Thread: Black Wattle Plantation Potiential

If a timber producer went door to door to furniture makers or kitchen makers I reckon you'd sell your total production from a small plantation quite easily.

The South Africans have been growing this timber since the mid 1800's and Oz has forgotten about it.

If they make their cricket bats from it I can see their prblem.

Al

Problem here is that all the bugs like a bit of good wattle. So, like Radiata (Monterey Pine) grown in Oz & NZ, Black Wattle grown in Suth Efrica would be a good plantation timber as it would be without all its native parasites & diseases.

As for growing it in Oz in any quantity, the amount of pesticides & human intervention needed to produce top grade timber would seem to be prohibitive. May be something for the NZ'ers to look at - they have enough Oz pest species.

I got 27 ha of Sugar Gum plantation - varying from 1 year to 4 years old in the North at the north at the moment.
I have looked at black wattle briefly before but felt that the insect damage may mean that it wouldn't pay.

I will read the reports as I need to put in anther 3-5 ha to finish the plantation.

Any one experienced with the timber??

Rob R

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.1.1<!--[endif]-->Pests and diseases

The fire-blight beetle (Acacicola orphana syn. Pyrgoides orphana) and the rust gall fungus (Uromycladium tepperianum) are cause for concern in the CVFP region as are the many wood-boring insects that lay their eggs in stressed trees. Until research identifies resistant material or introduces resistance, through DNA manipulation into A. mearnsii, or more drought tolerant seed sources are identified, the best protection is to grow healthy trees. Only sow or plant A. mearnsii on sites where it will not be stressed by low soil moisture or nutrient status over the course of a rotation and if needed, enhance the trees' ability to use rainfall with site preparation techniques such as 'Keyline' cultivation.

i have experienced most of the above. Once we got the soil nutrient to the correct levelit was remarkable the differnce in the amount of damage insects were able to do. the timber is 5 yeas old and i believe we have a crop. Time will tell.<o ="">
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Black wattle has self sown on my property here in Tas and has reached a diameter suitable for small saw logs in 12 years . There have also been stories of people racking it with blackwood in alternate layers and having the blackwood colour seep through .

Site selection and mixed species (instead of using one species only) to take advantage of natural variations in soil moisture across the paddock will assist as well. If the paddock has natural drainage lines and small rises, then sugar gum (for example) on the rises and A. mearnsii on the drainage lines, as well as using deep ripping on the top of the Keylines will take advantage of moisture availability.
Easier to just plant the one species across the whole paddock though.