Grafters

Responding to popular demand, the Kona Extension Office offered two hands-on coffee grafting workshops for coffee producers last week. Alyssa Cho, Stuart T. Nakamoto, and Andrea Kawabata, along with Roxana Myers of USDA PBARC and Kraig Lee of Kona Farm Direct, provided participants with an overview on the coffee root-knot nematode project and the important points of how and why to graft coffee plants. These workshops covered the basics of coffee root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne konaensis), grafting coffee trees, and the costs and benefits of planting grafted trees. Following the presentations, Kraig Lee, a professional coffee grafter, provided a coffee-grafting demonstration and tips on grafting and tree care, and he guided participants in a hands-on coffee grafting class. Special thanks go to the County of Hawai‘i’s Department of Research and Development for funding the workshops, and to Kraig, Greenwell Farms, Inc., and the Kona Research Station for providing coffee grafting expertise, supplies, and plants. Here Andrea is pictured helping farmers to graft coffee trees.