Land Clearing

[kumarsah]

Hello friends, I have previously asked questions on this topic and have received wonderful suggestions and advice. Your inputs have led me to refine my thoughts and ask one more round of questions and I thank you in advance for your response.

Background: I own 1 acre in Hawaii Paradise Park. It is currently covered in Uluhe ferns (as a ground cover, not too many trees - 10th avenue #1613- Between Paradise Park Drive and Kaloli Dr). I Don't plan to build a house on it for another 5 years (I currently live on the mainland). However, I would like to plant trees on the land - coconuts, mangoes, other fruits, native trees, etc. I would like to plant the trees now so it can mature by the time I build and move there. I also know that the ground is really hard and rocky and it requires serious breaking/ripping to do anything. Given that I have the following questions:

Should I rip the entire 1/2 acres of ground that I plan to build on and plant on now - and then, plant the trees, put ground cover or plant grass or something now to prevent things form germinating on the cleared land?
-- Are there any pros and cons of doing that?
-- Are there any better alternatives that you would suggest?

Alternatively, should I hold off on ripping the ground till I build. For now, should I Just find a way to plant the trees. Would you have any suggestions on what would be best way I could go about doing that?


Thank you.

Kumar.





Kumarsah

[Kenney]

It's hard to know where to plant until you can see the ground. If you could even weed wack and find out where the high and low places are it would be easier to determine where to plant. Uluhe is easy to kill, just by touching or stomping it down. (Wear good shoes. Those branches can go right through slippers and skewer your foot)
Some people prefer to doze and flatten everything. That way you can plant trees on the border (or wherever you want privacy) and create your own planting design. I often think it's ugly at first, but am in awe of the way people have made their own Paradise from dozed land.
Others like to hand clear and find the pukas and plant there where it's easier to fill with soil, and "slash. ( Oregon term for stuff you already cut down) rather than trying to dig (or jackhammer) holes in rock.
We only dozed in driveway and house pad and hand cleared the rest of the acre.
I think it's a great idea to get something planted now so the trees are grown and bearing when you're ready to move here.
If you do doze, just find somebody dependable to weedwack and you'll have grass in 5 years.
Good luck on your project!

[Chunkster]

Yes, you can certainly plant your trees to get them going before you build, but it is imperative that any ripped and flattened areas be regularly maintained. If you don't keep the areas between the trees weed whacked, a lot of invasive rubbish trees and bushes will get established and possibly even crowd out your desirable species. I've seen it happen again and again.

[kumarsah]

Thank you Kenney, I really appreciate your response. I like your approach and will go ahead do the same -- use the pukas to plant now and only rip the land for house pad and driveway when I am ready to do that (in 5 years).

I am just curious, after you hand cleared your acre, what did you plant in the available pukas? Also, how did you cover the surface of land where there were no pukas (i.e. did you plan ground cover or seed lawn etc.)?

Kumar.


Kumarsah

[kalakoa]

I would like to plant the trees now so it can mature by the time I build

It can take two years to build. Trees grow fast.

I Don't plan to build a house on it for another 5 years

Five years from now, we will probably have a new fungus, virus, or insect that affects one or more species. Don't plant what works today, plant what works when you get here.

Case in point: there probably won't be ohia on your lot in 5 years. No need to cut them down today.

Should I rip the entire 1/2 acres of ground that I plan to build on

Don't make plans before you live here. Your plans will probably be wrong.

If you really must "prepare", and you have money to burn, rip the land pin-to-pin, grow some grass, put up a fence, and lease it as pasture for livestock. Later, you'll have a nice meadow, and you can dig holes for trees with an o'o bar at whim, no heavy machinery required.

[Kenney]

Aloha Kumar.
Since I'm the first to respond, I advise that you wait and get more ideas from others before you make any hard decisions.

I utilize the pukas because I don't like digging. We filled them with slash for years and when composted (and somewhat level with surrounding land) planted bananas, Avos and Lychee, lots of white pineapples.

The reason I suggest finding the ground before you start clearing is because looks can be deceiving. Land appears flat with weeds growing taller than a person, but one wrong step and you can find yourself down a puka or turning an ankle (or worse ) in a crack. I discovered a cave in my yard 25 years after we moved here when one leg went down into it over 3 feet. Surprise surprise!

Some folks plant grass seed, but you can really grow a lawn by just weed whacking regularly which also keeps your trees free of tall weeds as Chunkster suggested.

Kalakoa's suggestion of rip, plant, fence and lease pasture sounds like a low maintainance (expensive at beginning) way to go. My neighbor's keep goats and they eat everything they can reach. Free mowing.

I only filled huge holes (where garden and Orchard are now) with black cinder, Mac nut husks and green sand.
Unplanted big holes just get cheaper red cinder to levels area so we don't break our necks trying to feed the hens.

We didn't "cover the surface of the land " for the lawn. Just weed wacked til it was grass. Adding soil makes it lusher, but we had other fish to fry so didn't bother with the expense. It turned out beautifully, but keeping the jungle at bay is constant work.

[kalakoa]

keeping the jungle at bay is constant work

Exactly: you have to be here to maintain it. Left alone, it does reach some long-term stable equilibrium, and this usually keeps invasives from taking hold.

Along the back side of Ainaloa is a perfect "cautionary tale": a nice rectangular 7500sf patch of albizia, surrounded on all sides by native jungle -- someone cleared the lot pin-to-pin, then didn't follow through, and it became infested just like any open wound...

(It's been a few years; not sure it's still there...)

[Chas]

I agree that it's best not to do anything until you get here

Also see my post in this thread:

http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23423

HPP has some really nice lava. Just my opinion but you're moving to Hawaii. Why not try to keep as much of the natural beauty as is possible?

Edited for clarity

[BillyB]

Take note of where there are any trees now. Ohia are good at finding deep cracks and holes to survive. Years ago I cleared a lot and ripped it, but planted trees where the deeper holes were. The fruit trees did very well.

[kumarsah]

Thank you everyone. These are wonderful suggestions and gives me lots to think about. I really appreciate it.

Kumar

Kumarsah