Best food plants for puna growing conditions

[Space Karen]

1. Papaya

They say it can go from seed to producing fruit in 7 months. In a pot smaller than a 5 gallon bucket.

2.  Potatos

Water is the growing requirement potato farmers struggle with most. We get that covered for free.

3.  Tomatos

Tomato plants are covered in small hairs to deter insects. They also seem to emit a scent which repels mosquitos and other pests.

4.  Basil

It smells good, its a natural air freshener. It is also said to have anti mold, anti fungal, anti viral and anti bacterial properties.

5.  Pineapple

Planting a row of pineapple can create an improvised hedge or natural fence in addition to sweet tasting fruit.

[randomq]

Purple sweet potatoes in particular seem to be easy to grow. Just need cuttings from someone's runners to get them started (or cut and plant the sprouted ones)

[kalianna]

Potatoes have the water but not the soil. They also have the nematodes. And re the scent that repels mosquitos and other pests: you'd better tell the fruit flies about this. Have you actually tried growing these plants here?

[Or1on]

This potato requires absolutely no care and will continue to produce food for you.  Nematodes no problem.  Just huck em anywhere in your yard and up comes the vine to produce the potato.  No digging required.  I throw them under waiwi guava so they climb up.  But I agree with you Kaliana I was shocked to see potatoes at #2 on space karen's list.  Sweet potatoes yes but other types.... I gotta see to believe.

http://www.gardenguyhawaii.com/2012/09/a...rto%20Rico.

[Space Karen]

I tried the aina ola seed U of H healani tomato variety. Oxheart, beefsteak and cherry tomato. Some tomato did rot which might have been due to fruit fly. Conditions are so humid it may also have been due to over moisture or me not pruning the plants properly to cut down on fungus and rot. Slugs and snails could also be suspects. Most tomatos came out perfect no complaints.

Definitely bit by fewer mosquitos with the tomato plants in the yard but it is arbitrary, anecdotal, evidence. Sudden return of coqui frogs and other events could factor in more to that than pests being repelled by tomato lectins.

Got russet potatos from target. Chopped into pieces, planted in nursing pots around 7 gallon in size with potting soil and left outside to see what would happen. It is growing very quickly. Like weeds. There could be issues with nematodes, have not harvested yet. From what can be seen above the soil level everything looks great. When I dig them up, I could be in for a surprise then?

Using russet potato from target, I wonder if it could be a GMO variety of potato that is resistant to nematode?

Not a fan of GMOs. Was thinking it didn't matter if GMO or hybridized as they are assymetrical and the GMO parts generally breed out over time.

If I try again, will use legit seed potato next time.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

didn't matter if GMO or hybridized as they are assymetrical and the GMO parts generally breed out over time. 

What?  Could you explain what you mean?

[Space Karen]

didn't matter if GMO or hybridized as they are assymetrical and the GMO parts generally breed out over time. 

What?  Could you explain what you mean?

If you take a snowball and roll it down a hill. Gravity and friction will converge to try to turn the snowball into a perfect sphere.

Living things and biology are symmetrical in this way. They're like snowballs that spent many years rolling down hills becoming increasingly optimized. Where all of the asymmetrical parts that stick out and do not fit the best symmetrical shape are eroded away or broken off.

GMOs and gene editing produce asymmetry in nature which isn't likely to last over the long term. The DNA, RNA patterns are not optimized enough for long term viability.

Its hard to explain but there are good examples of it which I can't cite without people getting mad. So that'll never happen.

[Olohana 1790]

All GMO are exactly the same. ALL GMO Kills. ... no touch or you will die! lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_rose

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GloFish

https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/28/the-wo...this-year/

turn on the common sense for a change... duh duh duh

[Space Karen]

ALL GMO Kills.

There could be potatos bred to be resistant to nematodes that aren't GMO.

I was thinking soybean, corn and wheat were the main GMO. Didn't think it could be a GMO potato. Potatos grow underground which most sources I've read claim goes hand in hand with low exposure to pesticides.

In independent growing tests, there was no yield advantage to using seed potato over regular store potatos. 

I thought it would be the same but guess not.

[kalianna]

"ALL GMO Kills." All generalizations are false.

Lest we forget the papaya ring spot virus, when the Puna papaya farms were saved by the GMO rainbow papaya, which was developed by UH and has been ingested for decades now.