Welcome to the November 2011 edition of Fertile Minds, the newsletter of Sydney Environmental & Soil Laboratory.
In this issue we alert you to our Christmas break dates, discuss improvments to waste classifications to allow soil recycling, show our newest water sampler and include a YouTube clip of the lazy way to round up cattle.
If you have any questions you would like answered in Fertile Minds, please write to info@sesl.com.au.
If you have any special requirements, we would be pleased to talk with you and tailor a package and price. Please contact the office on (02) 9980 6554 or write to us at info@sesl.com.au.
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The SESL offices and laboratory will be closed for Christmas and New Year from 3pm on Friday 23 December 2010 until 9am on Tuesday 3 January 2011.
Because of different lead times, the last day for the receipt of samples will depend on the type of testing required. The cut-offs listed below represent the last day samples can be received and still be reported before Christmas.
Samples that will not deteriorate during holding can be accepted up to close of business on Thursday 22 December for testing and reporting after the New Year. Samples that will deteriorate during holding will not be held.
Cut-off dates
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Last date
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Test
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Fri 9 Dec
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general horticultural pathology - check with the lab before sending samples
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Thu 15 Dec
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toxicity and NDI (AS3743, AS4419 and AS4454)
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Fri 16 Dec
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microbiology
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Mon 19 Dec
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BOD and USGA
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Tue 20 Dec
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chemical testing runs (ICP, SmartChem etc.)
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Wed 21 Dec
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TN, TC, turf grass pathology and contaminants
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Business dates
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Date
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Details
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Thu 22 Dec
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last run for the year
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Fri 23 Dec
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last day for reporting results; lab closes at 3pm
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26-30 Dec
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lab closed
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Mon 2 Jan
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New Year's Day holiday
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Tue 3 Jan
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business as usual
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If in doubt, please call our lab manager, Luzmila Abercrombie, on 02 9980 6554, to discuss.
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The Loam Ranger - Synergy
Synergy is when things work better together than the sum of their parts. Plant nutrients can show synergy.
A good example comes from a trial in Kansas, USA, of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilisers on irrigated maize, or corn (Zea mays). The graph shows the yield response - that is, the yield increase in response to each fertiliser, not the total yield. P fertiliser applied alone at 3.2 kg/ha increased the yield by 236 kg/ha. N fertiliser applied alone at 29.6 kg/ha increased the yield by 617 kg/ha. The sum of these increases is 853 kg/ha. Yet the yield response to N and P applied together was 1182 kg/ha, an extra 329 kg/ha on top of the sum.
This is a synergistic (or synergetic) response.
Not all nutrients show synergy, and you can have too much of a good thing.
The same trial also found that adding P increased to the economic optimum N rate, but that adding "insurance" N reduced profitability.
Click here for further reading and download (200 words, 1 minute) |
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A recent external review of SESL's capabilities highlighted our almost unique expertise in urban horticulture. So we thought we'd expand on this idea here.
What is urban horticulture?
Horticulture (from the Latin hortus = garden) is the growing of plants. Urban refers to a city (Latin urbs = city). So urban horticulture is any manifestation of the growing of plants in a built-up area. It can range from window boxes through home gardens to market gardens all the way to city parks, sports fields and street trees.
SESL's capabilities cover the entire breadth of urban horticulture:
- home gardens
- councils
- landscape architecture
- composting
- vegetable and flower growing
- major developments.
Click here for a run-down of all the areas where SESL can help (580 words, 2 minutes)
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Updates to environment protection licences to allow soil recovery
Under the current NSW regulations for waste classification, excavated materials that do not qualify as "virgin excavated natural material" (VENM) must be disposed of to landfill. This leads to a potential waste of usable resources that do not qualify as VENM but are not necessarily harmful to the environment.
The resource recovery exemptions provide the only legal way for waste generators to divert suitable materials away from landfill into recycling, yet some materials currently classified as waste may still be suitable for recycling. Recent changes to the environment protection licences (EPLs) of some resource recovery facilities (including landfills) now recognise this opportunity.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (previously the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water) has addressed the potential for further resource recovery by modifying EPLs to recognise "soil that meet[s] the CT1 thresholds for General Solid Waste in Table 1 of the Waste Classification Guidelines", within upper limits also specified in the licence as suitable for resource recovery. (CT1 refers to thresholds for contaminants in general solid wastes in Table 1 of the Waste Classification Guidelines, as opposed to restricted solid wastes. For more information, go to www.environment.nsw.gov.au/waste/classification.htm, click on "Part 1: Classifying waste" and turn to page 14.) This amendment allows resource recovery facilities to process "general solid wastes" and reclassify them under an existing exemption such as Continuous Process Recovered Fines, provided they meet limits on contaminants set in the EPL.
For an example of an EPL with this inclusion, download this document and turn to page 8.
Not all materials that satisfy the general solid waste criteria will meet this new "suitable for recycling" status. Soils require a leachability (TCLP) analysis before they can be considered for reclassification from restricted solid waste to general solid waste in accordance with Table 2 of the Waste Classification Guidelines. If the results exceed the CT1 criteria of the amended EPL, then the soils are still not suitable for recycling regardless of whether they are classified as general solid waste.
The correct analysis must be used, and the results must be correctly interpreted. SESL has already seen incorrect interpretation cause uncertainty for resource recovery facilities.
We don't know whether these changes will eventually result in changes to the Waste Classification Guidelines, but they already provide a clear picture of which materials are suitable for resource recovery. If you have an uncontaminated soil that is not VENM, SESL will be happy to help assess your materials according to these new EPL amendments.
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| It's no surprise that Wikipedia says of Leighton Green conifers: "Their rapid, thick growth means they are sometimes used to enforce privacy, but such use can result in disputes with neighbours whose own property becomes overshadowed." |
When neighbours go to war
Some people will go to great lengths for an unobstructed view. Once upon a time, they resorted to ringbarking. These days it's common for people to use rock salt.
SESL's horticulturist Tiffany Carroll-MacDonald has been called in to advise in a case of suspicious damage to some Leighton Green conifers (×Cupressocyparis leylandii). The owner had previously had a dispute with a neighbour concerning the trees, and had agreed to keep them pruned to retain his views while still protecting her privacy.
But the trees got sick.
Suspecting poisoning, the owner called SESL. Tiffany ran some tests and found very high salt levels. She also saw where the neighbour had dug a trench along the fence line that had cut through the trees' roots.
The neighbour was later seen pouring rock salt into the trench and was reported to the police.
Tiffany is now testing the surrounding soil and plants for salt, nutrients, pests and diseases. If the results show that the rest of the garden is in good condition, then the damage is due solely to the salt. A court case is possible.
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| The Global Water WS700 sampler. |
New automated water sampler
Clients who need regular water sampling will be pleased to learn that SESL has invested in its first automated water sampler. The Global Water WS700 sampler is a set-and-forget device that looks like a Globite suitcase and can be set up in the open or indoors to collect regular water samples for later analysis.
Inside the grey plastic weatherproof case, most of the space is taken up by a 9-litre plastic container, which stores the composite samples. A lead acid gel battery powers the electronics and a powerful pump. Switch settings allow the operator to select the sampling interval (from 5 minutes to 12 hours) and the sampling volume (from 50 mL to fill-'er-up).
Although the sampler is designed for use as a timed sampler for monitoring rivers, some of SESL's clients need a volume-based sampler for monitoring waste outputs, which can vary by time of day. So SESL has ordered an attachment to allow the sampler to read outputs from flow control devices in water treatment plants. The sampler will then offer the additional option of sampling by flow rate (for example, one sample every cubic metre or every kilolitre).
The sampler is the first of several that SESL plans to invest in to broaden our capacity to collect composite samples from a range of sites.
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Did you know? ... Remote-control round-up
Graziers who are still rounding up their cattle and sheep by horse, bike or even helicopter are working too hard. This video, posted on Youtube, shows how to do it by remote-control.
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| Remote-control round-up |
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Yours sincerely,
Murray Fraser
SESL Pty Ltd
Sydney Environmental & Soil Laboratory Pty Ltd ABN 70 106 810 708
Tel: 02 9980 6554, Fax: 02 9484 2427
16 Chilvers Road | Thornleigh | NSW | 2120
PO Box 357 | Pennant Hills | NSW 1715 | Australia
www.sesl.com.au |
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LANDSCAPES, TOURISM and Health: people, plants and Places
Presented ByThe Australian Institute of Horticulture presents a seminar exploring current issues for tourism and the Australian landscape.
Abo...
