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MacAlert March 2024

2024 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month: • Rats. Wet weather has made ideal conditions for rats and mice. • Thrip and Mite damage. Thrip and mite flare ups are often the direct impact from too frequent use of disruptive chemicals. • Kernel Grub. Check storage bins for pests attracted to the odour from broken shells, like kernel grub. • Phytophthora. Phytophthora root rot and trunk canker have a significant impact on production following wet weather. Now is a good time to asses its prevalence. • Nutrition. Long term productivity relies on consistent nutrition which usually includes organic material. You may need to monitor closely more mobile elements such as nitrogen. • Orchard floor preparation is not the only clean up required prior to harvest. Cleaning and checking for any contaminants are essential for food safety as well as a supply requirement with your processor. • There are major benefits to completing a crop loss assessment on all loads coming into the shed. • Are there ways to reduce your harvest period and set the orchard up for the following season sooner?

MacAlert February 2024

2024 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month: Rats. If you're not actively managing rats now, it will only get worse through harvest. Spotting bug. Late season damage is only revealed in consignment reports or on drop sheets. Botryosphaeria branch dieback. Symptoms become obvious in late summer. The autumn flush has started earlier this year in response to rain. Monitoring flush, in particular where flush is poor is a pre-emptive way to identify tree health issues. Finish pre-harvest clean-up ensuring no old nuts, sticks and debris remain on the orchard floor. With orchard hygiene and clean-up in progress, ensure mulcher parts (grease points, belts, hammers and retaining bolts) are not worn and functional. Conduct thorough maintenance of dehusking/sorting shed. February/March MacGroups are your chance to connect with others in the industry. RSVP now.

MacAlert January 2024

2024 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month • Spotting bugs. Although shells have hardened, damage is still possible and will be worse after rain. • Leptocoris. More Leptocoris have been found in recent seasons and we are unsure why. • Macadamia nut borer. MacTrix wasp releases should continue into January. • Bark/boring beetles. More prevalent in recent dry seasons, members of the scolytid beetle family, commonly known as bark beetles or borers can cause tree and nut damage • Husk spot and husk rot. January onwards is a good time to assess any loss from these two husk diseases in the orchard. • Water requirements are now at their maximum. Macadamias are highly susceptible to water stress during oil accumulation which will continue into late February in Queensland and early March in New South Wales. • Heading further into summer, heavy rain along with the potential for strong winds, storms, cyclones and east coast lows are all a possibility. • Start preparing for preharvest clean-up. Orchard floor fanatics maximise income. • On-farm nut storage will be important as the supply chain changes. Storage is nuanced and professional advice is recommended, even if you have a small operation.

MacAlert December 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month include: • Spotting bug. Keep monitoring for spotting bug by examining fallen nuts for damage. • Unless you're using species specific pheromone lures, monitoring and management is the same for banana spotting bug (BSB) and fruit spotting bug (FSB). • Macadamia Nut Borer (MNB). Keep monitoring for MNB eggs which helps time wasp releases. • Leptocoris. Red-brown winged bugs, known to harbour in foam bark and golden rain trees. • Water demand. Nut shed will continue in some regions, particularly southern areas where the crop is less advanced. • The month ahead remains a fire danger, but the arrival of storm season sees a change in preparation. Do you have a plan to deal with any orchard damage from severe storms? • Benchmarking data collection is underway for the 2023 season and it’s not too late to be join. Benchmarking is a free and confidential service comparing your farm’s yield, quality and optionally costs with other similar farms and the wider industry. • Start a conversation with your processor. With global and domestic supply increases and changes to the supply chain, there have been changes to “usual”.

MacAlert November 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month include: • Spotting bug. Monitoring for spotting bug is critical. Look for damage at least weekly and preferably more regularly in warmer regions. The next few months are a period of high risk and potential crop loss. • Red Shouldered Leaf Beetle. This swarming pest has impacted many orchards over the last year, feeding on leaves (particularly new flush) that are left skeletonised or appear scorched. • Macadamia nut borer (MNB). Monitor for nut borer eggs (which signals the start of flights into orchards) to help time releases of the parasitic Trichogramma wasp, MacTrix. • Macadamia seed weevil (MSW). Monitor shed nuts on the ground for MSW eggs or larvae, particularly if control such as indoxacarb spraying was missed. • Husk spot. There are several new products available for control. If you have to spray for husk spot, ensure you are rotating chemical groups, which is more complicated with the new compound products. • Nutritional demand. Growing flushes and developing nuts are currently large nutritional sinks. Nitrogen and potassium are particularly important at this crop stage. • Water demand. The declared El Niño will lead to months of drier, hotter weather ahead. Macadamia trees have excellent ‘poker faces’ when it comes to environmental and soil water stress. • The potential for damage from intense storms (even during El Niño conditions) is increasing, so be prepared. • The Benchmarking project team has commenced data collection for the 2023 season.

MacAlert October 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month include: • Macadamia seed weevil (MSW). Although MSW is a NNSW and FNQLD pest, every region should be on the look out. • Husk Spot. Control for husk spot should have started if you have susceptible cultivars, and or a history of the disease. • Spotting bugs (FSB & BSB). Early in the season look for distinctive damage on nutlets as they reach pea size and fall from trees when stung. • Banana fruit caterpillar (BFC). In northern regions, monitor for BFC in leaf litter and when they are active at night. • If you are unsure of how trees are progressing nutritionally, spring is a good time to sample leaves after flowering and before they flush. • During spraying season, mitigating spray drift is crucial. • With dry weather ahead one of the best ways to maintain soil moisture, improve soil productivity and ensure orchard resilience is ground cover. • Warmer weather with increased vegetation, after three wet seasons, are ideal conditions for many pests and increase the risk of bushfires.

MacAlert September 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month include: • Monitor weekly to fortnightly for pests and diseases that affect flowers depending on the risk to your orchard. • If you have known hotspots, pay close attention to them first. Best practice is to select controls that have the least impact on non-target species. • If you’re still harvesting, be aware of withholding periods and products that you cannot use if you are still going to pick up nuts (such as Sivanto Prime). • With the number of Varroa mite infested sites increasing, make sure you know where your honey bee hives are coming from. • Tree water demand is increasing, you need to put in place every moisture retention strategy you can. • The AMS website has a weather monitoring page where you can see real time conditions on a large network of weather stations located on macadamia orchards. • You are likely to be doing some sort of canopy management over the next few months. Remember to be safe. Ensure that all staff are suitably trained. • There are so many benefits of letting ground cover grow. Consider reduced mowing strategies to save costs and improve orchard health, leaving a habitat for beneficials and improving orchard floor moisture retention as we head into drier months ahead.

MacAlert August 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

• Monitoring should be underway for pests and diseases that impact flowers. Cutting back on monitoring is a risky strategy, the small investment is invaluable. • In southern regions, monitor for lace bug. Previous hotspots are a good place to start. • In northern regions, monitor for flower caterpillar. Eggs are the first sign of infestation. • Flower blights. If your orchard has a history of flower diseases and weather conditions are conducive, you may need to apply a preventative fungicide. • Husk spot. Shortly after flowering, husk spot control is important if your orchard has a history of the disease, has stick tights and/or susceptible cultivars. • Rats are always an issue, but they are reported to have been more damaging this season following wet years. You have an opportunity at the end of harvest to reduce populations. • As the weather warms, tree nutrition and water requirements increase. An El Nino is expected to form in the second half of the year and conditions will likely be hotter and drier. • At end of harvest season, conduct a thorough audit of what needs to be repaired and make notes while it’s fresh in your mind of how machinery performed. • Do you have a plan to bring managed pollinators into your orchard? Honeybee and native beehives have different distribution and management considerations. • As the weather warms there is an opportunity to plant cover crops which improve orchard productivity and resilience. • Winter is the best time to prepare for fire season and as a landowner you are responsible for this preparation.

MacAlert July 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

MacAlert June 2023

2023 | Australian Macadamia Society | Manual/guide

Key messages this month include: • We are heading into the peak pest and disease monitoring period. The impacts of this year’s weather conditions need to be factored into your management. • There is still time to adjust nutrition before flowering, so discuss your soil/leaf sampling results with your consultant and develop a nutrition program. • With current prices, the incentive to harvest and its cost are being weighed by each grower. Your grower liaison can help sample in blocks you aren’t sure are worth picking up. • Do you understand how kernel assessments on samples from your consignments are conducted and what this means for grower payments? The AMS is holding kernel assessment workshops. • Winter is the best time to prepare your farm for the fire risk season ahead. • Are you ready for spray activities over the next few months?

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