Perennial peanut flats

Today will try setting up some special peanut transplants.

We have a bunch of peanut growing across concrete near the shed. A lot of it appears to be sending out rootlets, seeking soil.

So we're going to try getting these tendrils to root into flats filled with soil a couple different ways. One is to simply insert the flats under the existing plants and hope that the rootlets take root. The other is to cut the tendrils and transplant them into flats.

We'll check again in a couple months to see which was the most successful.

Daily diary

Stored tractor and whacker, including clean, lube, fuel (2h). Shut off field water at top valve.
Pulled weeds near shed (30m). Repotted turmeric and peanut flats (45m). Repotted small cacao from back 40, and potted two Spanish limes in larger pots (1h).
Rained long last night but hot and dry today. Mulch from mowing makes field look brown.

Cross mowing

After mowing tall grass in pasture with contours last week, yesterday I quickly mowed the whole pasture perpendicular to the first mow. Kept the tractor in high gear most of the time. Took about 5 hours.

Kahaluu avocado info

This is the avocado that our friend gave us in June 2011 as a housewarming present. It comes from Plant It Hawaii and is labeled "Kahaluu".

It struggled a bit after we planted it. We didn't follow the instructions and apparently pigs & mowers ran into it while we were on the mainland. When we returned in December 2011 it had been reduced to a twig with a single leaf. Now it's recovering.

Added new photo of current status. Looks like it got a little burned by fertilizer.

List of current ulu varieties

In order starting from house side:

Apuapua Ulu (Plant It Hawaii)
Ma'afala ulu (Garden Exchange/Plant It Hawaii)
Tahitian ulu (Home Depot/Plant It Hawaii)
Marang (Plant It Hawaii)
Ma'afala (from Pahoa charter school)

More fertilizing

Fertilized rollinia, fig, old lime, pink eureka, fig, green gold avocado. About 1/2 lb triple-16 each. (45m). Also placed some black weed block down around.

Still need to do key lime, Bearss lime, honey tangerine.

Fertilized lawn trees and ulu row

Used about 1/2-1 lb of triple-16 mixed with water. Fertilized all the ulu, the marang, and the lawn area citrus and avocado. Need to do driveway trees and rollinia next.

Peninsula status

The old lilikoi vine continues to drop a few fruits though it's foliage is sparse and far overhead.

Strawberry guava and other guava continues to spread, requiring a machete to gain access.

Found one cacao planted in a shady spot. It looks healthy but has grown very slowly. Perhaps insufficient light.

Found one potted coconut palm that looks very healthy. Would consider moving additional potted coco palms down there.

Took a clipping of a tree I didn't recognize, growing in a few places on peninsula. See photo.

Back 40 status

There are currently multiple potted trees in the back 40. The avocados continue to thrive, though they may be a bit root bound by now. The tallest is about 5 foot.

The kamani is still growing slowly: tallest about 18".

The cacao is growing slowly: much more slowly than the cacao that was potted under the large avo tree. Maybe a bit slower than studio gulch-slope cacao. Possibly it's getting too much shade from grasses.

Peanut planted in the pots with cacao etc has sent out long tendrils but not really filled in near the pots. This may be due to weaving among taller grasses.

Cacao status

Nine cacao keiki, roughly one foot talk or less growing on the slope behind studio. Was partly covered by climbing yellow-flowered vines. Lots of African tulip saplings sprouting up in the vicinity.

Removed vines to clear daylight for cacao. Cleared access path a bit (1h)

Honey tangerine status

A bit more leafy but not a huge increase in volume.

Mexican lime/ key lime status

This one I just uncovered this morning. It's quite small and still shows signs of leaf curl / aphid damage.

Need to finish excavating.

Vanilla status

Both vines about 2-3 times as tall since June.

Bearss lime status

Kinda limping along. Might need nitrogen?

Green gold avocado status

Not a lot taller but twice as broad easily. Was very overgrown with grass and other tall weeds.

Pink eureka lemon status

Maybe twice as tall now, was very overgrown with weeds.

Brown turkey fig status

Maybe twice as tall as June, sparse leaves.

Spanish lime Melicoccus bijugatus

Planted about six seeds in small pots in June. Two have survived so far. Shown here with perennial peanut.

Potted cacao

This one was planted in May?
Left under large avo tree canopy for shade, surrounded by other seedlings such as avo.

Tahitian pomplemousse nutrition

The pomplemousse is looking a bit yellow. Probably needs nitrogen.

Rollinia

This tree is planted in one of the wettest parts of the pasture. It seems to be doing very well, adding maybe 50% volume in the past 3 months.

Pasture mowing

It has taken about four days to get the main 5 acre pasture mowed. This includes about two days of repairs & maintenance. In the future I hope this will go faster.

Calmondin lime

This tree is doing OK, already showing some small fruit, but the leaves are a pale yellow... Probably a nutrient deficiency.

Cinders

Moved some black cinder to the base of the Tahitian pomplemousse, Calmondin lime, Tahitian lime, and Rollinia. This should weigh down the weed block and make it more effective as a border. Also moved remaining cinder from front pile to concrete slab (1h).

Will put down weed block & cinder around avo by pond today.

Fertilizing; repotting

Finished fertilizing the ulu, marang, mangosteen (45m).
Placed some weed block around the base of the mangosteen (30m).
Repotted second small vanilla vine into 3 gallon pot with red cinder and a sprinkling of niu potting soil. Put two tied-together bamboo poles in for trellising. Placed atop scrap tiles for weed block and drainage (30m).
Dug up and potted four avocado keikis to use as grafting root stock. Placed under mother tree (45m).
Moved old bathtub under mother avocado tree and dumped 3, 5 gallon compost buckets in with dry avocado leaves (45m).

State of the pasture

What it looks like after mowing.

Fertilized trees; pasture mowing

Fertilized all the citrus, avocados, and rollinia, weeding a bit around them as I went (45m).

Finished mowing the entire pasture (2/3 , 4h) and a bit along the driveway and gulch side of shed. Might do a main pasture touch-up mow in a week but otherwise we probably are done mowing for a while. Finally cleared the area that was under a pile of roofing tin near the tall coconut (30m).

Need to fertilize: ulu, marang, mangosteen. Need to transplant vanilla into larger container and trellis.

Peanut mowing, vanilla

Got a little more aggressive with the field mowing and somehow managed to puncture one of the rear tractor tires. After plugging the tire today I was able to get out and mow about 1/4 of the main field (3 hours). Still getting familiar with setting up the tractor and learning its limitations.

It appears that the perennial peanut is responding well to mowing. I noticed that if you mow near sunset, the peanut leaves fold up and "contract" so that they're much less exposed to the mower blades. This leaves the grasses and other weeds more exposed to the blade.

In other news, purchased a couple small vanilla vines from Plant It Hawaii ($9 each).  The plan is to pot them in cinder pots with some 1/2" bamboo supports, and place them under full size trees for the next six months.  This should provide adequate shelter and water.

Rollinia progress

Rollinia continues to look "droopy" although it continues to sprout new leaves and branches. My guess is that the drooping is not a problem and that the tree in the front entry triangle will double in size by next year.

The Rollinia is already outgrowing its pig protection cage. Will leave the cage on for six months to see how it progresses.

Aphids

Found ladybugs eating aphids on the Key Lime along the driveway. The leaves were showing a lot of curl.

Sprayed the leaves with an insecticidal soap yesterday. Hope this removes the aphids.

Cacao terrace

Checked cacao terrace in gulch near studio. Counted nine keikis in good health, maybe one foot tall with 4-8 healthy leaves each. Perennial peanut is sprouting out of at least one planting.

So far they remain uncovered by any vines or grass. There is some yellow flower climbing vine approaching them.

Will check again before July. Otherwise, looks like a good humid shady spot to plant cacao.

Weed whacking

Yesterday trimmed along driveway and cane road (1 hr). Today trimmed further along cane rd toward shed, and around mangosteen on gulch side (1 hr).

Planted Bearss Lime

1/2 gal pot $18
Planted near water spigot in middle of driveway, mauka of Tangerine.

Weeding and transplanting

Have been transplanting small quart-size plugs of peanut into bare patches in the pasture. And of course, weeding...

Dry spell

• Ulu were looking rather dry: spent about 2 hours watering them with long hoses and buckets as well as weeding the surrounding pasture.
• Rollinia was looking dry as well -- watered for about 20 minutes
• Pig barriers seem to be holding up around Rollinia and junior Ma'afala
• Moved three coconut sprouts in 3 gal pots to "peninsula" and spent some time hacking back the waiawi there (45 mins)
• Weeds in pasture are diversifying, still dominated by papyrus-like tall grass
•  

Back 40 nursery.

• Moved three kamani, avacado, and avacado with junior cacao seedlings to "back 40" triangle 1 hour
• Moved the loose fence gate back to cover the "back 40" entrance.  Not attached to anything yet, just leaning.
• Hacked some tall grass in the back 40 (15 mins)
• Weeded extensively in the pasture (2 hours)
• Setup water spigot mount by shed (45 mins)
• Tested out inverter connection (30 mins)
• 
  

Pig check

Last night checked for pigs at:

• 7PM
• 10PM
• 5AM

and saw none.  But clearly they're active during the night. The ground is often ripped up and turned, as if disced, in the morning.

Seems like the pigs are most interested in soil that had wood chunks or other substantial debris buried in it. My guess is that there are insects, worms and so forth that are active near this debris.

Plant Ma'fala; pig protectors

• Planted the smaller Ma'afala ulu (obtained from Pahoa charter school at the 2012 Ulu Festival) in the pasture near the Marang (1/2 hour)
• Built simple wire enclosures around the small Ma'afala and the Rollinia.  Pigs have been grubbing around heavily near the Rollinia, possibly because of heavy moisture and decaying organic matter in the soil. (1 hr)
• Cut down junk trees at gulch edge (3 hrs).  The used, smaller Stihl chainsaw we bought from Mike & Carol has proven very handy for quickly dropping numerous smaller trees.  Needs a new 16" chain (or sharpening)
• Planted some perennial peanut seed around ulu and key lime bases (where we did not plant seed previously).  The perennial peanut around the fruit trees along the driveway has already sprouted, though some has been torn up by foraging pigs.

Planted 4 cacao in gulch

Pound stepping stakes near dropped african tulip trees in gulch:
Plant reforestation cacao (2 hrs)

Mexican Lime / Key Lime info

Hang tag info from lime purchased at Home Depot yesterday in half-gal pot. Marked as from "Chun's Nursery"

Today's Activities

Today:

• Finished painting peak of shed roof (finally!)
• Planted ulu: "Samoan" (Ma'afala),   Apuapua, and "Tahitian" (variety TBD)
• Bought ($18) and planted 1/2 gal "Mexican thornless lime" / "Key lime" along driveway
• Saved 5 gal topsoil from driveway digging
• Noted significant pig rooting along driveway and edge of pasture
• Used standard 1/2 bag Niu black cinder, 1/2 bag Niu chicken manure, 2 scoops imolizer, 1/2 cup 10-30-10 gaviota, 1 cup tropical ag lime  for planting trees

Hack back jungle in the gulch, found feral avo tree

Cut back Miconia and African Tulip in gulch near house corner. Reveal feral avocado -- doesn't appear to have fruited yet, might just be sprout from random seed thrown into gulch. could possibly graft a fruiting bud onto this root stock.

Planted First Tree in Pasture

Planted Marang from Plant It Hawaii in the pasture: the first tree to be planted in the main body of the orchard!  Used the standard Plant It Hawaii potting mix for soil.

Arbor Day: Planted Mangosteen

Planted two mangosteen at gulch edge of pasture.   These were bought from Plant It Hawaii during their Spring tree sale.

Power washed shed roof

Rented power washer from Home Depot today and power washed the entire shed roof surface.
Rented the 3500 PSI model, which was sufficient to blast old flaky paint and primer off the metal roof.
Cost: $92 for the day.  Rented at 7:15AM and returned it by 5PM.  Spent the whole day power washing!

Planted Citrus near House

Planted the following trees purchased from Plant It Hawaii:

• Tahitian Pomplemousse (semi-dwarf)
• "Calmondin Lime" ("local lime", more tart like a lemon)
• Tahitian /seedless lime (true lime, aka Bearss or Persian ??)

Still need to tear out the expired mystery tree near the mauka pond. 

Planted Trees from Plant It Hawaii along driveway

• Planted Rollinia in wet triangle next to mauka pond.
• Planted Tahitian seedless lime along driveway (this was an older one that has barely survived in a pot since we moved from Hakalau in 2010)
• Planted Pink Eureka Lemon purchased from Plant It Hawaii along driveway
• Planted Honey Tangerine from Plant It Hawaii along driveway
• Planted Brown Turkey Fig from Plant It Hawaii along driveway

Plant It Hawaii Spring plant sale

Bought a bunch of tree keikis on sale at Plant It Hawaii:

• 2 Mangosteen at $25 each
• 1 Marang 3gal at $45
• 1 Apupua ulu 3gal at $45
• 1 "brown turkey" fig 3gal at $17
• 1 "Green Gold" avocado 3gal at $35
• 1 Rollinia at $17
• 1 "Pink Eureka" lemon 3gal $25
• 1 "Tahitian Pomplemousse dwarf" 3gal at $25
• 1 "Calmondin lime" 3gal at $25
• 1 "Honey Tangerine" 3gal at $25
• 1 Lilikoi at $17

So that's 11 trees and one lilikoi for a total of $340 including tax. 

Shed roof -- before

Here's a picture showing the shed roof before we started repairing and painting it.

Finished grubbing and dragging

Orchard Services finished grubbing and dragging the pasture this week.  They ran one more dragging pass over the field after we hand-broadcast seed.

Total cost to spray, mow, disc, and drag: $2500