Grafting an Avocado

Today we learned about fruit trees that will grow in Hawaii and about grafting methods. We actually got to graft an avocado. I grafted the "green gold" species. Now it is a matter of waiting to see if the graft takes.

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Artistic Tuesday - Sculptures

If I could afford art pieces for the garden I would have lots of them!

I was recently reading some garden blogs when I cam across The Gardens of Petersonville blog.  In it I noticed a tag called "art".  I selected this tag and was happy to see so many art pieces that complemented the garden.  Of course I have my favorites and I am sharing three with you today.

For artistic ideas for the garden, check out this blog! The Gardens of Petersonville

These photos were copied with permission from The Gardens of Pertersonville.

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Good Results! And Hawaii's Fruit Flies!

I am happy to report that I received a 51/52 on my first MG test! :)

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In class we learned about the 4 fruit flies negatively affecting Hawaii's commercial agriculture and backyard growers. The fruit fly essentially destroyed the profitable mango production on Kauai.  However, with the help of the University of Hawaii and the USDA  the fruit fly is better under control in Hawaii.  The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), Hawaii publishes a very good white paper on fruit flies.  

Since I live at about 20-25ft my garden will be most affected by the Oriental Fruit Fly and the Melon Fruit Fly.  Since I currently have no vegetables or fruits in my current garden, I plan to set out traps within the next month to get baseline numbers.  Soon we will be building raised vegetable garden beds and I will be grafting a lemon-lime citrus tree.  So it is only a matter of time before fruit flies affect my backyard garden!  And good management is the only solution.

Oriental

Melon

"Hawaii is the only state under a full federal fruit fly quarantine; the presence of fruit flies in Hawaii is a threat to U.S. mainland agriculture and a major bottleneck to the expansion of diversified agriculture in the state, for local as well as export sales."  from the Hawaii Invasive Species Program 

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Talk About Wilt!

My poor wilted plant!  I don't think it is coming back!  I transplanted this about 5 days ago.  It started to wilt right away.  I added more water.  Then it got very windy so I think that did not help. We had plenty of rain.  Anyhow the transpiration process has broken down.  I think I will start the cutting right where I want the final plant.  No need for transplanting!

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The First Test is Over! Phew!

I did not study as much as I should have for the first test.  Hey it has been many years since I took an academic test!  There was so much material! It became a guessing game to figure out what would be on the test.  I guessed some material, but missed some, especially in the area of soils.  I will know the outcome Thursday!

In addition to the test we had a lecture on Floriculture in Hawaii.  Did you know that the anthurium industry in Hawaii was almost wiped out by a bacterial blight?  There is no cure for this blight except for good sanitation practices.  So millions of plants were destroyed to regain the health of the commercial industry.  Today, strict sanitation procedures are practiced during propagation and in the fields.

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Artistic Tuesday - Copper Orchid Hanger

Today's Artistic Tuesday is a gardening craft project.  I thought of this idea the other day when I needed a gift for the host of a dinner party to which I was invited. I had all of the materials avaialble in my home.  I actually think I will make some for myself!

Required Materials:

• copper refrigerator tubing
• the fibrous like cloth from a coconut palm or a similar organic product
• an orchid plant

Instructions:

• Cut a length of refrigerator tubing.  You can get this at the local home store. To make the cutting easy, buy a special tube cutting tool at the local home store. The length will depend on your plant size and the required hanging length.
• With the cut length, begin to bend the copper into a cone-like shape for the roots of the plant to rest.  Be as creative as you want.  Note:  The copper will begin to "work harden" if over bent making addition manipulation of the copper difficult.  So have an idea of how you want to bend the tubing before you starting.
• You can see the cone-like shape in the second photo.

• At the other end bend it so that it can hang from a tree or wall or where ever you intend to put it
• Take orchid out of the pot and retain as much soil media as possible
• Take the coconut fiber-like material and loosely wrap it around the orchid roots and soil materials so that the soil does not want to spill all over the place!  This is especially important if  you hanging this indoors.
• Carefully tuck this assembly into the copper tubing cone-like shape you have created.  You may need to re-bend/tweet the cone to accommodate your plant
• That's all there is to it!  BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!  And easy!

Note:  As you can see I created a separate pocket for a succulent.  I am not sure the orchid will like this so I am not reccomending it at this time.  I want to see how they behave together first!

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I Missed a Week of POSTING!!!

Wow, didn't think it would happen! But I missed my Artistic Tuesday post and MG class summaries for the week. And class was so interesting! Today I am studying for our first test scheduled for Tuesday!

We started the MG week with soils. On Hawaii Island (the Big Island) there are many types of soils and they have been mapped by the state. I live in the Puna District and our house is built on 350-500 year old pahoehoe lava with some soil from decomposed ironwood needles. The biggest problem with soils in Hawaii is acidity and the active Kilauea Volcano continues to adds to the problem.

We brought in some cinder soils (volcanic cinder and soil mix) to our landscape because we are on rock! The trick is to gardening on rock is to find the deeper "pukas" (holes) and fill them with soils.  I am sure I have at least thee different types of soils and will have to manage them differently.  My first step is to test the PH levels.  Has anyone out there used the home soil test kits?

We covered entomology on Thursday and it is a fascinating science!  The Professor brought in an electron microscope and you would not believe the little critters we saw crawling around!!!  Currently the rose beetle is feeding on  many of my leafy pants.  I am not happy :(

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