New trees planted

Yesterday and Tuesday , planted out two rollinia from 1 gallon pots. (4h). Planted one in former "fern grotto" near site where we lost a mangosteen. Planted other in spot near mauka pond where we formerly cut a guava. Had to dig out the remaining guava roots first. Rollinia were from Garden Exchange and cost $10 each. 

Today, purchased two 3 gal ulu from Home Depot. ($32.95 each). A bit more expensive than Plant It Hawaii's tree sale would have been, but I was eager to get the last two in the ground, bringing total ulu to 12. The two new ones were labeled "Samoan Ulu" and branded "NG: Novelty Greens". Took about 3h to prep and plant the ulu. 

All four were planted with the weed block and hoop technique. This time, two perpendicular layers of weed fabric were layed down (with a slot cut halfway across each for the tree trunk). A hog wire hoop about 3-4' tall was secured atop the fabric using scrap wood stakes pounded into the ground, tied to the hoop with shoelaces or wire. A small amount of black cinder (0.75-2 cu ft) was poured atop the fabric, inside the hoop, under the tree's bottom most leaves, to hold down the fabric and provide more light block. Some perennial peanut stolons were planted in the cinder to assist with weed blocking eventually. 

Tree sizes update

Breadfruit and marang are growing fast. Second smaller row of ulu needs fertilizer soon-- leaves are looking pale but they are growing. 

Rollinia has nearly doubled in size in the past six months. 

Driveway trees have developed nicely since July. 

Oil palm check

•  Checked on oil palm in Back 40 property, in the most accessible section.  The palm has easily tripled in size from planting (since July). 
• Tammy weeded around cacao and mangosteen in pasture (30m). Field cacao is looking very healthy, large green leaves with little rose beetle or other damage.  This cacao has a small barrier on the stem, which was some paper bundled with fiberglass tape. Perhaps this is keeping beetles at bay.  Mangosteen is still healthy, has added a few new leaves since planting but is not much larger.
• Mowed several spots in the pasture that were long after most recent mowing by lawn service (4h). Some spots such as the former "fern grotto", jaboticaba area near shed, near mangosteen and cacao in field,  and the driveway trees were completely overgrown as lawn service did not touch them.
• Jaboticaba trees were completely overgrown with grass and vines. Hand-weeded and whacked (1h).  Trees are roughly the same size.
• "Spanish lime" lychee relative tree planted along road near shed has apparently not grown at all.  Still shows a few leaves but is stagnant.
• Ohia tree on main lawn was completely dead. Pulled it out.  My guess is that there was not enough space dug out for the roots before planting, or perhaps inadequate soil prep. 
• Banana trees near Mango tree show some small flowers but no fruit. It's not clear whether this variety of banana actually produces fruit. These were resident before we arrived.
• Vanilla orchid on areca palms by bbq lanai looks very healthy and has climbed well up the areca palm. 

Check gulch cacao

- Harvested some limes from tahitian lime trees
- Large avocado tree continues to drop good-sized avocados, 3-4 per day. Some are animal-chewed either before they hit the ground or shortly after.
- Processed 3 gallons of avo into ziploc freezer bags with lemon juice.
- Cleared weeds around cacao in gulch (45m). Counted seven (7) seedlings, between 12 inches and 24 inches in height.  Trunk size still not big, maybe pencil-sized.

Main orchard status

The ulu are looking healthy, though #3 is a little yellow. 

Most recently planted mangosteen is nearly dead. Might've damaged its roots during planting. Mangosteen near mango tree is growing slowly. 

Two newest Tahitian ulu have one male flower each. Seems premature. 

Fertilizing again today

Will fertilize ALL fruit trees since it's been about a month since the last round of fertilizer (2h). 

Will also weed around field cacao and put up protective wire (45m). Might help with bugs eating its leaves. 

In other news, cleared African tulip trees that were shading lawn avocado and pomplemousse (4h). Hope this will give them more sun. 

Fertilizing fruit trees

Tried mixing in some crushed charcoal this time. Mix was:

Charcoal (3/4 cup?)

Triple-16 (1 cup)

Chicken manure (2 cups)

Ag lime (1/3 cup)

Fertilized: all driveway trees, rollinia, pomplemousse, calamansi, lawn avocado, Tahitian lime. Also fertilized #1 and #3 ulu as their leaves were looking a bit yellow. 

Total time about 1 hour. 

Noted that the fig was bearing four fruits. Decided to remove fruit since the fig needs to concentrate on growth. 

Two more oil palms

Planted out two more hybrid oil palm seedlings in the back 40, other side of the peninsula gulch cut. Planted near edge of gulch with sky opening roughly S-SE.

Cleared tall grass with hand sickle. Dug hole for 3 gal pot. Inserted palm and covered with soil. Cut down surrounding tall grass and laid over soil to mulch.

Fertilizing

Fertilized:
All driveway and front citrus and avocados.
Both mangosteen
Rollinia
Marang

Planted oil palm in back 40

UH students provided me with three hybrid oil palms in two-gallon containers.
The trees were badly over growing their containers, probably belonged in 5 gal containers.

Repotted two in two 5 gal containers temporarily. Planted one in the ground in our "back 40" area across the gulch. Next to some feral bananas and a large unmaintained green pear-shaped fruiting avocado. (Those avocado will likely be ripe in mid-May.)

Planted four ma'afala 'ulu

Planted four 2 gallon ulu in the orchard, including 26" wire protectors and shade cloth.

No geotextile underneath. Instead, culled perennial peanut form the sod cut from the planting hole, and carefully replanted that on top of each tree's soil. Also mulched a bit with dry avocado leaves.

Planted mangosteen

Planted mangosteen in previous " fern grotto" near peninsula entrance (45m). Place shade over Tahitian ulu wire guards.

Noticed that perennial peanut flowers are turning from yellow to pale white and shriveling.. Could be they're turning to seed.

Planted two, 3-gal 'ulu

Planted out two "Tahitian" ulu in the orchard, near gulch, along same line as previous ulu. (4h)

Potted with a mix of ag lime, cinder, compost, chicken manure, phosphate, and charcoal.

Used 28" "garden wire" from HD instead of hog wire. Hope this is sufficient to deter pigs.

Still need to attach shade cloth to wire later.

Plant It Hawaii spring sale purchases

Picked up multiple ulu and replacements for lost mangosteen and vanilla.

Ma'afala ulu: 4 (2gal, $30 each)
Tahitian ulu : 2 (3 gal, $45 each)
Vanilla vine (1 gal, $22.50)
Mangosteen (2 gal, $25)
~ $270 total

Cacao seeds

Placed the seeds from two different cacao pods into small plastic pint containers for about 10 days to ferment. One pod was red, one yellow. One container was white hdpe, the other clear hdpe. Placed both containers on the top shelf of an indoor pantry where they would stay constant temperature and receive less light.

Removed the seeds from both containers and rinsed with water, rubbed lightly to remove the majority of the mold.

The seeds in the clear container formed a darker layer of growth and sprouted. The seeds in the white container turned out an amber color.

Planted the sprouting seeds in a shallow tray with black cinder. Placed the amber seeds on a tray to dry (see photo).

Gulch cacao

Located 7 cacao seedlings in the gulch slope near studio. Most are about 18" tall now, good leaf health, maybe a bit pale. It appears some vines regularly overgrow them and need to be trimmed back.

Located two cacao seedlings at top of "peninsula" in gulch. Decent health but growing more slowly than main slope cacao, maybe due to less sunlight infiltration.

Moved two coconut seedlings down to peninsula and will plant in the ground shortly.

Planted "Hawaiian chili" bush near patio.

Four medium sized stalks of bananas are ripening simultaneously. The one orange tree is producing lots of ripe fruit right now. Appears to be good for juicing but not for eating (the meat doesn't separate easily from skin.)

Pasture mowing

Finally mounted the jd 60D mid-mount mower and mowed the main part of the pasture. It's significantly faster to mow this way, except that you can't mow the rocky rough edges, and you can't operate the PTO in reverse (unless you pull a special lever?)

Pasture looks good after, lots of perennial peanut revealed.


Total time about 3:30

Prep avocado for grafting

Repotted 6 avocado keiki for grafting. Added fertilizater and cinder. Collected coco nut and avo nut droppings as cinder substitute. Altogether about 45m.

Coconut palms and other planting

Planted four coconut palm keiki (3 gal) on gulch peninsula yesterday.

Also planted second Spanish lime (mamoncillo) and fourth jaboticaba by shed.

New tree plantings

Planted three jaboticaba using cardboard mulch technique and a bit of chicken manure.

Planted one Spanish lime (manoncillo) using same technique.

These are all over by shed driveway.

Tall vanilla is a little sad. Gave it some liquid urea.

Planted mangosteen and cacao saplings

Planted 3gal mangosteen from Paradise Plants ($40).

Planted two small (12-18") cacao saplings that were sprouted from seed approximately 20120315.

Mangosteen planting method:
Dig hole approximately 24" deep, approximately twice the diameter of the pot the tree came in. Mix a bit of small black cinder and manure (about 1 gal total) and place in bottom of hole. Roll sapling out of container and rest in center of hole atop soft cinder/manure mix. Toss in about 1/2 cup triple 16 fertilizer. Fill rest of hole around roots with manure/cinder mix.
Cut two pieces of weed block cloth about 4 feet long. Cut a slit in each about halfway across at the center (don't cut all the way across the cloth). Slide slit around base of tree, with both pieces so that they overlap.
Place some cinder (about 5 gal) on cloth around tree base to hold cloth down and block light. Create a cylindrical wire cage around the tree using square wire mesh (1" or so) to a height of about 3-4 feet. Stake the cage to the ground using eg a sharpened piece of scrap 1x4. Tie the stake(s) to the cage using scrap wire, twine, or tubing.
After the cage is staked, pour more black cinder around the base of the tree inside the cage: some should leak out of the cage onto excess cloth.
Plant perennial peanut stolons on top of the cinder inside the cylinder.

Pomplemousse status

Green leaves but growing slow after fertilization. Looks like bug damage to leaves.

Calamansi lime status

Looking yellowish leaves after fertilization.

Avocado status

Growing well after fertilization

Mowed upper half of pasture

Took about 4 hours, including a quick pass on the shed drive and main driveway by fruit trees.

Still need to uncover all the driveway trees.

Spent about 30m weeding around the front yard trees too. Overall the geotextile + small black cinder + peanut cover seems to be working well. Just requires periodic weeding to eliminate unwanted grass runners. Also, need to place some bark protection around the base of the trees as over enthusiastic weed whacked seem to be shredding the trunk bases a bit.

Mowed lower half of pasture.

Took about 45m to get tractor setup again. Had to replace fuel filter and air filter (again?)

Took about 4.5 hrs to mow lower half of pasture. Grass was tall but not as tall as in October. Also dry and warm conditions were ideal.

Perennial peanut flats

Propagation was successful! Photos later.

Marang status

Getting tall!

Limes collected

One Bearss and two small calamansi