Ohia trees are dying rapidly, Why?

[Guest]

They are Still studying the rapid Ohia death.http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2015/12/28/video-rapid-ohia-death-in-the-lab/

JMO to how and where this rapid ohia death started.

The dying of the Ohia trees started next to the Puna Geothermal power plant several years back. The Geothermal plant had a leaking production well for years, this escaping warm chemically laced steam was happening for years. The Puna Geothermal power plant had a planned release of steam over the leilani subdivision during hurricane Iselle, this caused the ongoing problems to be found. They then needed to drill a new production well immediately(day and night) in order to kill off that leaking well. All the dead Ohia have now been bulldozed around the Power plant which may have also helped spread the fungus. We no longer see the steam or gasses in the early morning hours laying low to the ground around leilani the way we use to for YEARS before the new well was drilled.

I have a notebook filled with dates, notes, and folks I had talked to about how or when this ohia tree disease first started. J.B. Friday is the gentleman who came out to my house to see this rapid ohia death first hand. He did not seem to think it was very concerning then, even assured us the fungus would not be dangerous to brush our teeth with. Now that it has continued to spread like a wild fire, it is finally getting the attention it probably needed after the first calls of concerns,jmo.

[Obie]

quote:

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Originally posted by gypsy69

They are Still studying the rapid Ohia death.http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2015/12/28/video-rapid-ohia-death-in-the-lab/

JMO to how and where this rapid ohia death started.

The dying of the Ohia trees started next to the Puna Geothermal power plant several years back. The Geothermal plant had a leaking production well for years, this escaping warm chemically laced steam was happening for years. The Puna Geothermal power plant had a planned release of steam over the leilani subdivision during hurricane Iselle, this caused the ongoing problems to be found. They then needed to drill a new production well immediately(day and night) in order to kill off that leaking well. All the dead Ohia have now been bulldozed around the Power plant which may have also helped spread the fungus. We no longer see the steam or gasses in the early morning hours laying low to the ground around leilani the way we use to for YEARS before the new well was drilled.

I have a notebook filled with dates, notes, and folks I had talked to about how or when this ohia tree disease first started. J.B. Friday is the gentleman who came out to my house to see this rapid ohia death first hand. He did not seem to think it was very concerning then, even assured us the fungus would not be dangerous to brush our teeth with. Now that it has continued to spread like a wild fire, it is finally getting the attention it probably needed after the first calls of concerns,jmo.

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Kind of early in the day to be hitting the bong !!

[Guest]

Haha-haha Obie, good one. You do know it had to be 4:20 somewhere so its never to early. The bong is so old, out dated, and Illegal by the way. Folks now hold MM legal cards in one hand while Vaporizing(not inhaling) only the best black market Mainland bud Available today. By the way Alcohol of ones choice mixed with multiple doctors prescriptions is truly the only legal way to cope today.

P.S. Do you have a problem reading my posts Obie? Again you reposted my entire post? This is a forum and those are my opinions, what is wrong with that?.

[pahoated]

This is such an intriguing topic in so many areas. We are watching history in the making, the first post of this thread in 2013 was actually the first report of ohia wilt occurring, where it started, in Pohoiki, in a very small area, the point source outbreak of another introduced invasive species. It has spread to Kona now and looking at the origin, and how it has been spreading, it almost looks like somebody's footprints, more likely infected ohia logs being used for alternative building material and trucked up out of south Puna and spread along the way. Notice how it is following Hiway 11.
http://damontucker.com/wp-content/upload...isease.jpg

This is the same fungus that is killing off large eucalyptus areas in Australia, endangering koalas. It hasn't been proven it is the same strain but some infected vegetation from Australia, skipping inspection and ending up down in Pohoiki almost begs the question, why did it take so long?

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[EightFingers]

Isn't Australia where the LFAs came from?

[Guest]

Looks like this Ohia wilt around puna is only found here and nowhere else in the world. It may drastically change our bird population, the picking of the flowers for traditional holidays, even our water aquifers here on the island may be affected in the near future.

http://www.sott.net/article/309234-Newly...ter-supply

So sad to watch this Ohia wilt take a strangle hold on Puna's rain forests over the years. The extra slow response from our Mayor,dlnr,Forrest division,and the rest of our pro-Geothermal state really compounded this devastating situation, jmo.

[pbmaise]

If you want trees to rot and produce fungus fast, bury them. That is exactly what people did with big D9 when clearing lots in Puna.

Then take your big D9 covered in dirt and filled with fungus and bull doze another area.

..........

Regarding vectors to get the fungus into healthy trees, the introduction of a new insect in 2012 sounds like a good area to start.

" "Biological Control
Strawberry Guava
Psidium cattleianum
In 2012 Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture and USDA
Forest Service released the scale insect Tectococcus
ovatus for the control of strawberry guava (Psidium
cattleianum), one of Hawaii’s worst forest weeds, at
demonstration sites on the island of Hawai‘i. The scale is being monitored by the Forest Service Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. Establishment of the scale has occurred slowly but reproduction has been observed at the field sites."
www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/biocontrol/strawberryguava/strawberry_guava.shtml

[dmbwest]

pb ... Where are you now ?

Did you ever sort out your noodley boom ?

[pbmaise]

This new insect, introduced to damage trees, is supposed to only damage strawberry guava trees.

However, how about the case where thousands of these insects land on a single nearby ohia tree? If these bugs are hungry will they try eating ohia leaves?

Yes, ohia may not support their life cycle.

However, if they have picked up fungus during their life span before reaching the ohia, what will happen when they bite into ohia leaves?

Question: Are stands of ohia close to strawberry guava more likely killed?

ps Pog I am in Puerto Princesa converting my boat to dive boat. I went with shorter boom

[Obie]

" The extra slow response from our Mayor,dlnr,Forrest division,and the rest of our pro-Geothermal state really compounded this devastating situation, jmo."

I'm curious what our " pro-Geothermal state " had to do with this ?

After your last rant about PGV causing this, I drove all around PGV and guess what ?
The Ohia's closest to PGV look very healthy and are all in bloom !

Down at Pakalolo Bob's compound they are all dead !
This virus is being transported around the state by people who transport wood from infected areas.

Doesn't Bob run an exotic wood business and didn't you post about your adventures with him while salvaging wood ???