Presidents Update

Location: - Meet at the end of Heddon Rd (to the right off SH23, next past Kakariki Rd) Whatawhata at 9.30am. NZFFA Signage will be put in place to assist.
9.30- 12noon Tour of various plantings established as part of catchment studies by MAF and AgResearch in 1980’s. We will carpool into several 4WD vehicles for the tour.
We will then proceed to Taitua Arboretum for lunch and the afternoon session which will entail a walk of about 1km to view the various plantings and hopefully autumn foliage will be at its best. Lunch can be purchased at Whatawhata Café and if weather is suitable we will lunch at Taitua – if wet we will adjust plans and lunch somewhere we can find shelter.
Remember that our Branch founders and prior patrons John and Bunny Mortimer estab-lished Taitua and gifted it to Hamilton City Council for the enjoyment of the public. As Chair of the Taitua Advisory Panel it will be my pleasure to guide you around to see most of the plantings.
Any inquiries about the day please contact John Simmons 021 746659.

Events

Winter is certainly close with a couple of mornings getting close to frost here recently.

It’s been good to see the King Country and the Waikato green up over the last month, unfortunately we were hit hard with the summer drought compared to most of the rest of New Zealand.
It was great to attend the NZFFA Confer-ence in Christchurch hosted by the North Canterbury branch, we got to view some great properties mainly north of Christchurch. It’s not one of the easiest areas to grow trees.

AMIGO – who we are and what we aim to achieve

AMIGO is the Acacia Melanoxylon Interest Group Organisation, a Special Interest Group of the NZFFA.  Set up to focus on Acacia melanoxylon (Tasmanian blackwood), we have recently widened our scope to include other acacias and robinias.

Our members are growers of blackwood and other interested parties, and as of May 2025 we have 69 members.

Our general objective is to bring together tree growers and forest researchers in an information-sharing network.  We aim to share research findings, develop improved genetic stock, encourage the adoption of the best silvicultural techniques, and cooperate in a marketing strategy. 

More specifically, we are currently working on finding a market in New Zealand for blackwood products – as growers want a return on their trees – and this will also have the benefit of reducing imported hardwoods.

Occasional newsletters and the odd field day also feature.

We are very happy to accept more members, so do join up – it only costs $5!

Branch updates

Western Himalayan Alder project

I am a member of NZFFA in Hawkes Bay here. We came across each other as you do the tree work within the arboretum at Hackfalls and assisted with the location of several of the trees. That data with other data from my own trees and Eastwood Hills arboretum allowed us to track the growth of Western Himalayan Alder against a Scion model of plantation grown pine.

The project itself is progressing with several forestry companies beginning their own trials. The two trials I am personally involved in are looking at the ability of the tree to survive/thrive in freshly exposed mudstone and the other is the Nelder trial attached. We had a really good flat site for that on Waingake Road, but the owner decided to lease the paddock out. We can accommodate a mild slope into the trial, which is an important one not only for Western Himalayan Alder but could also be for gaining an understanding about how to force Totara to a single leader.

If you agree, would you mind emailing the attached flyer out to the local NZFFA membership. I am coming to Gisborne next week to look at sites.

Conference 2026

NZFFA conference 2026 will be in Cambridge

Monday 20 to Friday 24 April 2026

Waikato branch are honoured to be hosting the 2026 conference, based at the historic Cambridge Town Hall for 2 days of meetings, followed by 3 days of field trips.

Now is the time to mark your diaries, we look forward to seeing you here.

Register here