97% survival achieved at Hawke’s Bay summer dry hill country site
Blog post.
Tom Mackay-Smith and Raphael Spiekermann
4/8/20252 min read
We’re excited to share results from two more 2024 planting sites — and they’re looking great!
Survival rates ranged from 97-88% for kānuka to 85-83% for rewarewa,highlighting the resilience of these native species during establishment — even under dry summer conditions.
As we continue refining our planting methods, we’re confident we improve survival rates further.
Hawke’s Bay
This site, located in the summer-dry hill country near Takapau, is showing strong early success.
Out of 410 trees planted on steep terrain, we recorded 97% survival for kānuka and 85% for rewarewa.
Taranaki
We also collected data from a steep hill country slope in South Taranaki.
We recorded 88% survival of kānuka and 83% survival of rewarewa for 92 plants on this face.
Given how dry it has been in South Taranaki — one of the driest summers for the past 40 years — this result is especially encouraging.
Photo of the Month
Below is a shot of our largest planting site — the Hawke’s Bay block with 410 trees mentioned above.
