Plant Pass Summer 2023 Newsletter

Plant Pass Annual Report

The Plant Pass team is delighted to share with you the inaugural Plant Pass Annual Report.

This report not only highlights our collective achievements over the past year but also celebrates the significant steps that our certified and registered nurseries have taken towards biosecurity best practice.

As detailed in the report, the Plant Pass scheme is more than just a certification scheme; it's a collective movement towards a healthier, more secure future for our plants and ecosystems. Thank you to all our partners and stakeholders is supporting us in helping us achieve our vision.

Printed copies of the annual report will be sent to registered and certified producers and Accord partners in the late January 2024.

We wish you all a relaxing holiday and look forward working with you to advance our shared goals in 2024.

Plant Pass certified nurseries are our biosecurity exemplars

2023 hasn't been an easy year for the plant production sector but our 20 Plant Pass certified nurseries have shown that you can still commit to biosecurity and plant health, despite adverse weather events and the cost of living crisis.

The Plant Pass team commends these certified nurseries for their early adoption of Plant Pass and their dedication to protecting New Zealand's unique ecosystem from pests and pathogens.

The 20 certified nurseries are:

• Akura Plant Nursery in Masterton
• Ardmore Nurseries in Clevedon
• Auckland Botanic Gardens Nursery
• Easy Big Trees in Invercargill
• Growing Spectrum in Hamilton
• Hitiri Plant Nursery in Taupo
• LE Cooke Nurseryman in Hastings
• Lynwood Avocado Nursery in Whangarei
• Native Garden Nursery in Gisborne
• Naturally Native in Tauranga
• Nga Rakau Nurseries in Massey, Auckland
• Riversun Nursery in Gisborne
• Rural Design in Kaiwaka, Northland
• Scott Base Nurseries in Whenuapai
• Scrub Ecology in Wainui, Auckland
• Southern Woods in Rolleston
• Stanmore Farm in Te Horo
• TKG Nursery Services Ltd in Te Kaha
• Treeline Native Nursery in Rotorua
• Zealandia Horticulture, nationwide

If you are a plant buyer or procurer Plant Pass encourages you to support these certified nurseries.

Below is an account from a certified nurseries on the benefits of becoming Plant Pass certified.

Growing Spectrum - advice from a certified nursery to registered nurseries

Growing Spectrum is a Waikato-based wholesale plant nursery that supplies plants to garden centres throughout New Zealand. It has been at the forefront of ensuring plant health and biosecurity and took part in the pilot of Plant Pass (then called the Plant Production Biosecurity Scheme) several years ago.

Under the leadership of nursery manager Rob Wickham and with support from business support administrator, Courtney Dew, the nursery is now Plant Pass certified with the core standard and myrtle rust module.

Rob, Courtney and their team believe in the importance of spreading the biosecurity message to buyers and encouraging more nurseries to register with Plant Pass.

“Our commitment to biosecurity isn’t just about business; it’s a matter of social responsibility. As we distribute plants nationwide, we’re fully aware of the potential risks and the devastating impact certain pests or diseases could have on our industry," says Rob.

He offers some insights to Plant Pass registered nurseries:

• The financial investment required to implement Plant Pass is not huge. The primary costs involve signage and having a dedicated staff member to oversee its implementation.
• Start with small tasks - like introducing biosecurity signage and a visitors’ register. Tackling medium tasks next, followed by the more challenging ones, can make the journey smoother.
• It’s crucial that one person takes ownership of the scheme to drive it forward and creates comprehensive handover notes in case of staff movement.
• Continuous staff engagement and reminders about the processes are essential. It’s vital to ensure that no steps are skipped, even when staff are time-constrained, to prevent future incursions.

We encourage you to read the full case study of Growing Spectrum and another certified nursery, Native Garden Nursery in Gisborne, in the Plant Pass Annual Report.

Refresh of Plant Pass brand

The Plant Pass biosecurity scheme was officially launched in May 2022 alongside the Plant Buyers' Accord.

Plant producers (nurseries) register with the Plant Pass scheme and go through steps to certification. Plant buyers, procurers and buying influencers sign up to the Accord that commits them to encourage and support nurseries and producers to join Plant Pass. MPI is the lead and founding Accord signatory and at December 2023 there are nine other signatories.

Over the last 18 months the Plant Pass team in NZPPI and MPI have found there is confusion between Plant Pass and the Plant Buyers' Accord.

To avoid this confusion in the future, the Plant Pass team has decided on a new branding approach. 'Plant Pass’ is now the overall brand. Instead of a separate Plant Buyers' Accord, buyers, funders and influencers will now be referred to Plant Pass Partners.

In January we will be updating the Plant Pass website, documents and other materials to reflect the change.

Plant Pass Partner case study: New Zealand Biosecurity Services Ltd

New Zealand Biosecurity Services Limited (NZBSL) became a Plant Pass Partner in June this year.

The company provides its clients with a range of biosecurity related services. Its overall mission is biodiversity through biosecurity. It specialises in the delivery of biosecurity programmes comprising pre-border, border, surveillance, response, restoration and consulting activities. As part of its work with major land holders, NZBSL plants over 100,000 plants each winter, some of which it directly buys from nurseries.

It became a Plant Pass Partner to demonstrate its commitment to participating, promoting and procuring plants, with biosecurity as a priority.

NZBSL has developed an Action Plan that includes the following commitments:

• Advocacy: NZBSL will advocate for the Plant Pass by educating the other Omah Group members and encouraging nurseries to join the Plant Pass programme
• Procurement Guidelines: Plant sourcing guidelines will include Plant Pass requirements, prioritising plants from certified nurseries that meet client criteria, and referencing Plant Pass in planting tenders.

The company also has some insights for future Plant Pass Partners:

• Raising awareness: Utilise Plant Pass to boost biosecurity awareness within your organisation and the wider industry.
• Simplicity in Sign-Up: The process is uncomplicated, with the main consideration being the justification of time investment.
• Competitive edge: Leverage Plant Pass to differentiate your services and showcase a commitment to superior biosecurity practices.

You can read more about New Zealand Biosecurity Services Limited in the Plant Pass Annual Report.

Change to Plant Pass audit frequency

The Plant Pass Governance Group has approved a decrease in audits for nurseries that have had two successful audits.

Nurseries that meet the compliance criteria for two successive years can now move to a three-year audit cycle.

New audit process

• First Inspection: All new producers undergo an onsite inspection. This initial inspection recognises that the business is implementing the Plant Pass core standard and serves as a baseline assessment and identifies areas for improvement.
• Second-Year Inspection: The second-year inspection focuses on improvements made by the producer since the initial inspection and verifies ongoing compliance to the core standard.
• Transition to Three-Year Inspection Cycle: After successfully completing the first and second-year inspection, producers are eligible to transition to a three-year inspection cycle. This means that subsequent inspections will take place every three years, starting from the date of the second-year inspection.

Full details are in the Interim Guidance document for inspections.

Fall armyworm has wintered over

The first fall armyworms for the 2023/24 growing season have been confirmed in Northland.

Biosecurity officer at the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Ash Mills, who has been given the job of co-ordinating the fightback, said the find means the pest has successfully overwintered.

First discovered in New Zealand in March 2022, the fall armyworm can chew through more than 350 plant species, including horticulture crops and other species.

Ash said the El Niño weather patterns could also bring a new incursion in from Australia, so growers from all over the country should keep a close eye on their plants. He said co-ordinated effort from industry and farmers will be needed to minimise the impact of fall armyworm.

Nations that are succeeding in beating back this devastating pest use two key strategies.

• They have designated bodies devoted to examining and testing options and disseminating key information to growers.
• The other strategy is the widespread involvement of growers.

There are insecticides that have been effective against FAW around the world, but certain strains of the pest have developed resistance. Other defences being developed are biologicals, a range of species-specific viruses that can infect FAW larvae and be passed on generationally.

Mills is also hopeful biologicals could play a vital role in keeping FAW under control.

“The thing to grasp is that there is no silver bullet, no single weapon that will protect New Zealand farmers from fall armyworm. My job is to co-ordinate an army of good people and show them a range of resources to fight the good fight.”

The full version of this article is on the Farmers Weekly website. More information on the fall armyworm is available on the FAR website.

Innovative strategies to combat myrtle rust

New knowledge and better tools are available to help the fight against myrtle rust in nurseries this summer. Developed through research and trials by Dr Rob Beresford at Plant & Food Research (PFR) the tools include:

• Improvements to the NZPPI Plant Disease Management Platform
• Guidelines for ensuring fungicide resistance doesn’t develop
• Advice on spraying needs for different myrtaceae species
• Non-chemical disease management measures to reduce the risk of myrtle rust in nurseries.

Producing vulnerable species, like pōhutukawa, ramarama, rōhutu and swamp maire, requires year round vigilance to ensure they have not become infected by myrtle rust.

However, myrtle rust risk changes over time. Risk is much greater in summer than winter and greater in more northern areas than further south.

PFR, in conjunction with HortPlus Ltd, have upgraded the platform's weather risk tool to continuously assess weather conditions and make specific suggestions on when fungicide sprays should be applied to maintain protection. It takes account of differences in myrtle rust efficacy between fungicide products and the effect of heavy rainfall in washing fungicide off foliage.

The most effective fungicides against myrtle rust are modern synthetics that specifically target fungal plant pathogens. However, associated with their high efficacy is a risk that the target pathogen can develop resistance to them.

A new fungicide resistance prevention strategy has been developed for myrtle rust and is now available on the NZ Plant Protection Society website (preventing myrtle rust fungicide resistance). It indicates the maximum number of applications for fungicide groups at risk from resistance and how these groups should be mixed or alternated with other fungicide groups.

The risk of myrtle rust establishing in a nursery can be reduced by non-chemical disease management measures, including:

• Spacing vulnerable plants so that foliage is not touching to reduce the rate of myrtle rust spread if it arrives and make it easier to detect symptoms.
• Ensuring plants are in an area with air movement (wind) or provide fans to promote drying to reduce humidity and the risk of infection.
• Irrigating early morning on fine days to ensure foliage dries before humidity increases late afternoon. Install drip irrigation as opposed to overhead sprinklers.
• Avoiding promoting excessive new growth in late spring and summer when warm temperatures favour infection i.e. do not fertilise or prune/trim plants during this time.