Meeting June 14th, Kalaheo

Aloha Kakou,
     We will have our next meeting in Kalaheo at the Waxman's. We will have a tour including mature  clove, nutmeg, mangosteen, durian and other exotics-many of which were planted by fruit specialist, Dr Townsend 25+ years ago. Our member David Whatmore will be on hand to talk about that, since he helped plant some of the trees and was a good friend of Dr Townsend (deceased).  We will also be hearing from Todd Oldham who is starting a fruit juice company based here on Kauai and would like to get a better idea of what fruits can be supplied, and introduce his ideas for feedback. We also will be discussing the issue of the postage overage the state level folks incurred and what, if anything we might be inclined to send to help out-basically, when receiving some free cuttings/scion wood from UC Davis, our Executive Director was told they could also be sent potted already, and assumed the added expense was negligible since our close contacts there didn't mention otherwise-oops! So, we can briefly discuss that, and bring it to a vote by our paid members.
     It is tricky to get to the meeting place which is on Kikala road in Kalaheo.    Because it's a little tricky getting there we will be caravanning from Kauai Nursery and Landscaping departing at 4:30.
     As usual, feel free to bring trees to share,fruit related pupus or other, and we will have cold water provided. Look forward to seeing everyone there!

mahalo,
John
635-2880
ps call if you get lost-though I will have to hand the phone over to someone who knows that area! 

World of Bananas available at the Kapaa library

HTFG Kauai donates the book "World of Bananas" to the Kapaa Library.

Official press release:
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HTFG DONATES NEW BOOK TO SIX LIBRARIES

HAWAII— The statewide Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG) is donating the book, “The World of Bananas in Hawai‘i: Then and Now” to libraries on the four major islands. The 612-page tome, by HTFG members and Maui residents Dr. Angela Kepler and Francis Rust, is the result of 30-years of worldwide research.

“It is the first book about bananas in Hawaii chock full of original research. It traces the banana evolution around the Pacific,” explains Ken Love, HTFG president. “It is a banana bible.”  

Boasting 1,900 illustrations, the book contains pictorial descriptions for 140 living varieties and 22 kinship groups, plus illustrated keys separating similar cultivars. It also has information on pesticide-free care and maintenance, nutritional deficiencies, and troubleshooting pests and diseases.

Love adds that the $80 resource covers every banana in Hawaii, plus Polynesian and international varieties, including ornamentals and fei.

Recently published by Waipio-O-Pali Press, copies will be at the Hawaii State Library at 478 King St. in downtown Honolulu, at the Kahului Branch on Maui, the Kapaa Branch on Kauai and two branches on Hawaii Island: the Kealakekua Branch in Kona and the downtown Hilo Branch.

Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers

Incorporated in 1989 to promote tropical fruit grown in Hawaii, HTFG is a statewide association of tropical fruit growers, packers, distributors and hobbyists dedicated to tropical fruit research, education, marketing and promotion; www.hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org.

Left to right Liz Ito, John Anderson, and Lani Kawahara (library branch manager)

Jerry Ornellas Farm - February 2nd 2012

This is a belated follow up post to our visit to Jerry Ornella's Longan farm in Kapaa.  What a wonderful time. Choke full of information on raising and taking care of Longans.

Picking Longans

Kihala Farms brought nutmeg to share. Here is the nut and the fruit.

Nutmeg bottled

Some fresh longans laid on the table.

Going for a hike.

Lelan (left) and Jerry (right)

David Whatmore brought a delicious Mamey Sapote to share

Ella with a sprig of Longans

Meeting after the farm tour

KNL Workshop (February 25th, 2012)

Kauai Nursery and Landscaping is having a workshop.

----------------------------------------

 

"Free Workshop: FRUIT TREES

February 25th (Sat) 9:00am-

Discussion of selection for residential landscape and how to care for.
Drawing for a free 4 gallon grafted tree of your choice!"

The World of Bananas book is available

News article related to HTFG donating a new book on bananas to local libraries.

Article on the book:
http://www.hawaii247.com/2012/02/03/htfg-donates-new-books-to-kona-hilo-libraries/

Where it can be bought:
UofH
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-8749-9780983726609.aspx

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/World-Bananas-Hawaii-Then-Now/dp/0983726604

I have been told this is an excellent book packed with information.

HTFG 22nd International Conference (Sept 13-Sept 16, 2012)

From Ken Love:

Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers

22^nd Annual Hawaii International Conference

Producing Quality Fruit for the Future of Hawaii

On Oahu 

 

Sept 13-16

Thursday, Sept. 13

7:00-8:00       Registration & Coffee

8:00-8:15       Welcome & Announcements

8:15-8:30       Welcome - Russell Kokubun           

8:30-10:00     Tropical Plant and Soil Science (TPSS) Panel - Robert Paull* moderator with Ted Radovich*, Skip Bittenbender*, Richard Manshardt* and Jonathan Deenik

10:00-10:30   Coffee break

10:30-11:30   Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences (HNFAS) panel – Doug Vincent* moderator with Maria Stewart, Stuart Nakamoto and Wayne Iwaoka 

11:30-1:00     Lunch – Speaker- Dennis Gonsalves

1:00-2:00       Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS) Panel–Brent Sipes*, Moderator, with Mark Wright*, Scot Nelson, Janice 

2:30 – 3:00     Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) –Cathy-Chan Halbrendt*, Moderator, JB Friday, Jody Smith

2:30 – 3:30     Campus / Department tours    

                         

3:30 – 5:00    Poster viewing / trade show viewing

                       

                        Dinner – on your own

                       

                                                                        2:30 – 5:00  -- HTFG Board meeting

Friday, Sept. 14

7:00-8:00       Registration & Coffee

8:00-8:10       Welcome & Announcements

8:10-8:30       Governor Abercrombie (Invited)

8:30-9:30       Dr. John Yoshimi Yonemoto*

                        Producing consistent High Quality Fruit in Japan

9:30-9:50       Coffee break

9:50-11:00     Hawaii Department of Agriculture – Panel, Russell Kokubun Moderator with, Lyle Wong, Matt Loke* and Danielle Downey, and ???

11:00-12:00   APHIS  Panel - Vernon Harrington* moderator

                        Merren Hao* Dorothy Alontaga*, Ron Tom* and Michael Muraoka*

12:00-1:00     LUNCH – Speaker, Bob Paull* 

1:00 -2:30      USDA PBARC Panel – Dennis Gonsalves

                        Peter Follett, Tracie Matsumoto, Lisa Keith, Marisa Wall

2:30-2:45       break

2:45-3:00       USDA -NASS – Mark Hudson*

3:00-3:15       USDA-FSA –Diane L. Ley*

3:15-3:30       USDA- NRCS

3:30-3:45       USDA-Rural Development*

                         

3:45-4:00       Wrap-up – announcements

4:00-7:00       Poster trade show viewing – networking

                        Fruit tasting Heavy pupus

Saturday Sept. 15

7:00-8:00       Registration & Coffee

8:00-8:30       Welcome & Announcements

                        General membership meeting

8:30-10:00     Dr Roberto Coronel*

                        Professor Emeritus University of the Philippines Los Banos

                       

10:00-10:10   Breakout Session Introduction

10:10-1030    Coffee break

10:30-11:30   Breakout sessions

1.      Chef Ernest Miller*- Food preservation for future security and value added product development

2.      Dr Matt Loke* -   Branding, Marketing and the seal of quality

3.      Understanding tissue culture

4.      Plant propagation techniques- Dr. Francis Zee*

5.      Post Harvest handling of tropical fruit – Dr. Robert Paull*

6.      New Farmer workshop – Dr Mark Nickum* & Andrea Kawabata*

7.      Bees and pollination – HDOA Danielle

8.      Edible Landscaping – Brian Lievens*

9.      Fruit trees for the future Frank Sekiya*

11:30-1:00     Lunch – Chef Ernest Miller speaker

           

1:00-1:15       Announcements – evaluation form reminder / calendar

1:15- 2:30      Breakout sessions

1.      Chef Ernest Miller*- Food preservation for future security and value                                   added product development

2.      Dr Matt Loke*      Branding, Marketing and the seal of quality

3.      Understanding tissue culture

4.      Plant propagation techniques- Dr. Francis Zee*

5.      Post Harvest handling of tropical fruit – Dr. Robert Paull*

6.      New Farmer workshop – Dr Mark Nickum* & Andrea Kawabata*

7.      Bees and pollination – HDOA Danielle

8.      Edible Landscaping – Brian Lievens*

9.      Fruit trees for the future Frank Sekiya*

2:30-330        Breakout session reports

                       

3:30–4:00       conference wrap up

                        Evaluation collection for calendar

                        Aloha

5:00- 6:00      No host bar    Silent Auction

7:00- 9:00      Dinner -          Silent Auction

Sunday, Sept. 16

Tour 1

Bus from Lincoln Hall 7:30am

8:00 to 10:00 Frankies Nursery in Waimanalo*

10:00 to 11:00 Waimanalo Experiment station

11:15- to 1:00 – Lunch and tour at Whole Foods

1:30 return to Lincoln Hall

Tour 2

Bus from Lincoln Hall 7:30am

8:00 to 10:00 Urban Garden Center

10:00 to 11:00 Lyon Arboretum

11:15- to 1:00 – Lunch and tour at Whole Foods

1:30 return to Lincoln Hall

* Confirmed

Next Meeting

Thursday Feb 9, 5-7pm Longan Farm in Kapahi

"Jerry Ornellas has been kind enough to host our next meeting at his Longan Farm. He will be giving a tour and discussing aspects of orchard management and niche marketing. There are many things to discuss such as the garden fair at the community college this Spring where we plan to have a booth. We also have some information to share about our international conference in September on Oahu, and other issues and opportunities to get involved.

As always, bring food, fruit, seeds, cuttings, trees to share if you like. We will provide water, and have t-shirts for sale. Kauai Nursery and Landscaping is donating a grafted Raposa mango tree that we will auction-proceeds to support the group-thanks to Milan guys for all the support!"

 
For more information, please contact John 635-2880 

Cacao Workshop at Kauai Nursery and Landscaping

Kauai Nursery and landscaping recently had a workshop on Cacao. Here are some notes from the presentation. My disclaimer is that any errors in these transcribed notes be attributed to me and my inability to take notes quickly enough to keep up and not the to the speaker.

Cacao Workshop Notes

Location: Kauai Nursery and Landscaping

Date: January 15^th, 2012

Speaker: Daniel  O’Doherty

Synopsys:

Free Workshop: Cacao

This workshop will present specific nursery and field practices for growing cacao in Hawaii.  Topics will include selection of planting material, growing in the nursery, field establishment, pruning, grafting, maintenance, harvesting, expected yields, and fermentation.  Discussion will also summarize different methods of orchard management with a focus on agroforestry and shade systems of cacao cultivation.  Several methods of grafting will be demonstrated during the presentation.

Speaker:
Daniel O’Doherty has been growing and researching cacao with the University of Hawaii since early 2009.   Research interests include most aspects of cacao production, but are currently focused on development of best practices for orchard establishment, testing of high-quality grafted cacao varieties throughout the islands, and fermentation. He has also worked as a private cacao consultant for two years and has worked with cacao on Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai.  He recently returned from a 6-week cacao research and training internship in Bahia, Brazil.  

Production Approximations

·         10,000 cacao trees per 15 acres

·         1000 dry lbs /acre

·         Reference: 2 ½ hectars per acre

·         When referring to production, the weight of the seeds is important, not the size of the pods or the number of seeds in a pod.

Prices

·         $60/lb chocolate (most expensive)

·         $1.50/lb is commodity price

·         $25-40 per kilogram (excessively high for Criollo)

·         $8/lb beans (dole)

·         125beans / 100g

·         Dark Chocolate $8/42g bar (expensive)

·         High production grafted trees can produce 2000lbs /acre (and that is huge)

·         Ungrafted trees 500-1200 lbs dry beans/acre/year

·         Grafted trees 1000-2000 lbs of dry beans/acre/year

·         Any production levels less than 500lbs/acre/year is a loss

Orchard Management

·         Full sun or shade agro forestry

·         Pros/Cons

o   Outputs earlier/higher

o   Inputs water, nutrients, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide

o   Orchard lifetime stress, disease, insects, senescence

o   Cacao trees have a production life of 100years

Creating Shade for Cacao

·         Bana Grass – Temporary wind block, propagation is easy, rapid growth, and is sterile

·         KX4 – Sterile, Nitrogen Fixing

·         Madre-de-cacao – bumper trees that are nitrogen fixing (Liscerdia)

·         Soursop

·         Other possibilities – Koa, Mahogany, banana, coffee, kava

Site Selection:

·         Do a trial and monitor acreage

·         Economics of scale

·         Factor in maintenance, harvesting (how will the cacao be harvested?), fermentation

·         Do not plan to grow over 1000 feet, and definitely not over 15000 feet

Fertilizing

·         When the tree is established, its leaves make a good fertilizer.

·         Do not use Muriatic potash or anything with chlorine.

·         Mulching the cacao husks is good for the trees (can use a chipper)

Varieties

·         Criollo – domesticated. Suffers from fermentation problems.  Has high costs and low yields.

·         Trinitario – Strictly lower Amazon and Trinidad variety (the term refers to any cross)

·         Forastero – Means nothing. Trees from Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, West Africa. A few years ago 10 varieties were identified, its probably close to 15 in 2011.

Grafting

·         Recommended graft methods  are side grafting, bark, and side grafts

·         Graft when green, not brown

·         Air layering is not recommended due to the lack of a tap root

·         Best time of year to graft is May to August (yields higher success, almost 100%), worst time to graft is the other months and can lead to 50% success.

·         Allow nursery stock to age to 4-6 months before grafting

Planting Seeds

·         Pots should be 3” in diameter and 6-9” deep to ensure proper tap root growth

·         Seed is only viable for a couple of days

·         Seeds should be planted a half inch deep.

·         Should be transplanted within 6 months

·         Transplants should have a diameter of a bic pen at base and maybe be about 2 feet tall.

·         Space trees at a minimum of 6 feet.  8 feet is ideal. Anything larger than 10 feet has diminished returns.

·         Try to transplant the trees under ideal conditions (not in the heat of the day)

Caring

·         First 6 months, light intensity should be 50%

·         Water quality is really important (avoid water with chlorine)

·         Fertilizer should be applied very gently. Young keikis are susceptible to nitrogen burn.  Recommended half teaspoon of 13-13-13. 3-1-4 ratio is better suited. The young trees need more potassium.

·         Trim any suckers below the jorquette (the fork of the main stem).  There should be one choupon from the root to the jorquette.

Problems

Bark is bleeding white sap is black twig borer, water the tree more. After tree is established its not an issue.

Holes in leaf indicate rose beetle. Issue goes away when tree is established.  Can spray for it in the mean time. Use Immedia Clorporate (granules).

Harvesting

·         Ideally, when the seed mass disconnects naturally within the pod.

·         Scrape with fingernail and the flesh should be yellow.

·         When harvesting, don’t include the placenta in the fermentation.

Fermentation Process

·         Don’t use softwoods (pine) or plywood  (it has glue) or any treated wood (chemicals can leach into the fermentation process).  Stick to untreated hardwoods.

·         Drying and storage – Use mesh trays, hoop house,

·         Moisture content should get down to 6-8%, too high yields mold

·         Storage can be done in burlap sacks. The important things is that beans be allowed to breather.  Beans should be stored for 2 months before making chocolate.  The storage period gets rid of the acidic flavor. During storage, careful attention must be paid to insects (in particular the cigar beetle and moths).