October 2015 Update

Posted on October 20, 2015

Keep a watch out for the first appearance of the season for the giant willow aphid. Report any appearances to our contact address.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council hosts ‘East Coast Hill Country Conference 2015’ in Hastings, 29-30 October.
Pole planting should be finished for 2015, just in time for the October winds. Wind can play havoc with poplar and willow poles. Check to see your poles are still tight in the ground.
‘There is money in milling poplars’. At Hawke’s Bay Farm Forestry Association field day on 10 October at Elsthorpe attendants were shown the stump of the poplar that made farmer, Tim Forde, just over $1000 after felling and milling costs. What slash remained was reduced to a pile of chips. Tim is enterprising in using willows to dry out wet areas and intercept sediment before it reaches his dam, and in milling accessible old poplars for timber.
The Elsthorpe area looked stunning with emerging ‘Veronese’ poplar leaves adding bronze colour to the green landscape.