Join Mfundo as she takes us through a day in the life as a PR/Communication and CSI lead for NCT Forestry. She also talks about her journey to where she is today and the challenges she has faced along the way.
This is Part 2 in a series of role model videos produced by She Is Forestry SA...
She Is Forestry SA and partners have compiled a library of videos that showcase women who have had fascinating journeys and careers in forestry. These videos serve to inspire women to pursue careers in the forestry sector and educate the public on the wide variety of interesting roles and avenues that exist in the forestry value chain.
NCT’s Roger Poole and Eric Msomi inform the growers of the strict new chain-of-custody requirements. (Photo courtesy Mfundo Ngcobo/NCT).
Small-scale tree farming on tribal land in the KZN midlands is alive and well, as evidenced by an enthusiastic turnout at a recent NCT field day at the co-op’s Ahrens timber depot, near Greytown.
This was a combined field day hosted by NCT’s Greytown regional office for growers supplying their timber to the Glenside and Ahrens depots. Around 80 tree farmers from the surrounding areas attended the field day to hear presentations from the NCT forestry team.
The focus of the day was on the need for growers to comply with NCT’s chain-of-custody protocols which are designed to ensure that every stick of timber crossing the weighbridge at the depot is legitimate, can be traced directly back to the grower, and can be verified by NCT head office if required to do so.
The reason for the elevation of chain-of-custody assurance to ‘High Priority’ in this little corner of South Africa is the growing raft of regulations around the world that are designed to prevent any illegal or stolen timber from entering the global supply chain, and more specifically, to stop illegal logging and deforestation.
A well lined out small grower wattle compartment, Ahrens.
European Union Deforestation Regulation
Central to all of this is the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) which came into effect in June 2023. This regulation requires that any product placed on the market or exported from the European Union did not result in deforestation anywhere along the supply chain, and that the products have been grown, harvested or obtained in accordance with the relevant laws of the country where the production took place.
The timber grown by NCT’s small grower members around the KZN midlands and in Zululand is sold as ‘controlled wood’ either directly as wood chips to markets in China and Japan, or to the Sappi-Saiccor mill on the south coast which exports the chemical pulp it produces to markets across the world. The wood chips and pulp are further processed abroad into paper and packaging materials or fabric, much of which inevitably ends up as finished products in the European Union.
The beginning of this global supply chain goes all the way back to every NCT member tree farmer who supplies timber to one of NCT’s depots – including the small-scale growers harvesting tiny one or two ha woodlots in Matimatolo.
The tree farmers took the news about the CoC requirements to heart. (Photo courtesy Mfundo Ngcobo/NCT).
Certified or controlled wood
In fact this regulation impacts upon every single farmer in South Africa that grows and sells timber that is used as raw material in the manufacture of products destined for mainstream global markets. This timber must either be certified by FSC or PEFC – or both – or at the very least must be sold as ‘controlled wood’ with full assurance of the legality of the whole supply chain.
Back to the Ahrens field day where the NCT team spelled out their requirements for purchasing members’ timber delivered to the depot. NCT is busy developing an app that runs on a mobile phone which will assist the growers to provide the essential info required to comply with their chain-of custody assurance. This includes taking and uploading a photo of the timber they have harvested before it leaves their plot on the short haul journey to the NCT depot. A marketer of clothing in Stockholm or Rome might request that photo to verify that the product he is selling has legitimate origins. Failure to be able to trace that timber all the way back to the grower would result in the mill gate being shut in the face of the timber supplier.
Another area of risk for the ‘controlled wood’ requirements of growers is the short haul transport from plantation to depot. Gone are the days when any old vehicle with wheels – licensed or unlicensed – can be used to haul the timber along dusty district roads from plantation to depot. If the vehicle and the driver and the load are not fully legal and legit, it’s game over. The chain of custody is broken and the timber cannot be sold as ‘controlled wood’. The mill gate will be shut once again.
Gone are the days of delivering timber to the depot with transport like this – Zululand circa 2008.
The growers attending the field day took the news about beefing up their chain of custody assurance pretty well. Some had questions around the difficulties they face in arranging suitable short haul transport, or navigating the technology required to use the app. But those are just some of the challenges that are going to have to be overcome if the timber supply chain is to remain intact.
NCT’s small scale tree farmer of the year
Vikesh from Pmb Power Products presents Sydney with a brand new STIHL chainsaw.
Sydney Qedumona Hlanguza from the Umvoti tribal area has been nominated by the NCT Forestry team as their Small Scale Tree Farmer of the Year for 2023.
This is a prestigious award presented annually to tree farmers who display excellence in the management of their plantations grown on tribal land.
After spending 20 years working in the formal sector, first as a teacher and then with Old Mutual’s sales division, Sydney returned to his traditional home in Ntembisweni in the Umvoto tribal area where he bought a plot situated adjacent to his family’s ancestral land.
Evidence of Sydney’s excellent forestry operations with effective weeding around newly planted tree seedlings.
Initially he managed a small rural trading store but was eventually persuaded to try his hand at forestry, initially planting wattle on his land from seed acquired from NTE.
By the time those first trees reached maturity, Sydney had made contact with NCT’s Greytown District Manager, Cliff Walton, who helped him find a market for the timber.
This was the start of a long-standing relationship between Sydney and NCT, with Sydney becoming a member of the co-op in 2010.
Sydney continued to plant wattle on his land, and now also manages the wattle plantations on the adjoining land owned by his two brothers. He has a total of three hectares of wattle under his management.
Sydney’s three hectares planted with wattle.
Sydney has been instrumental in assisting the foresters from NCT and NTE to roll out Project Wattle Regen in the Umvoti tribal areas, which aims to support the small-scale growers to improve their productivity, and expand the areas planted to wattle.
Black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) is an ideal tree crop well suited to local conditions, and with ready markets nearby.
Most of the wattle timber grown in this area is marketed through NCT which has chipping and export facilities at the nearby port of Richards Bay. The wattle bark is marketed through NTE which has a factory near Greytown that turns freshly harvested wattle bark into tannin and adhesives, destined mainly for the export market. Wattle timber not marketed through NCT is also widely used by locals in many applications such as fencing posts and building material.
Young wattle seedlings are planted in a fenced enclosure to protect them from being trampled by cattle.
Sydney shared some of the many challenges he faces daily. Goats, cattle, and duiker breaking through his fences and seedlings being removed shortly after planting. Fire also is a constant threat and part of his management plan is making sure that he has good firebreaks during the winter months. He deals with challenges faced proactively and responds tactfully. He allows neighbours to collect firewood on his property in a controlled manner, this way he gains allies rather than enemies.
In addition to his forestry business, Sydney also runs a small side-business selling gas refills, lectures in Theology at a local Bible college, and is a speed-walking champion for good measure.
Sydney is a proud father of seven children. His older children are all in successful careers while he is still responsible for his last two who are both training to be teachers. Sydney’s wife works for the University of KwaZulu-Natal as an admin clerk.
He is a humble person who is always open to learning and improving. He considers himself a “student of life” and is always ready to take advice from people who know more about something than himself.
Sydney’s fire breaks – fire is a constant threat, especially in the dry winter months.
Conserving soil health for future generations
Terry Wolhuter receiving his prize – a brand new chainsaw – from Hayden Hutton of Stihl.
Terry and Belinda Wolhuter of 92 Farming (Pty) Ltd are NCT’s Commercial Tree Farmers of the Year for 2023.
Terry is the sixth generation of the Wolhuter family farming on Eiland Spruit Farm in New Hanover in the KZN midlands. The farm was established in 1851 by Mathys Wolhuter, and was historically utilised for raising cattle while crops were cultivated in the flatter areas.
It was Terry’s father, Peter Wolhuter, who started growing wattle on the steeper areas of the farm with sugar planted on the flatter areas.
The farm is 500ha in size and is currently planted with 250ha of sugar cane, 110ha of Acacia and 40ha of Eucalyptus. The remaining hectares are managed as open areas, valleys and waterways which are well maintained with seasonal work being done to ensure alien invasives are eradicated.
All timber compartments are being re-established along the contours to prevent soil erosion.
Terry is very aware of his responsibility as the custodian of the land and the importance of ensuring the viability of the farming operation for the next generation, so conservation of the natural resources - especially the soil - is of fundamental importance to his operational planning. Hence the move to ‘regenerative agriculture’. All timber compartments that are harvested are being re-established along the contours; cool burns are practiced to reduce the harvesting residues. This is only done when the weather conditions are conducive to a cool burn, and after the local community has removed firewood from the harvest sites.
Pesticide usage is kept to a minimum and weed control is done by means of line hoeing followed by a modified slasher that uses chains instead of blades. This creates a mulch in the inter-row that conserves moisture, reduces weed germination and protects the soil from sun, wind and heavy rain storm events. Terry uses his Nguni cattle to graze under the canopy thus reducing the fuel load for fire protection, and promoting weed control.
The farm’s neighbours are corporate timber growers and NCT commercial timber growers.
Regenerative agriculture in the sugar cane blocks is done by planting the fields due for re-establishment with a cover crop seed mix that includes Japanese Radish, Stooling Rye, Fescue grass and Oats. The resultant crop is used for grazing by the Ngunis – the manure they leave behind is a bonus for the soil. After this operation, maize is planted that is either sold or used for feed.
Terry is discovering the benefits of leaving a two-year fallow period between sugar cane crops which he says increases the microbial activity in the soil and results in improved growth when the sugar cane is replanted. Due to the current situation with more sugar cane being carried over than usual, Terry is feeding this to the Ngunis so these blocks are receiving an addition bonus of manure before the sugar cane ratoons or is planted with the cover crop.
Green wattle (Acacia decurrens) stand sown with the specially designed seeder.
Terry’s passion for his farm doesn’t stop at his adoption of regenerative agricultural operations. Innovation is what has assisted Terry in the timber operation, with the creation of a unique wattle seeder as well as a modified ripper with a duck’s foot that has improved stand survival and uniformity.
The wattle seeder, built by Terry’s mechanic Tewis, has reduced the quantity of seed used per hectare and created a uniform dense hedge of young wattle seedlings that are thinned 12 to 18 months after sowing to 2 500 SPHA and then down to 1 800 SPHA at 24 months. Where site conditions allow, conventional Acacia mearnsii (Black Wattle) seedlings are planted. This is where Terry’s ripper and duck’s foot combination comes to the fore. This piece of equipment creates a rip line, and the seedlings are planted into it after is has been marked to the correct espacement. The addition of the duck’s foot behind the ripper’s tine shatters the soil underneath the surface, while the suspended weight automatically closes up the rip line ensuring that soil moisture is not lost due to drying out. This replaces the conventional pit planting system.
Being a sugar cane grower and owning an earth moving business specialising in cane contouring and water way construction, Terry knows the importance of a well-maintained road infrastructure. All the main access roads throughout the farm are gravelled. Contour roads and water ways are all grassed to prevent erosion. Stream crossings are constructed with pipes and concrete so vehicles can cross easily and silting up of the streams is prevented.
A composting operation on the farm reduces the need to purchase synthetic fertilizers to boost growth of the sugar cane crops. Compost is made from a mixture of cane tops, Mila sourced from the local cane mill and chicken litter. The ingredients are mixed and left to break down into a healthy compost that enriches the soil and boosts growth.
The composting operation reduces the need to use synthetic fertiliser, and is central to the regenerative agriculture approach.
Social responsibilities are as important as any other operation on the farm, and apart from assisting with firewood, Terry has loaned TLBs to the community and sponsored a local soccer team.
Terry he attributes the success of the farm to everyone working together, and he says it wouldn’t be the success that it is without the assistance of his wife, Belinda, especially when it comes to all the admin work.
Responsible pesticide use is essential … all pesticides are locked safely away when not in use.
Linking small-scale wattle growers to market
Stihl technical training officer Phawu Silosini explains the benefits of the BT230 Earth Augur to the small growers at the NCT field day at Glenside.
The NCT forestry team hosted two field days for small-scale growers in the KZN midlands at their Glenside and Ahrens depots in March.
These depots play a crucial role in the timber business of the small-scale growers as they are located close to the growing areas thus requiring a relatively short haul from field to depot. The NCT team weighs the in-coming timber, schedules the payment to the grower and arranges the long haul transport from the depot to the NCT chipping facility at Richards Bay.
The purpose of these field days is to familiarise the growers with the timber specs required, to provide the latest info about different aspects of planting, tending and harvesting, and to encourage the growers to network among themselves and interact with the NCT team.
Fisokuhle Ngcobo explains the benefits of correct spacing in this wattle compartment at his homestead in Matimatolo. Fisokuhle and his wife Nomthandazo Hlombe were NCT’s Small-Scale Tree Farmers of the Year in 2021. They manage six ha of wattle and supply NCT’s Ahrens depot.
NCT forester Eric Msomi explained the most common timber defects that the depot will not accept. These include:- • Undersized (less than 50 mm diameter) and oversized (more than 500 mm diameter) timber • Wrong length - the depot requires 2.4 metre lengths • Crooked and bent timber • Timber that has been poorly de-branched or de-barked • Burnt timber and timber that has started decomposing • Timber that is contaminated with stones, rubble, metal or other debris • Timber too fresh – ideally timber should be delivered to depot from around three weeks after harvesting.
One grower raised the issue of timber theft and wondered why he can’t deliver his harvested timber to the depot immediately after harvesting, as the longer it lies around in the plantation the greater is the risk of it being stolen. Eric explained that freshly cut timber is too wet to handle, and also because NCT sells its wood chips as bone dry tons and so it must be weighed at least three weeks after harvesting when the moisture content is sufficiently reduced.
It was suggested that growers could mark their timber with a green dye after harvesting so that it can be identified as belonging to an NCT member, which may discourage the timber thieves.
Timber loading at NCT’s Glenside depot, KZN midlands.
Another issue that came up for discussion at the Ahrens depot field day was the challenges that growers face of getting their timber to the depot. It seems that there is a shortage of reliable transport available for the small-scale growers in these tribal areas to haul their timber from field to depot. This has been an on-going problem as the loads are often quite small and the growers don’t have suitable transport of their own, so they are reliant upon informal, local transporters when available.
Eric also explained to the growers the importance of accurate record keeping in order to verify the origin of all timber delivered to the depot. He explained that the timber is sold as ‘Controlled Wood’ and so the ‘Chain of Custody’ – the timber’s journey from plantation to market - has to be tracked and verified as legal and proper.
The STIHL SA team were on hand to demonstrate the use of their range of equipment designed to improve the productivity of small-scale timber growers and farmers. These included the following:- • WP230 water pump – easy to move around by hand, ideal for pumping water into an irrigation ditch or water tank, moves up to 250 litres per minute. • BT230 Earth Auger – drills perfect holes in the ground for building or fence poles and is ideal for creating uniform pits for planting. • SG230 Sprayer – delivers powerful spray capacity ideal for plantations or small farms. • MS260 Chainsaw … this little baby is designed for felling, de-branching and cross-cutting small timber. It’s light, powerful and reliable.
All of this equipment is available at STIHL dealerships around the country.
A Stihl team member demonstrates the correct method of sharpening the saw chain using a proper Stihl chain sharpening kit. It’s quick and easy once you know how and should be done every time you stop working to fill the machine with petrol. That way the saw is always sharp, more fuel-efficient and easier to handle.
The Eradispray team, based in Pietermaritzburg, demonstrated the use of their Faka-Plenty hand-operated tree seedling tube planter as well as various tools for doing chemical sprays before and after planting to eliminate weeds. These sprayers are attached to special backpacks that are designed for comfort and meet Mondi’s health and safety requirements for contractors working on their plantations.
The tree farmers supplying both if these depots are primarily growing wattle timber which is in big demand among NCT customers around the world. Wattle timber is also used extensively by the local people as building poles and for fences etc. The farmers in this region are also fortunate in that they can sell fresh wattle bark to the bark factories operating close by, which provides them with additional revenue at harvest time.
Callum McKenzie of Eradispray demonstrates the Faka-Plenty manual planting tube which enables the planter to plant effectively without having to stoop down and get his or her hands in the soil – and a sore back.
NCT’s Top Tree Farmers of the Year
NCT’s Top Tree Farmers for 2022: Zodwa Bhengu (left) in the Small-Scale Grower category, and Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes in the Commercial Grower category.
NCT Forestry’s Tree Farmers of the Year for 2022 are Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes of Vryheid (Commercial Grower category), and Zodwa Bhengu of Matimatolo (Small-Scale Grower category).
The candidates for these prestigious awards are nominated by NCT staff, and are assessed against sustainable plantation management principles. This year’s winners were announced at the NCT AGM in July, and received brand new chainsaws sponsored by STIHL and PMB Power Products as rewards for their forestry excellence.
Zodwa Bhengu grows a small block of wattle close to her homestead in the Matimatolo tribal area near Greytown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. She has been associated with NCT for over 20 years since she and her late husband Isaac started a forestry contracting business transporting timber and bark for other small-scale growers like themselves.
Wattle has proved to be an ideal crop for people living around Matimatolo, including the Bhengus, as growing conditions are good and the markets for both timber and fresh bark are located close by. Timber is marketed through NCT while the wattle bark is sold to NTE which operates a bark factory at Hermannsburg.
Proud wattle grower Zodwa Bhengu (centre) in front of her woodlot in Matimatolo, with Cliff Walton of NCT (left) and Eza Mapipa of NTE, during a Project Wattle Regen field day.
In 2018 NCT and NTE joined forces to launch Project Wattle Regen, a joint venture initiative focused on the growing of wattle which is a popular tree crop in the Greytown/KransKop area. The primary aim of the initiative is to promote sustainable forestry in co-operation with small-scale wattle growers, to increase managed hectares of wattle plantations and thereby facilitate the development of the small growers to optimize their business potential and management.
Zodwa Bhengu was one of the first local growers to join Project Wattle Regen, and she has taken full advantage of the opportunities to improve and grow her timber related businesses. She has also played an active role in sharing ideas and expertise with other programme participants at workshops and field days.
Zodwa’s 0.6 ha wattle block has been fully fenced to keep out browsing animals, and she has diverted surface run-off water into her block to improve soil moisture. Currently four years old, her plantation is immaculately maintained with no competing weeds in sight. It is kept clean both inside the compartment and around the perimeter to reduce the fire risks.
A concrete block making operation at her homestead and a taxi business is further proof of Zodwa’s never-say-die entrepreneurial spirit.
Zodwa Bhengu has dug channels to divert surface runoff water into her wattle compartment to promote tree growth.Mrs Bhengu provides timber transport services for local growers.
Concrete block operation at Mrs Bhengu’s homestead in Matimatolo attests to her entrepreneurial spirit. Her well maintained wattle woodlot can be seen in the background.
Commercial forestry operation Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes’ agriculture and forestry business started in 1993, managing a family-owned 750ha smallholding in the Dumbe area of KwaZulu-Natal. Soon thereafter they started their own harvesting contracting business, and a few years later acquired their own 630ha farm, also in the Dumbe district.
Today they manage over 2 000ha of farming land, almost half of which is used for forestry, including gum, wattle and pine.
All forestry operations are performed by their own staff except for the harvesting business which was handed over to a long serving employee.
The farms employ a total of 70 local people, with 30 permanently employed for own operations and 40 allocated to outsourced operations.
The harvested timber is marketed through NCT and Paulpietersburg Timbers. Wattle bark is sold to NTE which has a bark factory close by.
Silviculture on the farms is of a high standard with careful attention to matching the right species to the site and the market requirements.
Harvesting operations are manual, using labour to fell, de-bark and cross-cut the timber.
Gum harvesting on the Johannes’ timber farm.
The Johannes’ utilise everything including the plantation residue and even the tree stumps to manufacture charcoal in their own kilns, which is marketed through Ignite charcoal. The stumps are harvested by a contractor who uses a locally manufactured stump clipper which cuts off the stumps cleanly at ground level.
Only minimal harvesting residue is left behind in brushlines after all the usable material has been collected. These brushlines are reduced further using cool burns after rainfall events, leaving a light residue layer behind to protect the soil.
The open areas on the farms are all under maintenance phase, wetland and riparian areas have been delineated, wattle jungle and weed patches have been cleaned and rehabilitated and natural corridors between open areas have been established to promote and support biodiversity.
A healthy open corridor on the Johannes’ timber estate promotes biodiversity.
The Johannes’ contribute to local communities and have created temporary employment for local people to maintain municipal district roads and rail servitudes.
According to the NCT team that adjudicates the Top Tree Farmer awards: ‘Rudolf and Gudrun Johannes have built up a successful forestry business through hard work and an acumen for identifying opportunities. Diversification has been an important strategy in achieving this success. They have done this with a commendable social and environmental conscience.’
NCT field day provides foresters with valuable insights
The Ibhanoyi Aerial Services team demonstrates the effective use of drones in spraying operations.
NCT Forestry held a highly successful field day at their Enon forestry farm near Richmond in the KZN midlands recently. Foresters and tree farmers came from far and wide to attend the field day and pick up a few useful tips from the experienced NCT team, happy to blow away the cobwebs and engage with colleagues in the real world after months of COVID lockdown.
There were a number of interesting indoor presentations, field stops and equipment demonstrations, finishing off with a delicious braai around the Enon dam.
Prof Keith Little of Nelson Mandela University provided info on the trials he has been conducting in an effort to find a suitable replacement for Paraquat which has been used by foresters for decades to prepare tracer belts to facilitate the safer burning of fire breaks. Paraquat worked brilliantly but has been outlawed by FSC due to the risks associated with handling the chemical. The key thing that made Paraquat so effective was that it rapidly dessicates and kills the above ground vegetation, making it easier and safer to proceed with burning the firebreak in between the tracer belts – but it does not harm the below ground roots. Thus the grass on the tracer belts grows back readily in spring and protects the soil from subsequent erosion and invasion by weeds.
Keith presented some encouraging results that he has had in trials using pelargonic acid (PA) in varying conditions and sites. It seems that it is a good substitute for Paraquat but it is a bit more costly and must be applied at the correct rate and solution to be effective. In other words it is not as ‘bullet-proof’ as Paraquat.
Roger Poole of the Timber Industry Pesticide Working Group says the industry has applied for registration of pelargonic acid for use in South Africa, and hopefully it will be registered in time for the 2023 fire season. In the meantime many foresters are using brush cutters very effectively to prepare tracer belts.
Friedel Eggers of NTE explains the benefits of planting rust resistant wattle clones to foresters at a field stop on NCT’s Enon tree farm, KZN midlands.
Jacob Kotze of NCT Tree Farming provided info on the best performing tree species in terms of their return and impact on the bottom line. Salient points from his presentation were as follows:-
• Wattle gives the best net profit return on all NCT farms. • The cost of wattle rust resistant clones is worth the investment due to reduced silvicultural costs and improved MAI. • Green wattle (Acacia decurrens) is a viable alternative to E. dunnii on certain sites. • E. grandis clones give a good net profit on good sites if a pole market is an option. • E. smithii remains a good option on the right sites. • Plantation insurance costs are considerably less for acacia species vs eucalypts. • TU period is generally shorter for eucalypts than it is for wattle.
The team from Andermatt Madumbi then delivered their presentation on the importance of looking after soil health for good, sustainable yields. They have developed various biological-based products to improve soil and root health which inevitably results in improved vigour and growth of the plants – whether they be trees or agricultural crops. They have had a lot of success with improving crop yields after their soil treatments, and have recently been doing trials in tree nurseries with their root health programme. According to Andrew Keller the programme resulted in improved root health and growth of the cuttings. He said this would lead to improved survival, better pest and disease tolerance and the trees would be quicker to canopy.
Andrew said that there is increasing pressure on farmers all over the world to reduce chemical use in their fields due to declining soil health and productivity over successive rotations, hence the value of using quality biologicals to boost soil health.
He said that tree farmers need more fungi and less bacteria in the soil which will build up the carbon content and lead to healthier crops. At just 3% organic matter in the soil you get “massive growth improvement”, he said. As the fungi to bacteria ratio increases, so too the growth of the plant accelerates.
A walk through NCT’s hybrid trials at Enon provided foresters with a better understanding of the work that is going on to come up with trees that are best suited to different sites while providing good growth, stem form and wood quality as well as pest and disease tolerance.
Tree improvement programme
After the indoor presentations we took a drive around Enon to view some of NCT’s tree improvement trials, from rust-tolerant wattle trees, black and green wattle hybrids and a raft of Eucalyptus hybrids that are producing ever improving results with better growth, improved pest and disease tolerance, wood quality and stem form.
For over 20 years a hybrid breeding consortium has been funding research and testing clones for independent timber growers in the forestry industry. Recently, NCT together with TWK and affiliated clonal nurseries - CPS Seedlings, Ezigro Seedlings, Sunshine Seedlings, Sutherland Seedlings and Top Crop - have formed a non-profit company known as the Hybrid Clone Consortium (HCC) to continue managing this programme.
Highlights of the programme include the development of GN 2107, one of the most widely and successfully grown GxN clones in the industry today; the development of GU 400 and 412 at the height of the L. invasa infestations to help growers combat this pest; and the release of the first South African black wattle clones to the market.
SP 644 is the first commercial rust wattle clone to be released into the South African forestry industry. It has been fast tracked to combat the impact of wattle rust and is readily available at affiliated nurseries. It shows increased rust tolerance when compared to current commercial seedlings as well as increased growth rates and better uniformity.
There are now well over 100 hybrid trials planted across a wide range of South African forestry sites which are contributing crucial info that is steadily building an understanding of which clones to plant on which sites for desired results.
At the same time nursery practises have evolved and clones are now produced through mini-cuttings, which form a tap-root like root system which more closely resembles the root architecture of a seedling. The introduction of paper pots over the past few years has also improved the quality of the root plug and ease of handling of clonal cuttings which are the future of forestry.
We were then treated to a demo of the use of drones to spray the tree canopy from above, the use of a highly effective blower to manage and extinguish a fire by the STIHL team; and various spray and planting rigs from Midlands Spraychem.
Thanks to the NCT team for organising a highly informative field day.
NCT’s Forestry Technology Manager Craig Norris provided info on the hybrid tree improvement programme that NCT, TWK and affiliated tree nurseries are managing. The selected hybrids are extensively trialled and the most successful ones are made available to independent tree farmers through affiliated nurseries.
Alasdair and Callum MacKenzie of Midlands Spraychem demonstrate the use of various spray and planting equipment that they supply and support.
Demonstrating the use of STIHL blowers to manage a grass fire.
The NCT team uses different post harvest slash management systems on their farms depending on site and environment conditions … this photo shows chipping (foreground) and broadcasting the slash (background). The chip piles would be scattered across the site to speed up the breakdown of material, protect the soil and reduce the fire risk.
A stand of fast growing hybrid clones on Enon showing excellent stem form and uniformity.
