Property owners and landcare groups in the Werribee Catchment now have a local seedbank that will ensure that indigenous plants and trees propagated and planted in the region have a better chance of survival.
The area west of Melbourne is notoriously dry, and plantings within the Grow West area have proven that the right type of indigenous plants, planted in the right way and at the right time of year have the best chance of survival in the challenging environment.
To help overcome vegetation challenges, Grow West has partnered with eTree and Seeding Victoria to establish the Werribee Catchment eTree Seed Bank which will provide an indigenous seed supply service for revegetation projects on both private and public land within the Werribee Catchment. They will also be running workshops to help show people how to collect and propagate seeds in Wyndham Vale on October 3.
Grow West Coordinator Tim Bloomfield says that seedbank will be a massive benefit to local property owners and groups.
“Landcare groups, landholders and large scale revegetation projects like Grow West will be able to purchase and sell locally collected indigenous seed for their projects and know that it has been collected ethically, cleaned, tested and stored to strict guidelines set out by Seeding Victoria,” he explained.
Grow West aims to rejuvenate 10,000 hectares of the upper Werribee Catchment over a 30 year period, which equates to over five million trees, shrubs and grasses being established through direct seeding or hand planting.
“Sourcing good quality indigenous seed has always been a real challenge for large scale revegetation projects such as ours”, says Tim Bloomfield.
“Having an indigenous seed supply for the next 3-4 years for direct seeding and propagation will assist us to plan projects well in advance, especially for direct seeding sites,“ says Tim.
Direct seeding of indigenous species can consume one kilogram of seed per hectare. Using this method can reduce site preparation works and associated costs by half, compared with the traditional method of planting tube stock. There are areas where a direct seeding machine can not access or it’s too steep or rocky, so traditional planting methods are used.
“The Werribee Catchment eTree Seed Bank will provide employment opportunity for professional seed collectors and hobbyist to collect indigenous seed and sell it to the Seed Bank.”
Opening the market to a large range of collectors will assist in obtaining a greater genetic diversity; where otherwise it may have been limited to accessing only a small number of remnants, year after year, which adds more pressure to those populations.
A coordinated approach to indigenous seed within the Werribee Catchment will ensure that the seed needs of individual groups and organizations are identified to ensure the Werribee Catchment eTree Seed Bank can fulfill their requirements.
SEED COLLECTION/PROPAGATION WORKSHOP
Saturday October 3rd
10:00am – 3pm
Iramoo (84 Honour Ave Wyndham Vale
Contact Tim Bloomfield (tim.bloomfield@ppwcma.vic.gov.au ) by Sept 30th to secure your place
For further information on the Werribee Catchment eTree Seed Bank visit www.seedbank.com.au or call Seeding Victoria on ph: 5345 2200
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