09-26-2018, 05:31 AM
so heres my take on the eruption on the plants. i live in leilani, have for 3 years. our property is 1 mile north west of fissure 8. i went to the property every two weeks during the eruption and been there almost every day since shes stalled.
everything (besides the grass) is more vigorous and growing more healthily than ive ever seen them. its almost as if someone went and fertilized every single plant on the property. even plants that ive never cared for are blooming and growing like never before. and dont let me go on a rant about our native forest, but also more vigorous than ive ever seen it.
anyway, heres my theory; due to so many things being defoliated and some plants dying completely, this acted as a pruning and mulching leaving so much debris on the ground. the acidity of the rain broke down many logs, leaves and other things on the forest floor, quickly deteriorating and turning into soils. i can literally go into an area and clear it in an hour, when it would have taken me 4-6 hours pre- eruption to clear. i can go and just mash everything to the ground including large dead ohia trunks. this in turn mixed with the above ground abuse from the emissions putting a temporary hold on the plants growth, somewhat like a winter, and now its 'early spring' and everything is growing trying to catch up for lost time. this mixed with all the rains we had, lack of pests, nutrients from ash and volcanic behaviors has put most plants in extreme grow mode.
make sure you fertilize your brackenridgei well. also make sure youve got lots of cinder in the soil mix to promote good drainage because it is a dryland plant. however, i know plenty of people growing it in very rainy places.
as for your acidic soils, whats your landscape like? in the native soils my ph is near 4.5 this was pre eruption. unless youve been liming your soils its pretty safe to assume they were very acidic in general. some plants prefer more and some prefer less acid. but most tropical things thrive in acidic soils
everything (besides the grass) is more vigorous and growing more healthily than ive ever seen them. its almost as if someone went and fertilized every single plant on the property. even plants that ive never cared for are blooming and growing like never before. and dont let me go on a rant about our native forest, but also more vigorous than ive ever seen it.
anyway, heres my theory; due to so many things being defoliated and some plants dying completely, this acted as a pruning and mulching leaving so much debris on the ground. the acidity of the rain broke down many logs, leaves and other things on the forest floor, quickly deteriorating and turning into soils. i can literally go into an area and clear it in an hour, when it would have taken me 4-6 hours pre- eruption to clear. i can go and just mash everything to the ground including large dead ohia trunks. this in turn mixed with the above ground abuse from the emissions putting a temporary hold on the plants growth, somewhat like a winter, and now its 'early spring' and everything is growing trying to catch up for lost time. this mixed with all the rains we had, lack of pests, nutrients from ash and volcanic behaviors has put most plants in extreme grow mode.
make sure you fertilize your brackenridgei well. also make sure youve got lots of cinder in the soil mix to promote good drainage because it is a dryland plant. however, i know plenty of people growing it in very rainy places.
as for your acidic soils, whats your landscape like? in the native soils my ph is near 4.5 this was pre eruption. unless youve been liming your soils its pretty safe to assume they were very acidic in general. some plants prefer more and some prefer less acid. but most tropical things thrive in acidic soils