Around the Traps

Written by Tony Alston

(Bushfire Survivor's Garden Assistance)

On Saturday 7th February 2009, horrific bush fires devastated areas of Victoria, destroying over 1800 homes, gardens, and many lives. (This was covered in an earlier article here)

Marysville, 2009. Every house destroyed

The original idea was for my wife and myself to personally pot up 100 succulent cuttings for spring distribution.

Following discussions with a few Cactus and Succulent Society of Australia members, we decided that a Society project was appropriate instead. Within hours we had a wholesale succulent nursery offering a 20m polythene covered igloo with a watering system and other companies offering free potting mix (6 cubic metres), fertiliser and 2,000 plastic pots.

Since the initial planning, many people and/or companies have donated more than 4,000 extra plastic pots, thousands of bamboo stakes, plant labels, trays, special UV pencils and pencil sharpeners. One transport company has even offered to deliver the consignment to the areas of Kinglake and Marysville.

Following such generosity we needed a 'mini' working bee to set up an area at the nursery for an influx of volunteers to commence a project of such magnitude. The 'big day' was Saturday, March 21st and many people, not just CSSA members, provided what seemed to be a mountain of cuttings. Volunteer workers rolled in and a pre-planned production system was instigated. The results were astounding. Did we always work together as such a team? No. But diligence was only surpassed by enthusiasm and by the time we stopped for a BBQ lunch, thousands of pots were already in the igloo. After only 5 hours of hard work, 20 people had potted the cuttings, used most of the pots and used up all of their energy.

The count was almost 5,000 pots (the last ones stored outside as the igloo was full), There were also over 1,000 pots of pre-planted suitable succulent plants donated to the project. There was an almost 99% success rate with the cuttings and the plants will be ready for distribution shortly.

This has been an ongoing project.

2009 bushfire relief

CSSA Members conducting bushfire relief

If you know of anyone in a bushfire-damaged area who would benefit by receiving some of these plants, please ask them to contact me, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Tel. 0425 725574