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No 18 News of Torbay Catchment Group February 2008

Bucking the National trend, "Clean-up Torbay day" will be held on SUNDAY MARCH 9 (a week after the rest of the country).

This years efforts will focus on the Lower Denmark Rd & the Elleker-Grasmere Rd. Marg Blaney-Murphy is coordinating the clean-up. Give her a call on 9844-6320 to find out the details.

Go on, do your bit to help!

Chairman: Phil Mellon - 9844-6371
Catchment Coordinator: Karen McKeough - 9841-0128 or karen.mckeough@water.wa. gov.au

For advice & assistance on completing work on your property...
Catchment Project Officer: Kirsten Murray - 9841-0120 or kirsten.murray@water.wa. gov.au

Check out the Torbay website:
www.torbay.scric.org



Hope all went well and welcome to this very special edition of the Torbay newsletter, focusing on soils and fertilisers.

As we know, the terrible algal blooms that we suffer in Torbay Inlet and Lake Powell every summer are a result of high levels of nutrients in the water, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen. The nutrients enter the water from a variety of sources including animal excrement and fertilisers used in paddocks and gardens.

While some nutrients are sourced from a small number of point sources (intensive animal and horticultural enterprises), it has been identified that the majority of nutrients are coming the wider catchment area.

When the nutrients are coming from a diffuse source, such as the grazing properties spread all over the catchment, it makes it more difficult to control. It means that WE ALL CAN HELP MANAGE NUTRIENTS!

My New Years resolution is I'm gonna speak "Fertiliser", what is yours?

Let us know
Regards, Phil Mellon


How's your dirt? Well, there's really only one way to find out, you need to test your soil.

Soil testing involves analysing your soil to determine the concentration of nutrients and other properties of the soil.

A standard test will deliver results for:

  • Phosphorus (P)
  • Nitrogen (N)
  • Potassium (K)
  • Sulphur (S)
  • Organic Carbon (OC)
  • pH
  • Salinity
  • Phosphorus retention index (PRI). See page 3 For more information
  • Other minor nutrients such as Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) & Iron (Fe)

Soil test kits are available from farm supply shops and fertiliser companies. Kits vary with the number of samples that are included, but general prices are about $25-30/sample. Half-price soil kits are available to Torbay residents. See page 4 for more information about this special offer.

For more information on how to collect your soil sample for testing, see page 3.

      

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