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quote:
Originally posted by PrismaticMenehune
> Albizia trees did terrible damage to homes and properties during hurricane Iselle.
Lava Tree State Monument isn't a residential area, and tropical cyclones have not exactly been a common occurrence on this island. Even if that's because we've been lucky, preparing for every possible natural disaster impact when you live on the world's most active volcano seems a bit misguided.
Ah yes, you want the pretty 'tunnel of trees' back. Like many a silly person, you think the notion of large, water logged, poor structured trees hanging over a well travelled road is quaint.
The reality is that many large branches fell on the road narrowly missing many and actually striking vehicles (talk to the young man whose truck was totalled).
Also, back when I had to commute to Hilo for work every day I took to carrying a chainsaw in my truck because more than one morning the road would be blocked by a fallen branch or tree.
The Albezias are going down whether they are killed chemically or not. I appreciate the concern regarding the poison (considering native cultural practitioners harvest from the forest you are referring to).
If you want to "Save the Trees" why not focus on our Ohia trees? They are native, beautiful, useful, not hazardous and in desperate need of assistance.
P.S. I can tell that you were not in Puna during Hurricane Iselle or you would not be so enamored with Albezia...
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"you might notice the mention of an absence of LFA in that area." The Al-jezeera article mentions this specifically; "first reported in Hawaii in 1999 in the rainy agricultural Southeast corner of Hawaii Island" -that's Puna.
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Lava Tree State Monument isn't a residential area
Residents of Nanavale Estates, Nanavale Farm Lots, and Tangerine Acres would disagree.
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P-Menehune: "As for the LFA, with all due respect, that sounds like an attempt to scare people into thinking the two are surely correlated."
Kalakoa: "Albizia, LFA, coffee borer beetle, small hive beetle, rhino beetle, dengue: all of these infestations are symptomatic of resource mismanagement by State and County. In this way they are definitely related; all of them should have been dealt with long ago."
Rather than address Menehune's actual statement, Kalakoa changes the meaning by switching "correlated" for "related" in order to take the opportunity to repeat himself for approximately the 4,000th time.
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Rather than address Menehune's actual statement
Fine. Who wants to climb an albizia and count the LFA?
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A masochistic entomologist?
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quote:
Originally posted by PunaMauka2
A masochistic entomologist?
That's what I'm gonna name my band. Puna Lover and the Masochistic Entomologist. Mahalo.
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quote:
Originally posted by Rob Tucker
My suggestion for local control of albezia is to tax them. Assess a yearly increasing tax on all albezia with fall range of a road or house. Start at $10/tree per year. Double that every year progressive years.
The chainsaws will hum.
While I like the idea of taxing "albizia owners" a lot, chainsawing albizia is a very, very bad idea. All they do is re-sprout with multiple branches which makes girdling futile.
Whereas if you properly girdle an albizia that has not been cut, they die with 90% certainty, we seldom had to go back and re-girdle.
Lokahi
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Milestone® is fast and final. I know that people whine about using poisons but I've never needed more than 3CC (less than two teaspoons) to kill an albizia (full disclosure, some need a followup treatment) and it's the only herbicide I know of that is labeled for use on pasture for grazing animals. While I understand that doesn't make it "safe", and there are plenty of articles out there that say that it isn't, one has to weigh the evils of using poison versus letting the albizia continue to destroy the ecosystem worse than several drops of Milestone ever can.
I think it was Lao Tzu who said, "Give an albizia some Milestone®, and it will kill the tree in a day. Plant an albizia, and the ecosystem will be destroyed for a lifetime."
ETA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDbzSVwH5-A
(Dr. James Leary, CTAHR Invasive Weed Specialist, conducts field trials at Maunawili Experiment Station, Oahu, targeting the invasive tree Albizia (Falcataria moluccana; syn. Albizia moluccana, Albizia falcata, Albizia falcataria, Adenanthera falcataria, Paraserianthes falcataria). Using Milestone® VM (active ingredient: aminopyralid), he researches two application methods: drill application vs. frill cut. )
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Driving home past the dead albizia's overhanging the powerlines. The odds of power being cut to the subdivision went from say ... 5% to 95%...
***Still can't figure out how to spell 'car' correctly***
