Biosecurity often sounds like an industry-level issue. But inside a nursery, it usually comes down to much smaller things. Most nursery pest problems start with something small. Often it starts with a shipment of plants that does not look quite right that enters the production space. But, you think, it is okay because shipments from that supplier are usually fine and there have been no issues with them in the past.
Growers do not think twice about it as everyone is busy getting plants out the gate. Then, a while later, days, maybe weeks, somebody spots something unusual on a plant that they have not seen before, and the batch is not performing the way it normally does at this time of year. Yellowing foliage, a patch of dieback, something is just not right, and the investigation begins.
Once a pest gets moving through a nursery system, the costs escalate quickly with lost plants and orders unfulfilled, extra spraying or treatment, or disrupted production schedules. Australia now deals with a new plant pest or disease incursion roughly every nine days (around 40 per year and rising every year). Once those pests are here, strong nursery practices help stop them spreading further.
Greenlife Industry Australia (GIA) GrowConnex specialists often walk through nurseries with growers, tracing how plants, tools and staff move through the site, and asking questions like: Where could a pest or disease hitch a ride?
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