Be wise when selecting plants and nurseries!

Roleybushcare (Alias the Roleystone Dieback Action Group) encourages you to be ‘dieback wise' when selecting where you buy the plants for your garden. Nurseries with poor hygiene are known to sell plants with Phytophthora in the soil. Phytophthora is a group of pathogens that cause dieback and other plant diseases.

What should you do before buying plants?

Ask if the nursery is accredited with using hygiene measures that minimise the risk of having pathogens present, especially the dieback pathogen.

You can also check  Nursery and Garden Industry Australia for a list of accredited nurseries NGIA website  or go to our Native Plant Nurseries List.

Tell-tale Signs

If the nursery or garden centre has pots displayed by sitting them on a hard surface on the ground then beware; this is a tell tale sign that inappropriate methods are being used. The pots should be on mesh-type tables or on a freely draining surface such as blue metal. The dieback spores are microscopic and move around in water. If the plants are sitting on concrete then water will transport the disease from plant to plant. Nurseries can use the same chemical as Roleybushcare to save plants from dieback - but the dieback spores are not killed in the potting mix.

Plants from accredited nurseries may be more expensive but what value do you put on the 25 m tall jarrahs in your garden that are put at risk from the infected potting mix???