iNaturalist reporting summary shows value of reporting finds

As the mercury drops around the country, our myrtles should finally be enjoying some respite from myrtle rust. If you do see symptoms though - particularly of telltale yellow spores indicating an active infection - put your pictures up. This article, reporting on finds logged on iNaturalist throughout the last 'season,' describes how your records inform land managers, help researchers, and have even attracted media attention:

https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biosecurity/ecosystem-resilience/beyond-myrtle-rust/news/myrtle-rust-inaturalist-reports-from-last-season/.

Over 500 new reports have been made since last November.

While myrtle rust is lying low, now is the time to think about pruning your myrtles so new growth is less likely to be infected. You might also want to think about replacing vulnerable myrtles in your garden, especially non-native plants like lilly pillys. If we can keep infections down in gardens, spore numbers in the environment will reduce, and native plants in the bush will have a reduced chance of infection. For other tips, and answers to questions about myrtle rust you might have, see here:

https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biosecurity/ecosystem-resilience/beyond-myrtle-rust/faq/

Posted on July 5, 2021 11:01 PM by reneejohansen reneejohansen

Comments

Over the past 12 months myrtle rust was having a really big impact on our lilly pilly hedge. We felt we had no choice but to remove our lilly pilly hedge and have replaced with another species.
Thanks,
Shannon - Kohimarama

Posted by shanoli007 over 2 years ago

Hi Shannon - good work. Yes one cannot win with this disease at the moment unfortunately.

Posted by reneejohansen over 2 years ago

Add a Comment

Sign In or Sign Up to add comments