18th January - D Block
Geoff, Sindi, Rae, Lee & Ian planting
2025 January & February report
The Weather​
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If you look at Tim Herse’s rainfall data you’ll see January has been the wettest month on Coochiemudlo, or runner-up, 5 times since 2011. February has been the island's wettest month for 6 of those 14 years. But neither will be a front runner in 2025.
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In January this year 158mm fell, less than two-thirds its monthly average since 2011. January is hugely unpredictable - 14mm was recorded in 2019, 557mm was dumped on the island last year.
February 2025 has been exceptionally dry - just 26mm. Local records going back 50 years indicate this low has been equalled only once, in 2014. In dramatic contrast, February 2022 drowned the island with 836mm, and 769mm fell in 2020.
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Strong south-easterly winds, gusting to 70kph the day after our planting on January 18th, set the scene for a testing six weeks. The persistent winds that blew across the exposed site on D Block during February, added to the stress on the seedlings of four weeks of record low rainfall.
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This chart helps explain why so much watering was necessary.​
Planting and (a lot of) Watering
Saturday January 18th
We planted in the central area of D Block, and that afternoon almost 50mm of steady rain fell, nearly a third of January's total. It’s just as well, as barely 4mm more fell the next day, and there was no more that month.
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The planting list was:
50 Cymbopogan refractus - Barbed Wire Grass
4 Acacia sophorae - Coastal Wattle
2 Banksia robur Swamp Banksia
6 Coleus australis - Little Spur-flower
6 Wollastonia uniflora - Beach Sunflower
7 Pandanus tectorius
15 Dianella caerulea
2 Myoporum boninense - Coastal Boobialla
Saturday January 25th
A week later, with no rain, and given the extreme southerlies impacting the exposed site on D Block, we again watered the new plantings.
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Saturday February 1st
The new plants were watered, and inspected. We devised a number scale to reflect their condition. 0=Dead or lost, 1=Unlikely to survive, 2=Not thriving, 3=Fair health, 4=Probable survivor, 5=As planted.
Our assessment was:
Cymbopogan refractus - Barbed Wire Grass 4
Acacia sophorae - Coastal Wattle 5
Banksia robur Swamp Banksia 3
Coleus australis - Little Spur-flower 3
Wollastonia uniflora - Beach Sunflower 3
Pandanus tectorius 4
Dianella caerulea 4
Myoporum boninense - Coastal Boobialla 4
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The Wollastonia looked stressed, and the Coleus and Banksia leaves had yellowed.
Friday February 7th
A pop-up weeding session was held at the request of volunteers who could not be present at the February working bee on the 15th. The new plants were again watered with the exception of the Barbed Wire Grass.
Friday February 21st
Five weeks after the 18th January planting, all were watered again, and assessed.
The Coastal Wattle still looked 'as good as new' (5). The Pandanus, Dianella, Barbed Wire Grass and Coastal Boobialla looked dry, but were coping (4), and the Coleus had improved (↑4). One Banksia was only fair (3), and the other was later found trampled (0). The Wollastonia had all withered and had some dead leaves (↓2).
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The Wollastonia were straightened by buttressing them with handfuls of on-site compost. Their dead leaves were removed. The surrounding compost was then soaked, and trenches formed to encourage water pooling around the plants.
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Monday February 24th (just 3 days later)
The 6 Wollastonia all looked happier, and greener among the compost (3). Two have since produced green shoots and leaves around their base. The other plantings have maintained their condition from the last assessment.
Observations
After planting, the site was watered three times, weekly, then once more a fortnight later. There was a record dry spell across that period. The Barbed Wire Grass, and another four of the eight species we planted, coped well with the harsh conditions.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Acacia sophorae
Dianella caerulea
Myoporum boninense
Pandanus tectorius
The Banksia and Coleus were more obviously affected by the extreme weather, but still looked likely to survive. The Coleus looked healthier after the watering in early February.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Banksia robur
Coleus australis
The Wollastonia have suffered most from the weather but survived, and revived after they were supported by well-watered compost. The first photo is a 'before' and the second 'after' - just a week later - when a new shoot has emerged from a lateral root, which is how the plant spreads.
Wollastonia uniflora February 21st
March 1st, in compost, with new shoot
As this has been a long post, details of our weeding activities and compost outcomes have been held over until the next report. Also, we'll have more information on mapping and how to identify locations on our sites.