Adventures of a beginner gardener in Volcano

[carrie w]

Carey,

Your plant is a Vaccinium reticulatum, also known as 'Ohelo 'ai. More information can be found at this web site
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~eherring/hawnprop/vac-reti.htm. Will take about 5 years from seed to fruit, however I am still interested in seeds, will email you.

Adam79,

If you have 4 x 4, I know of a place on Mauna Kea which has an abundance of the blue 'ohelo, email me through this site and I'll tell you where it is. I had great success with bringing home some branches which had broken off and were lying on the ground. It took months, but they rooted successfully and bore me some blueberries. That is until a heard of pigs arrived and destroyed them.

However, since this is a major food source for the Nene you'll have to take the following oath first:

"I swear to sacrifice the first berry to Pele, and to protect the habitat of the Nene, I will not uproot any plants. I will only take berries for seed, or any broken branches lying on the ground. I also swear to tend to them with loving care and during every full moon will dance naked at their feet while beating a drum. In return they will reward me with an abundance of ripe blueberries."

Carrie

[gtill]

UH did a study on blueberries, and did a major planting in Waimea. Numerous varieties have been developed as far south as Florida! They have different requirments for cool days per year, like frost necessary for most apples! These measure from 38-45degree days (5-10) per year. They also like acidic black soils like Volcano.

[Adam79]

The purple passion fruit hasn't really improved much, though it also hasn't gotten worse. If I had to put money on it, I'd say lack of nutrition (fertilizer) is the problem. The potting soil contained vermiculite, which I guess is technically fertilizer. I also bought some Worm Poop Tomato/Vegetable liquid fertilizer for my tomatoes and strawberries and fed it some of that. On a sidenote, for those of you who haven't heard of "worm poop" it is one of several products by a company called Terracycle. They do one better than recycling, they reuse. Most of their products are simply bottled in reused 2 liter & 20 oz. soda bottles among others. You can't get much greener than that! I believe their website is dot net but I could me mistaken. Definitely check them out. Anyhow, when it comes to fertilizer and plant nutrition I am what you would call "special needs" (that is my P.C. synonym for retarded). Can anybody provide some guidance to this youngin'? (yes my age still has a "2" at the beginning so I'll identify myself as a youngin' as long as I can get away with it). I am really hoping to get some fruit at some point.

Everything else is looking good. My second batch of Spinach is just about snippable (probably not a real word). I think it might be a year round crop for me. The cherry tomatoes are sprouting up at a nice pace and looking healthy so far. Hopefully fruit will start to come along before too long. Green beans and strawberries are still healthy but haven't been growing very fast. I haven't managed to kill the lime tree yet. I realize ever getting fruit from it is a longshot but its an understood gamble.

Thanks for everybody's replies so far.

[Scott_S]

Hi Adam,

I also am having the same problem with peas and onions, come up quick and then just kind of sit there. Peas really look in ill. I am in Hawaiian Acres about 1200' eleavation. Green beans, tomatos, lettuce are doing very well. The spinach is just coming up and some sweet corn also. The orange trees, lemon, and tangelo are all blossoming right now.

The purple passion fruit and lilikoi vines are doing really well also, no blossoms yet.

Scott