Nursery Feature

Good Bugs and Plentiful Water

Moores Flowers Plant Nursery

Christopher, Trish and son Kevin Moore have been growing plants on their Wandin farm for over thirty years, but what they grow and how they grow has changed dramatically in that time.

Originally they grew cut flowers, but have since moved their focus to growing mainly native and indigenous plants that are drought tolerant.

The Moores have also virtually stopped using chemical pesticides and they recycle their water. Trish explains that it took about 12 months to swing over from chemicals to using alternative control methods.

'I was just fed up with spraying all the time,' says Kevin. 'Having to suit up and spray chemicals everywhere every week.'

Predators to the Rescue

'It was calm for about six weeks after we stopped spraying,' explains Trish, 'then suddenly there was a huge build up of disease and insects. Financially it can be a big worry. You just have to grit your teeth because it takes so long to get the other control measures, such as predators, up and going.'

'We've now had a research company visit us from New South Wales because of all the predatory insects we have here. In particular, predatory midges, Aussie 1 and Aussie 2 they call them, have been collected from here,' Trish says.

'We have 7 - 10 ladybird species here, including a little yellow one that eats fungus, and plenty of native wasps.'

'We can use some low impact chemical control, like Success for thrip control, which is safe to use here. But we've also discovered other sorts of spray. Coke for example and coffee mixed in water - the caffeine is a killer!'

Recycling Water

The Moores are building a series of dams to take nursery run off. Kevin (pics above) shows off the latest earthworks. They are constructing different levels so that run off water flows through swales of grasses which will clean the water of its nutrients and finally into a main dam. They use solar pumps to keep it moving.

The existing old, main dam is pictured below. And of course the Moores collect a lot of rainwater from the roofs too.

Display Gardens

Another initiative is the display gardens (above) they are establishing around the property to showcase a variety of drought tolerant plants.

'We have planted quite a variety of different plants to show people just how good they can look,' Trish says. She's seen here inspecting a beautiful Lomandra.

The two photographs above show garden beds that have been established for a couple of years, whereas the two shown below had only gone in a few months earlier, on the site where cypress trees were removed.

Kevin has selected and grown a particularly attractive Lomandra with blue weeping foliage that SGA used in its display garden at the recent Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (2007). Lomandra confertifolia subsp. rubigonosa 'Floral Cascade' looked absolutely stunning en masse in the rain garden beds, where it will tolerate winter inundation and summer drought (pictured left).

Resurrecting bushland

The Moores have also received a grant to revegetate areas of their land that back onto a stream and are surrounded by leased Crown land. The idea is that they will establish a corridor for wildlife, as well as improve the health of the stream.

Moores plants are available wholesale through Plantmark or from their nursery in Wandin, phone 03 5964 4494.