Would anyone like to share thoughts on why our ohia trees are dying?
The trees stop flowering and then they burn from top to bottom within a month.
Could it be vog?
Geothermal?
drought?
Could it be from the fumigation and pesticides from this highly experimental GMO papaya comeback?
Very sad to watch every day for the last 4 years.
Has there been any research in the past with peoples death rate due to dying trees?
Our many birds and bees may take a big hit when these Ohia trees die off. Could these Ohia trees dying have any relationship to the fish kills in Kapoho?
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Here's some answers from CTAHR that were printed last year.
Waterlogged soil leading to fungus growth around the roots is a common cause. There's also a fear that a bad virus may be spreading.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections...ously.html
Thanks for the posts, I have had J.B Friday out here as well as others to take a look at the dying trees. The educated are just as stumped as we are. In the last 4 years 80 percent of our closest ohia have died. Large ones first usually, then the small ones too. But hey at least we now have these big shade trees called albesia, Where did they start ? Who started these trees? Albesia are usually a reforesting tree? Can the state or county do anything to save the ohia? Or stop the advancement of the albesia before the ohia have a chance to grow back in areas? Will our electric rates go up with the price of tree cutting services due to the growing of this shade tree. Scary to look at these trees 20 years from now. thank you.
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You mention, "80 percent of our closest ohia have died."
Are you gardening around them, or have you cleared near them? Ohias have shallow roots that can be damaged if you disturb the soil near them.
The ohias in my area are doing fine.
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"Could it be from the fumigation and pesticides from this highly experimental GMO papaya comeback?"
Damn you to hell, Monsanto!
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It's been my experience that ohia that aren't in deep soil are pretty fragile trees. Yes, there may be a virus or fungus that are killing them, but that's probably just a natural process of killing the less hardy trees. Even though ohia seem to like sprouting in almost bare lava, they only seem to attain a limited grown and then die. It's why I don't get too emotionally involved with ohia in shallow soil. Of course, it doesn't mean you have to be fatalistic about it. There may be something that can be done to preserve them longer.
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I've lost about 30% of my ohia trees and these are pretty old ones (about 150+ years old). I'm really sad about it.
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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On one of our lots where we have poor soil there is an ohia "dead zone" around an outcropping of albezia trees. The ferns etc still grow but all the ohia are dead. I don't think its a matter of the albezia canopy shading the ohia because the dead zone extends beyond the canopy. The albezia have an impressive root system, I'm wondering if they are leeching all the nutrients from the scarce soil leaving the ohia unable to fend off other problems. I recently started killing the albezia, but it will take many years to find out if it makes any difference.
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Albizia were brought in as one of many reforestation trees selected to re-establish ground cover after huge wildfires in decades past... It has outperformed the other trees that were also used, and was even planted by residents in some of the Puna subdivisions due to its' high success.....at the time it seemed like a good idea...but that was 6 or so decades ago...
There are many very good papers on Ohia dieback, and the reports go back over a century, so pesticide/GMO would not be a probable cause, and though albizia will limit ohia in the general area of the albizia, it does not account for the huge dieback that occur in upper elevations (in recent years some of the areas of concern for the dieback include upper Stainback rd & the Mauna Kea side of upper Saddle.
Although there were some speculations on the bogging of the roots due to aquatard/aqualude formations in the substrates beneath the ohia stand that experienced dieback in the previous decades, there has not been the well structured research to absolutely confirm this (esp missing are the data on the conditions that would create these water-trapping geological structures that would waterlog the acreage involved in some of the past dieback events), and the current weather patterns create even more questions, as we have not even had the rain events that would explain waterlogging, and yet the many of the current dieback events are in areas that are still under a fairly moderate rain profile (though much lower than the local normal)...and some of the stands that have not experienced dieback events are in areas that SHOULD have both of these occurences - areas like Kaloko mauka....
If ya' have the time, definitely check in with the Forestry lab on Nowelo in Hilo (above Komohano from the astronomy headquarters & Imiloa)...as this is THE place to find the researchers working on this problem...and attend their public talks!
Thank you for all your posts back.. We have watched this event very closely for 4 years now, At first we thought must be Geothermal. Possible Fracking since we live 3 miles from the plant. The 120 year old trees started to die first between tangerine acres to Sanfords cinder pits towards Kalapana. Only after a couple years we then noticed the same burn in areas as far as Kapoho, Seaview, even now Paradise Park and Hawaiian acres. So time has started to change our minds on what could be causing the dieback. Previous diebacks 50"s and 70"s were after eruptions on the east rift zone, And this past 3 to 5 years have been active with the fires and lava. The way the trees will burn from top to bottom, or simply fry orange within a month made us think about air problems more than ground? Pulling up some recent area pictures of the Puna coast, we could not believe how much land had been ripped and dozed. Mostly lower Puna, from Hawaiaan Beaches, to Kapoho, Poihiki, along the coast to Seaview. Looks like hundreds if not thousands of acres of new PAPAYA. Geothermal looks small in comparison to the papaya in there back yard. When we have variable winds do these papaya farmers not spray? What would they be spraying? Looks like agent orange the way they are suited for space. Made us think about there upward spray and how it could become airborne. Run off during hard rains in Kapoho, of these hundreds of acres, could it be hazardous to marine life? Anyway sorry for the deep concern and somewhat radicle thinking. go easy and we would appreciate any other perspectives.
