Waimānalo Food Systems Group Meeting Notes
Thursday, June 21, 2012
6:30pm – 8:30 pm
Waimānalo Health Center - Goebert Training Hall
- Meeting Obejctive(s):
- To learn:
- Who is UH CTAHR (University of Hawaii, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources) and what do they do?
- CTAHR’s extension programs in gardening and gardens
- Garden soils and management
- Guest Speakers:
- Leah Rothbaum, UH CTAHR, Assistant Coordinator,
- Master Gardener Program
- Educational outreach program designed to provide horticulture training to volunteers. Training comes from UH specialists
- Volunteers committed to give back community service to spread the horticulture knowledge they receive
- Willing to share and connect the public to UH research and publications, extend knowledge base. Based on fact and science.
- 18 and older
- Initiated in 1972 in WA state for demand for gardening knowledge.
- Training component, volunteer component, Certification process component
- Gardening and farming – growing process. Nationwide program. Climate specific by geography.
- Basic botany modules, turf grasses, insect identification, soils, plant propagations, diseases, ornamentals, pest management. Not expected to know everything, but are expected to provide connections to the resources.
- Started in 1982 in Pearl City.urban garden center
- Now 5 locations throughout state on 4 main islands, east and west Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai, Maui
- Currently 300 active master gardeners in Hawaii.
- 116 active master gardeners on Oahu.
- Main program objective is to:
- Expand the educational outreach efforts of the University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service to distribute research-based horticultural information to the gardening public.
- Develop and enhance educational programs related to consumer horticulture such as urban gardening, community gardening, youth gardening projects, orany other programs determined by local need.
- Develop a volunteer network designed to assist Extension staff in managing local Master Gardener volunteer activities and programs.
- M-F 9-12, call help line or visit the urban garden center or visit the website
- 30 acres in Pearl City. Fruit gardens, native plants, turf grasses, fruit orchards.
- Working with school gardens and teachers.
- How does one get involved in the master gardener program?
- Once a year. Training programs offered in January. Max about 30 per year. 16 weeks of courses on consecutive Fridays at Pearl City, few tests, presentations, projects with the goal to learn and how to access information. Completion of the training program. 1 year to complete volunteer community service (50 hours/year), then get certified
- Volunteers are a way of dealing with the issue of short of staff
- Want to be able to offer more online training and meaningful outreach as well as volunteer training to those who are not enrolled in the program
- Carl Evensen, PhD, UH CTAHR, Interim Associate Dean and Associate Director for Cooperative Extension
- CTAHR = College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
- 2007, 100th anniversary. Opened in 1907 with 5 students. Now about 1000 students with 10,500 alumni.
- Education about practical issues and mechanics of tropical agriculture.
- Over 500 faculty and staff across 4 counties.
- Part of UH Manoa.
- Cooperative extension program, part of the land grant system, public outreach and public education through extension agents and extension specialists
- Offer many areas of career training.
- Nutrition and dietetics, crops, nursery, pests and disease, livestock and veterinary
- Business, family resources, apparel design and merchandising (outgrowth of original home economics, farm wives how to sew)
- Natural resource environmental management and engineering
- Over 300,000 square feet of facilities on manoa campus
- 1600 acres off campus facilities including 22 research stations and farms and centers with 9 extension offices, scattered around state
- Experiment station formed in 2001 with dept of ag and became part of uh in 1938 located in different climate zones to conduct research on different fruits and vegetables (cacao to blueberries, low to high elevations). 14 research farms across state. Span all significant crop growing areas.
- Most funding is grant and federal and state. Occasionally and rarely with corporations.
- Monsanto partnership, ½ million dollars last year with no strings attached for student education to do primarily graduate edu in biological sciences. Monsanto has not partnered with UH CTAHR on any research projects in any station, no activity in Waimanalo or other stations.
- UH CTAHR wouldn’t allow Monsanto to stipulate how to use/spend the money…entirely up to UH selecting students and projects. Take the money, but not their direction.
- Conventional agriculture and sustainable and organic
- 3 extension offices on Oahu, Pearl City, Kaneohe and Wahiawa.
- Services
- agriculture diagnostic service center.
- plant disease analysis,
- seed program,
- insect identification,
- chemical analysis of soils,
- plant tissue,
- water and nutrient solutions.
- online service: Farmer bookshelf, expert data base
- Master gardener program
- Agribusiness incubator program for farmers who like to farm but struggle with the business side.
- Help farmers become better business people.
- Planning to establish a master gardener program at the Waimanlo experiment station facility that is different and unique (not a duplicate) from the other garden centers. Emphasize food production and interaction with farming community and commercial farms.
- 200 acres of Land looks dormant but it is not really dormant. Land lays fallow between research projects. Don’t’ have the same incentives as a farmer…can’t operate like a commercial farm. can’t follow directly with another experiment unless they are similar. Rotate and cycle crops. It’s how the experiments are managed.
- Active bee keeping program at Waimanalo. Emphasis on crop pollination. Introduced pests have been killing the bees, problem.
- Dr. Dirt
- The foundation of gardening.
- Soil types, characteristics, nutrient management, home garden management.
- 12 orders of soil recognized around the world, formed from volcanic material.
- Characteristics –
- color,
- textures,
- layers
- Rainfall, temperature influences the soil order and growth of the crop. Climate and vegetation
- Some important soils in Hawaii
- Red dirt – oxisol? Only found in the tropics, not in any temperate states. Make your own red dirt shirt.
- Volcanic ash soils – ambisols. Widespread tropical soils.
- Soil mapping unit – aspects of soil that are classified in a soil series.
- Technology can be applied/transferred to same soil someplace else in the world, like Nairobi.
- Classification helps to understand what can be grown in a particular type of soil.
- Topsoil enriched with organic matter and is usually dark in color.
- subsoil
- Rock, parent material.
- 50% of soil made up of solid materials and rest is pore space. 45% of the 50% is made up of minerals. 5% organic matter, the life of the soil.
- 25% air, 25% water, varies with climate.
- Pore space shuts down with compact soils.
- Texture, sand, silt and clay defined by different sizes of particles.
- The smaller the size of the particle, the larger the combined surface area.
- Surface area is where the nutrients and water is held.
- Clay soil has more surface area than a sandy soil.
- Soil structure, how the soil looks, shapes of soil, particularly in the subsoil.
- Granular crumb structure of top soil is ideal for roots to move through.
- Color is an indicator of the minerals of the soil.
- Darker soils have lots of organic matter.
- Here in Waimanalo, it’s manganese oxide that makes the soil dark.
- Soil is a living system, an ecosystem that is full of life.
- Biological active soil is healthy soil,
- Keeping soil covered with vegetation helps alleviate run off and erosion.
- Organic matter is really important, normally range from <1% to >20%.
- Nutrient management
- Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen (air, water), nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur – all of these can be tested for
- Nitrogen very mobile in the plant.
- Different nutrients will yield different plant characteristics. And tell you what they are lacking
- Different plants require different amounts of nutrients. Crop specific
- Some nutrients pose an environmental risk. Too much nitrogen and phosphorus.
- Available nutrients, nutrients in the soil that the plant can absorb
- Extractable nutrients, entails soil analysis in a lab, tested and measures and looked at in relation to available nutrients.
- Broadcasting, banded, applied to surface or dug into ground, relative to what nutrients are available…ways to apply nutrients
- Over fertile soil, overfertilized. Can be environmentally dangerous.
- Organic fertilizer/compost vs manufactured commercial fertilizers
- Farmers mostly interested in maximum yield.
- Making sure there is the right amount of nutrients in the plant depends on the soil. Maximum nutrient benefit in foods relies on the nutrients in the soil.
- Inorganic farming - intent is to supply those nutrients to the current or next crop in line.
- Organic farming - intent is long term build-up of fertility of soil.
- Different fertilizing philosophies, not necessarily right or wrong, or better than the other.
- Phosphorus, all about absorption and binding to the soil.
- Potassium, for current crop and helps balance nitrogen
- pH of soil, acidic or basic, relates to concentration of ions in soil, such as hydrogen.
- 6.5 is what most plants like all the time.
- Easier to move pH to more alkaline (add agricultural lime) end of scale, the other way (acidic) a little more difficult.
- Soil fertility specialists determine the proper rate of nutrients to apply to get different crop yields. Find maximum yield fertilizer recommendations rely on these studies.
- Cover crops and green manures
- Good for commercial and large scale agriculture
- Adds organic matter, protects the soil, reduce weeds by smothering, habitat for beneficial insects, provide a break between pest cycles, aesthetic
- Protecting your garden soil
- Avoid bare soil, keep it covered, sediment barriers so soil doesn’t go into storm drains.
- Composting and mulching with recycled green waste
- Rain gardens, takes run-off off roofs and water gets absorbed into ground, ie. heliconias and gingers.
- Home gardens
- How you start planting and managing your garden depends on what (soils) you start with
- In areas with sandy top soils, raised beds are probably best, about 8-10 inches high, with the magic bullet of compost/ organic matter.
- Organic matter acts like a sponge and holds water better and retains nutrients better.
- Sand provides too much drainage. Sand is calcium carbonate, but may not be available to the plant. Will need potassium and magnesium added to it.
- Corn really needs a fertile soil and lots of water.
- One long row will not grow and pollenate properly. Pollen will drift, so need to design your corn planting into a rectangle block or a circle.
- Composting
- Coarse green waste can be run over with a lawn mower and made into a mulch.
- Composting is an anaerobic process
- Make a large enough pile to get it heated to kill the pests, bugs and diseases. Want to be careful you don’t reintroduce the pests
- Can reach 170 degrees need enough nitrogen and oxygen in there. Need to turn the pile, or stick in pvc pipes at different angles so air can passively get in there. Needs to be aerated.
- 3 piles at different stages as you turn your piles.
- Heavy clay soils, rich in nutrients, but physical properties are kind of bad.
- Key is organic matter, helps loosen the soil
- Compost as a soil conditioner is the primary purpose (be able to hold moisture), secondary as a nutrient supplier.
- Want to improve the soil condition.
- Compost sometimes needs to be supplemented with other fertilizers, like bone meal or fish meal.
- High in fiber and carbon.
- Vermi-composting
- Worm casts with food waste
- Again, raised beds work well.
- Prone to compaction, roots and water can’t get into it.
- Corn or beans can be mulched lightly, big seeds can push through with a strong, sturdy sprout
- Small seeds like lettuce will not pass through the mulch, so need to wait till they are big enough (about 3 weeks) to be mulched without smothering, or mulch around it (leave an opening for the seedlings/sprouts).
- Cycles of the seasons
- In Hawaii, primarily wet and dry, and length of daylight
- Windward side, waste time plant corn in mid-October, will reach maturity at the time when the light is the least, and it needs a lot of sunlight.
- Know your plants and what conditions they like, when and where to plant.
- Head cabbage, Maui onions, sweet onions, can plant around September/October and will mature during cool winter months
- Tomato, eggplant, bell peppers, chili peppers, cucumbers, melons, zucchinis like a lot of heat and longer days. Plant in spring.
- Lettuce grows best around winter time. Likes it cool
- Manipulating micro-climates can control for seasons.
- Ma’o grows lettuce year round in the Wai’anae area. Manipulate the micro-environment with appropriate irrigation (micro sprinklers that sprinkle frequently such as every 15 minutes). Shade cloths can help reduce sun and heat during summer time.
- Want to cycle crops, don’t want to grow the same stuff year round.
- How much does it cost to get soil analyzed?
- CTAHR website, agriculture diagnostic service center
- Doesn’t test for nitrogen, but phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and pH = about $10
- Plant tissue test tells you what is getting into the plant. Could be you don’t have enough water.
- Plant tissue analysis = about $20
- Micronutrients, not worth testing for, can be taken care of with compost or organic matter.
- Community garden
- Planning and proposal writing
- Waimanalo Health Center
- District Park
- Other areas to explore, need more conversation and discussion
- Kupuna Hale
- St. Matthews Church
- Waimanalo Hawaiian Homestead Association Halau
- Benefits
- Therapeutic, economic, health and social values
- Great learning environment before tackling it on your own, good for people with no experience
- CTAHR can
- help identify sites
- Can also help with planning
- Have community classes and activities at the experiment station to teach others in the community about the different aspects of growing various crops, for both the community garden and home gardening
- Can provide tactile experiences
- Some classrooms and office areas are being repaired at the Waimanalo experiment station, sometime this summer, establish a master gardener presence there
- Offer a series of classes
- Cannot establish a community garden due to liability.
- Don’t wanna manage it.
- Kuleana is teaching
- Can support community gardens, provide seeds
- Support home gardens
- Would like to see more home gardening, ie. Victory Gardens from WWII
- Traditionally worked more with commercial agriculture
- Last 2 generations so far removed from home gardening.
- Need to initiate more outreach, like a home gardening revolution in Waimanalo
- CSA’s – community supported agriculture
- Ma’o (Wai’anae) and
- Just Add Water (Waimanalo)
- Direct marketing to individual families or farmer’s markets
- Closing/ Mahalo and aloha!