Bringing you the latest comments from our team, via our CottonInfo blog.

Trees with hollows - both dead and alive - are a habitat requirement for many of our native animals. According to the research of Gibbens and Lindenmayer in 1997, around 17 per cent of birds, 42 per cent of mammals and 28 per cent of reptiles in south eastern Australia use hollows - including possums, gliders, microbats, parrots, owls, ducks, rosellas, kingfishers as well as many species of snakes, frogs and skinks.

Hollow formation occurs mainly in eucalyptus species such as gums and box trees. River Red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), commonly found on…

By Stacey Vogel, CottonInfo NRM Technical Lead.

Domestic stock - particularly cattle - tend to favour riparian lands and if not managed carefully will spend much of their time along riverbanks and in the water, which results in a number of problems such as:

By Stephen Balcombe and Samantha Capon, Griffith University (supported by CRDC). Pictured: Peter Norrie & Dr Stephen Balcombe.

For cotton farms with streams and riverine areas, healthy functioning riparian zones represent significant areas of high biodiversity and play a large role in the provision of ecosystem services. Such services include natural pest control (beneficials), prevention of soil erosion, water filtration, shade provision, shelter and barrier effects, pollination and aesthetic human benefits.

Griffith University has been undertaking research into the…

SLW have become more numerous in most regions during February and many crops have been treated with pyriproxifen during the 30 day resistance management window. Now that cotton is opening and crops are moving towards defoliation, it is vital to continue to keep a close eye on populations to avoid a sticky situation.

The main game for SLW management is to avoid honeydew contamination of open bolls. Good management is underpinned by season-long IPM, effective monitoring and taking…

Since European settlement many plants and animals have been introduced to Australia, many of which have spread and multiplied becoming significant agricultural and environmental problems.

It's estimated that invasive species cost Australia billions of dollars annually in reduced agricultural outputs, and management, administrative and research costs. Invasive species are damaging and decimating native ecosystems and wildlife across Australia through predation, habitat destruction, disease and competition for resources such as food and shelter.

Controlling invasive…

Jamie and Susie Grant own and manage over 2000 hectares across two farms, 'Kielli' and 'Wyalong', located on the Jimbour Brigalow Flood Plains near Dalby in southern Qld.

The Grants have always been innovators and are early adopters of best management practices. They have been participants in the Australian cotton industry’s myBMP program for several years, achieving myBMP certification in 2016 and for the past two years have been participants…

For the month of January, the top NRM tip is: think beyond the crop, consider your surrounding natural areas.

To improve the abundance and diversity of natural predators and pollinators (like the European honey bee), consider native vegetation as part of your cropping system. Research shows that native vegetation along field edges can increase pest control in the field, and if pressure is still high, pollination can reduce the yield loss.

Native vegetation helps natural predators, such as insects, birds bats, frogs, lizards and some small mammals, persist in the landscape…

Last season highlighted a diversity of opinions and consternation around first irrigation decisions, as well as whole-of-season irrigation strategies, with the spectre of a dry season ahead and limited water.

With another limited water season ahead of us, this newsletter aims to help you identify the range of things that are now in play which will hopefully enable you to make effective decisions that suit your farm, water supply and planted area.

Let’…

Considering planting dryland cotton this season? In this article, QLD DAF's Paul Grundy talks about the environmental factors that impact cotton establishment in dryland cotton.

When you break it down, seedling establishment is dependent on two things:

Mike Bange, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO and James Quinn, Marketing & Extension Lead, CSD are often asked questions regarding limited water decisions. Here are their answers to commonly asked questions:

Fully irrigated solid planted cotton will out-yield wider row configurations on a per hectare basis NOT necessarily on a per ML basis. (Figure 1).

As water becomes limited skip row configurations can become an option as they function by increasing the volume of soil that plants have to explore, providing a bigger…