The AOA’s highly successful Healthy Soil Field Day program reinforced the renewed interest in soil care, and the increasing realisation that healthy, functioning soil is the foundation of a successful grove.
And it’s widely recognised that the Australian horticulture industry’s adoption of cover crops, reduced tillage and compost are all game changers for nitrogen tie-up and release for subsequent crops.
Resulting from a recent webinar event, a newly released recording provides another opportunity to learn about the intricacies of soils from industry experts. Marc Hinderager from Applied Horticultural Research and Ian Packer from Soilpack Services teamed up to deliver the webinar, covering topics including soil organic matter, soil biology and the challenges and complexity of estimating mineralisation rates in soils.
The webinar recording is available for download, along with the reference presentation and additional resources on topics discussed, including:
- how to measure and interpret soil nitrogen mineralisation – fact sheet by Oregon State University;
- examples of commercially available soil tests – nitrogen and carbon infosheets (note: not a recommendation to use, for information only);
- impact of herbicides on soil biology and function – GRDC funded review.
Download the webinar recording and additional resources here.
The webinar is presented by the Soil Wealth and ICP2 project, and funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable and potato research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government.
