Forest fluff

[Peter Easterling]

I scraped up some dark soil (composted leafy matter?) from a few of our forest areas. It is light weight and seems richly nutritious. It seems to be an excellent growing medium.

Anyone using Puna forest "soil?" Is it a good garden soil by itself or is it deficient in some ways?

[Rob Tucker]

I would expect it to be very acidic and need some balancing depending on what you grow.

[bluesboy]

You can submit a soil sample to the CTAHR Komohana Extension office and they will test it for various nutrients for about $10. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get the results back. They will also tell you what you need to add for various types of trees and plants.

[lquade]

yes, we call it puna gold... it is the very best planting you can get...

[Rob JD]

We have anywhere from 12" - 24" deep of topsoil all over our property in Orchidland. When we had our driveway installed, the contractor scraped all the topsoil up to lay down the lavarock base material for the driveway. He then piled the topsoil all along the driveway and smoothed it out. We then dug big "potholes" in it for our plants trees shrubs and fill with 3/4 minus black lava. Everything is growing great as once they get established, they send out their root system as they like into the surrounding soil for extra nutrients. The one problem with straight native topsoil is that is quite sticky when wet and can really hold the water and not allowing proper drainage, which can drown most exotics or cause root rot.

BC to Kea'au

[bananahead]

if its mainly from Ohia leaves/ferns it may be good, if its from Waiwi leaves and bark it will be acidic and can hinder the growth of non waiwi seedlings/plants

save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha