05-24-2008, 07:33 AM
some of you folks sound like you are off the deep end with government paranoia...get a grip on reality, and please research this instead of fantasizing outcomes and whining over your obvious lack of exploring the facts.
this research for the scale has been ongoing for years and is the best documented biocontrol project yet. and better that they field tested it in Brazil than Hawaii to make sure it won't affect ohia or even yellow guava. now, if it won't affect a close sister plant like yellow guava in the country where those plants and insects have evolved together, how could it jump to some plant farther related?
to equate it with the mongoose-rat experiment that had no process is so off-the-wall and ignorant.
you guys obviously don't know much about agriculture and the history of recent biocontrol in Hawaii that has really helped farming and ranching. mahalo to Kani-Ohia for the references!
wai`awi is taking over our forests as i write. as that happens, plants that are really culturally important like maile and palapalai are being pushed out. these are the REAL Hawaiian plants you want to have around for the next generation...not some wormy fruit that people only eat sparingly when they hike.
and i don't know anyone who can eat more than a handfull of wai`awi without getting a sour stomach.
to act like its an important plant to Hawaii's culture and agriculture is like saying we need fruit flies so the birds have food (worms) to eat.
wai`awi is just the opposite...it is a threat to agriculture because any fruit fly eradication program (med fly, melon fly, etc) has failed due to all the host for the maggots in the guava infestations.
our attempt to diversify agriculture with viable fruit crops is hit hard by fruit flies and the wai`awi that breeds them.
and for you folks that worry about ugly dead wai`awi branches...you may have noticed how competitive the wild vegetation is in Puna or Hawaii in general; other plants will grow to fill gaps left by dying or wounded strawberry guava...who knows, maybe even maile or ohia if we're lucky!
support diversified fruit crops by supporting this biocontrol of wa`awi!
this research for the scale has been ongoing for years and is the best documented biocontrol project yet. and better that they field tested it in Brazil than Hawaii to make sure it won't affect ohia or even yellow guava. now, if it won't affect a close sister plant like yellow guava in the country where those plants and insects have evolved together, how could it jump to some plant farther related?
to equate it with the mongoose-rat experiment that had no process is so off-the-wall and ignorant.
you guys obviously don't know much about agriculture and the history of recent biocontrol in Hawaii that has really helped farming and ranching. mahalo to Kani-Ohia for the references!
wai`awi is taking over our forests as i write. as that happens, plants that are really culturally important like maile and palapalai are being pushed out. these are the REAL Hawaiian plants you want to have around for the next generation...not some wormy fruit that people only eat sparingly when they hike.
and i don't know anyone who can eat more than a handfull of wai`awi without getting a sour stomach.
to act like its an important plant to Hawaii's culture and agriculture is like saying we need fruit flies so the birds have food (worms) to eat.
wai`awi is just the opposite...it is a threat to agriculture because any fruit fly eradication program (med fly, melon fly, etc) has failed due to all the host for the maggots in the guava infestations.
our attempt to diversify agriculture with viable fruit crops is hit hard by fruit flies and the wai`awi that breeds them.
and for you folks that worry about ugly dead wai`awi branches...you may have noticed how competitive the wild vegetation is in Puna or Hawaii in general; other plants will grow to fill gaps left by dying or wounded strawberry guava...who knows, maybe even maile or ohia if we're lucky!
support diversified fruit crops by supporting this biocontrol of wa`awi!