Which vegetables need to be in green house.

[canhle]

Hi,
I am on Paradise and fifth in HPP. I am in the process of starting a vegetable garden. I was inspired by some of the postings in this forum about growing your own food and eat local. I guess you can't be more local than eating from your back yard.

Anyway, my first question is what kind of vegetables need to be in the green house with protective screens for fruit flies and other unwanted bugs? My second question is which vegetables have been growing successfully in HPP.

thanks in advance.

canhle

[JerryCarr]

I have grown the following vegetables successfully in Central HPP without a greenhouse:

Collard greens, turnips, wong bok, bok choi, cabbage, kale, mustard greens, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, carrots, lima beans, cherry tomatoes, and okra.

Corn, yellow crook-neck squash, and regular sized tomatoes have not done well for us.

We have planted fig, papaya, jaboticaba, abiu, lychee, rambutan, mango, lime, navel orange, tangerine, and Tahitian lime fruit trees. None are more than three years old, and we are already eating limes, oranges, papayas, and figs. The others are all growing nicely, but no fruit yet. The abiu (Brazilian caramel custard fruit) is blooming right now, so we hope for fruit soon. Of course we have about 40 pineapples growing all over the place.

Cheers and happy gardening,
Jerry

[JerryCarr]

I forgot to mention cucumbers, StillHope. There is a mixed record on those. The ordinary varieties seem to get the same disease that the yellow crook-neck squash gets. We have only had luck with hybrid varieties labeled as disease resistant, such as Poinsett 76. DO NOT, however, buy Ferry Morse Poinsett 76 seed marked "2008 Lot G1." Those seed turned out to be mislabeled zucchini. They were great zucchini, mind you, but not what we needed. We have been giving away zucchini to the neighbors.

The problem with tomatoes in most of Puna is the fungal diseases that the rain engenders. The spatter of the rain spreads the fungus from leaf to leaf and leads to the destruction of the plants fruiting potential, and in some case the whole damn thing just dies. Growing under cover eliminates this and also allows optimum moisture and fertilizer levels for good production. We are considering building a small greenhouse.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Hotzcatz]

Hey, Jerry! How do you keep those little green caterpillars (the ones from the white butterfly) from eating your collard greens?

Stillhope, small fruited tomatoes such as cherry tomatoes do real well. You could also try the variety named "Roma". The larger fruited tomato fruits succumb to fruit flies.

[JerryCarr]

Hotzcatz, I try to pick them off and plant enough collards to allow for some to be eaten by the caterpillars. We are not squeamish about eating damaged leaves, but frankly, the collards are so prolific that there are always plenty of undamaged leaves. I do not spray my greens, but some people use thuricide or BT, a mild biological agent that kills the caterpillars, but is supposed to be harmless to mammals and fish.

Cheers,
Jerry

[canhle]

Thanks everyone for helping out.

canhle

[canhle]

Jerry,
Your list is very impressive. You must save so much from your garden. It also must be very satisfying eating so much local. Ah.. How sweet it is eating the fruit of your labor. When I grow up as a gardener, I will be like you. :-)

canhle