5.6 Translocation of seedlings The translocation process for the small seedlings currently associated with adult female plants shall be undertaken slightly differently from that of the adult plants, and shall use the following methods: • Seedlings shall be carefully extracted by hand to avoid damage to the stem and roots. Leaves will be removed and then the seedling placed between layers of moistened paper or coir chip in a Styrofoam box or Esky and kept in the shade until being replanted later in the day. • Each batch of seedlings from each individual mother plant will be kept in isolation, given a unique seedling batch number, labeled and recorded as belonging toa specific individual adult (where possible) for genetic tracking. • The number of seedlings collected, health and other pertinent information will be recorded for each batch. • In the onsite nursery, seedlings and small plants will be placed vertically in a suitably sized pot (one plant per pot) and then filled with “Cycad potting media”. • Each pot will be labeled with the unique identifying number for that batch of seedlings. • Each potted seedling shall be watered with sufficient water to moisten the media and placed in a lightly shaded area of the nursery in the pot for 6 months or until new foliage appears. At which time they will be moved to a sunny situation in the nursery. • Seedlings will be held in the nursery for a minimum of 9 months or until at least a second flush of new foliage has hardened off. And planted with same timing as larger plants. • Seedlings shall be planted out in designated areas at the recipient site, selecting areas of limited grass and shrub cover to minimise the risk of mortality from fire and to reduce competition interference from other plants. • Planting holes shall be dug by hand and ground cover vegetation trimmed within a 1 m diameter of the planting holes. • Pots will be removed, seedlings shall be gently lowered into the hole, positioned vertically and backfilled using topsoil removed during the digging of the hole. • A label shall remain with the seedling. Tags will placed in the ground on the North side of the plant and the locations of all seedlings shall be recorded via hand-held GPS together with their health at planting for future monitoring and tracking purposes. • Each seedling shall be watered thoroughly with at least 5 litres of water at planting. • Watering will then take place as per above section for larger plants.
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Mundic Gully TSF Translocation Project - Cycas megacarpa
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