The serious fungal disease, Myrtle Rust, which affects plants in the Myrtaceae family – including eucalypts, melaleuca and leptospermum – has been found in Lorne, Bellarine Peninsula and, now, in Aireys Inlet.
Myrtle Rust
Nick Day of Otway Indigenous Nursery found yellow spots that looked like the rust on some Moonahs in January. He immediately stopped selling all Myrtaceae species, pending confirmation of the fungus’s presence.
‘It’s been a costly, disruptive and stressful time … but we’ve erred on the side of caution … sought the best advice we could and controlled the fungus in the nursery with no further spread beyond to the best of our knowledge,’ he said.
While the rust is controllable and manageable in small areas, such as nurseries, it threatens to cause havoc in the open landscape. Nick is urging people to sign up to iNaturalist to learn more about Myrtle Rust locations and practise plant hygiene when visiting them.
Find out more about Myrtle Rust in the winter Angair Quarterly.
Ann Feilding