How many times have you purchased a package of beautiful, red, ripe strawberries from the grocery store only to have them spoiled by grey fuzz a day or two after you get them home? That unappetizing fuzz is called grey mould, and it’s caused by the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Other common fungal diseases of strawberry include powdery mildew and anthracnose. These diseases pose big problems for growers, who traditionally apply fungicides to control them. And many fungicides are not even an option for organic producers. Fortunately, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists a ..read more

The article below is demonstrating a very smart plant disease detection methodology.  While this disease is not in Australia it is still showing a very smart new and relevant option and maybe could be applied to other diseases as well. Trained Dogs Are the Most Efficient Way to Hunt Citrus Industry's Biggest Threat By Kim Kaplan February 3, 2020 FORT PIERCE, Florida, Feb. 3, 2020—Dogs specially trained by Agriculture Research Service (ARS) scientists have proven to be the most efficient way to detect huanglongbing—also known as citrus greening—according to a paper just published in the Pr ..read more

Colony Collapse Disorder caused the loss of an estimated 40 per cent of honey bee colonies in the US last year. Now researchers have genetically engineered a bacterium that lives in the gut of honey bees, to boost their ability to fight off pathogens that are often responsible for colony collapse.  The researchers from the University of Texas first identified that honey bees carry a particular beneficial gut bacterium called Snodgrassella alvi, and then genetically engineered that bacterium to produce RNAi — RNA interference — in the gut of the bee.  That RNAi is then able to suppress the ex ..read more

Mid January 2020 and still no monsoon arrival.  Getting quite late but not yet the latest date recorded. However, it could be some time away  with a few of the global weather drivers looking decidedly dodgy ie not especially positive for a monsoon burst anytime soon. Read the current Tropical Climate Note from earlier this week  [http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/tropical-note/ ] and note the eastwards movement of the MJO away from our region, usually negative for rain across N Australia. Today's weather reports refer to hot and drier conditions across the north over the next few days, although ..read more

A very topical article appeared in the recent edition of Stormwater Magazine based on US usage but would seem highly relevant for use in Australia right now. A post grad student used drone flights and various software programs to assess the landscape following fire, in California but this seems highly useful for eastern and south eastern Australia right now in early 2020 to assess our burnt landscapes. The emphasis was on how the landscape patterns have been changed and how this has influenced how the hydrology of the area has been impacted.  The link is below and should be readily availabl ..read more

2019 has come to a close with the recent announcement that 2020 will be the International Year of Plant Health. Protecting the health of our agriculture and environment is the core of our biosecurity efforts in Australia, for both plant and animal  systems. Many in the Darwin region will be aware of recent plant biosecurity issues covering bananas and citrus over the past few years, and bananas continue to be at the frontline worldwide over Panama disease development and spread especially in South America and Africa and with some issues even in Queensland in Australia over the past few years t ..read more

Using PV panels is relatively new and with an expected life of 25 years or more you could be expected to think how to handle disposal is far into the future. Maybe so, but there are places where PV use is much older and some are now close to end of life. A recent article in Scientific American explores some issue for the effective recycling of materials in PV panels and we should also be planning for this in Australia.  It is now not adequate to just dump the panels - they contain valuable metals and other resources including glass suitable for reuse. Read the article here - https://blogs.s ..read more

The Living Water Smart program now has available a collection of weather stations for Darwin and Katherine, displaying up to date weather data suitable for adjusting the irrigation controller on your premises to minimise water use for irrigation of gardens. Go to the www.livingwatersmart.com.au web site and search for the Darwin weather web.  A bit convoluted to find, but if in Darwin your suburb will be covered by the system, if not now, coming very soon. Some areas may offer a choice of a site nearer than your suburb name, as the system is based on school locations. They recommend 30mm of ..read more

October and November are normally the hottest months in the north, but this year it seems to be that little bit hotter.  It is certainly drier, and the BOM is predicting only about a 20% chance of recording the median rainfall through the end of December [ even for Darwin], lower for Katherine [see BOM data for Tindal]. With Katherine having now had the longest "over 40C days run" ever recorded, and still counting, there is a move to curtail outdoor rural work particularly.   Katherine has recorded 14 days in a row with daily maximum temperature over 40C! Frankly, it is HOT ..read more

Rising from coal ash waste to cure concrete A by-product of coal-fired power plants is the tens of millions of tons of coal ash that ends up in landfills each year. Now researchers from Drexel University, the National Institute of Standards  and Technology [UK] and the University of Antwerp have developed a way to turn this waste ash into a lightweight aggregate that can speed up the curing process for concrete and make it more durable and crack-free. Their discovery was recently reported in the journal Cement and Concrete Composites. Concrete is made from a mixture of fine powder and coar ..read more