeding machine (it is pulled behind a 4WD).

Make contact with the direct seeding contractors well ahead of direct seeding time to ensure you can get the seed mix best suited to your site.

Murray Local Land Services - Native Seed Services are the main provider of local native seed and contract seeding.