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The Science Zone

The Science Zone 23 August 2024

The Science Zone

“In Your Head with Professor Ted” airs this Friday (and next)

Since 2019, Ted Radovich has been conducting science interviews as part of the “Science Zone” segment on his radio show, “In Your Head with Professor Ted,” which airs this Friday 9-12 on KTUH. Ted’s show, which is supported by producer Mikey Kantar (both of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences), has interviewed more than 50 scientists on different projects related to Hawaiʻi and the world. 

Camp Kau Kau

Camp Kau Kau 8 August 2024

Camp Kau Kau

Extension engages 4-H kids across the islands in local cooking

This summer, youths across the state learned and cooked their way through “4-H Camp Kau Kau,” a new week-long summer culinary camp from CTAHR’s 4-H Youth Development Program. Recipes and lessons focused on the context and diversity of local food in Hawai‘i, with hands-on cooking experiences and educational activities about Hawai‘i’s food and agricultural history.

Summer Workdays = Summer Fun

Summer Workdays = Summer Fun 8 August 2024

Summer Workdays = Summer Fun

UGC welcomes the communityʻs help to expand food production

When CTAHR serves the community, and the community helps the College, everybody wins. The Mānana ahupuaʻa is home to several new food-growing systems after Oʻahu County Extension wrapped up its third annual summer workday series at the Urban Garden Center. 

UGC on TV

UGC on TV 8 August 2024

UGC on TV

Hawaiʻi News Now taps Extension for C&C’s Healthy Yard Care

The Urban Garden Center is more than a green oasis that calls to commuters as they drive through Pearl City. It’s a living classroom where community growers and gardeners can learn how to keep plants — and the environment — healthy and beautiful. 

Garlic Gone Local

Garlic Gone Local 8 August 2024

Garlic Gone Local

Extension explores potential for production in the islands

Garlic is one of the most widely used spices for cooking across many different ethnic groups, yet it is one of Hawaiʻi’s most rarely produced spices. One of the challenges, explains Jensen Uyeda of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, is that garlic requires a cold winter to overcome dormancy.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers 8 August 2024

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Extension hosts field day at Waimānalo

What’s the appetite for hot peppers among local growers in the community? On one hand, Hawaiian chili types are well known and one of the more widely produced peppers in the state. And of course, chili peppers are commonly used, both fresh and dried, in many different culinary dishes. 

End of Summer Picnic

End of Summer Picnic 8 August 2024

End of Summer Picnic

UGC thanks faculty, staff, volunteers for student stewardship

Mahalo to the Oʻahu County ʻOhana for your ongoing support of our various CTAHR programs in the county, especially our student summer program. Whether it’s picking plumeria, teaching students how to transplant seedlings, approving their supply purchases, packing vegetables for donations, editing their paperwork, prepping their workspace, or attending their various presentations, the time and kindness you’ve extended to these students will pay off greatly in the future.

Preserving Palapalai

Preserving Palapalai 20 June 2024

Preserving Palapalai

Extension and UGC host expert on native ferns

Palapalai is an indigenous Hawaiian fern – one of the most important plants in hula – and Oʻahu Extension was proud to host a recent talk with Hawaiian fern specialist Kay Lynch. The UH Horticulture graduate (ʻ98), Master Gardener, and founder of Lāʻau Hawaiʻi, a Hawaiian fern propagation research nursery, spoke at CTAHR’s Urban Garden Center

Seeds of Wellbeing

Seeds of Wellbeing 20 June 2024

Seeds of Wellbeing

FCS mental health for Hawaiʻi farmers project wins award

Nearly half of Hawaiʻi farmers under age 46 report depression – which reflects the high-stress environment they must contend with on a daily and seasonal basis, complete with risks and uncertainties, volatile markets, fluctuating weather, invasive species, and the list goes on.

Inaugural Address

Inaugural Address 29 April 2024

Inaugural Address

Dean Grewal charts a path forward for the college

CTAHR’s mission is to secure the future of Hawaiʻi by building local self-sufficiency in food and agricultural products, noted Dean Parwinder Grewal at the first CTAHR Conference April 11. “CTAHR’s inclusive vision is to secure the future of Hawaiʻi through collaborative innovation and merging the Western, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian knowledge systems,” he said.

Excellence in Extension

Excellence in Extension 20 March 2024

Excellence in Extension

Nancy Ooki of FCS is CTAHR’s 2023 recipient

The 2023 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Extension goes to Nancy Ooki of the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Since 2018, Nancy’s “My PI Hawai‘i” has trained Maui youths in fire safety and suppression, search-and-rescue, C.P.R., disaster psychology, and other topics in FEMA’s Teen Community Emergency Response Team. By the final disaster simulation, youths can demonstrate knowledge and skills in first aid, triage, communications, and damage assessment. 

The Manini Farm

The Manini Farm 28 February 2024

The Manini Farm

UGC workforce development project takes root

With one student holding a wireless microphone and another a portable amplifier, the tour of The Manini Farm Project on the grounds of the Urban Garden Center had begun. As students took turns at the mic, presenting their projects and roles and walking participants through the rows of plants, it was apparent that these young adults felt an awful lot of pride in their participation.

Member of the Board

Member of the Board 28 February 2024

Member of the Board

Extension is represented at Society for Range Management

Congrats to Mark Thorne who recently began a two-year term on the Board of Directors of the Society for Range Management. Mark, who has served the society in many capacities for almost 30 years and is currently Section Treasurer, will focus on three key issues throughout his term: recruitment and retention of SRM members, involvement in the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026, and strengthened national and international partnerships and collaborations.

Kicking Off 2024

Kicking Off 2024 31 January 2024

Kicking Off 2024

UGC starts new plumeria collection and partnership

Ninety percent of flowers used for lei-making are imported to Hawaiʻi, and the decreasing supply of local flowers is having a drastic impact on the lei industry statewide. To address the growing chorus of lament from lei-flower growers, lei makers, and lei vendors, Extension has kicked off 2024 with a new plumeria collection at the Urban Garden Center. 

Impact and Relevance

Impact and Relevance 31 January 2024

Impact and Relevance

UGC and partners deliver food and education to local communities

The good folks at Urban Garden Center, along with Oʻahu high school students, departed for their holiday breaks knowing that fresh produce would make it onto the plates of many Hawaiʻi families in need. 

Ag Day @ the Capitol

Ag Day @ the Capitol 31 January 2024

Ag Day @ the Capitol

Let lawmakers know your accomplishments and needs

It lasts just two hours and happens just once a year, but this is your chance to let members of the Hawaii State Senate and House of Representatives know what you’ve been up to, and how our legislators can help you help feed the state.

Ōhiʻa Love

Ōhiʻa Love 31 January 2024

Ōhiʻa Love

Statewide fests bring the community together around ROD

With partners from Maui, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Hilo and Kona, CTAHR’s Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death team hosted the statewide seventh annual ‘Ohia Love fests. This year’s theme was Ka ʻUpena O Ke Ola, a metaphor for how life is interconnected mauka to makai, like a fishing net, and ʻōhiʻa is a keystone species that holds it all together, explains Charlotte Godfrey-Romo.

Rebuilding Maui

Rebuilding Maui 31 January 2024

Rebuilding Maui

Extension workshops on disaster training may also facilitate healing

“The recent disasters of COVID-19 and wildfires have caused forced disruptions in activity, limited information about the future, and economic instability,” says Nancy Ooki of Maui Extension. “The combination has placed the Maui community in a position of feeling a sense of loss of control, decision-making ability, and uncertainty of the future. 

Ag and ʻAina

Ag and ʻAina 13 December 2023

Ag and ʻAina

UGC hosts Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day

The school bus doors swung open and in the blink of an eye, pastoral serenity was replaced by organized chaos as the army of chatting, laughing, and sometimes screaming 5th graders marched toward the outdoor exhibit booths at the Oʻahu Urban Garden Center.

Temple the Trailblazer

Temple the Trailblazer 13 December 2023

Temple the Trailblazer

Renowned activist in 4H livestock and autism visits Waialeʻe

Back in the day, the Waialeʻe Livestock Research Station was a true community resource for Oahu’s North Shore. The sprawling facility, a stone’s throw from today’s surfing mecca, once provided invaluable services as the area’s primary abattoir and center for livestock feed and harvesting research. 

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1 May 2020

Fast Green Food

Grow a salad bowl in your back yard

Fast Green Food

You may be eating less salad these days. Everyone’s making fewer trips to the supermarket, and lettuce and other tender greens are easily perishable. But growing your own lettuce is a great solution—now and going forward. Lettuce is fast growing and ideal for backyard gardens. You can pick individual leaves each day or harvest whole heads at once. By starting a new set of seeds or transplants every few weeks, you can create succession plantings to ensure a continuous salad bar!

Temperature and Varieties

Lettuce does best in cool climates or during cool seasons. At higher temperatures, lettuce can bolt (flower), become bitter, and form loose heads.

No problem! Just make sure you select the right lettuce. Varieties with tolerance to high temperatures can be grown in warmer areas year-round.

The variety commonly called ‘Mānoa’ lettuce, identified by CTAHR researchers as ideal for Hawai‘i conditions, has always been a local favorite. It has a buttery flavor and crisp texture—my family loves to eat it with a little mayonnaise and shoyu as dressing.

However, in recent years, ‘Mānoa’ lettuce has become extremely sensitive to heat. It may prematurely bolt and develop “tip burn” on the leaf edges. So CTAHR has identified ‘Ānuenue’ as a more heat-tolerant variety. Similar to ‘Mānoa’, it’s another local favorite that can be grown at low elevations. Both can be grown year round in Hawai‘i, and the seeds are available from the UH Seed Laboratory (which offers mail ordering).

There are plenty of other lettuce varieties you can try—just look for types that say they’re heat tolerant. Plant several for a rainbow of colors and tastes!

Nip Problems in the Bud

Besides heat, tip burn can be caused by not enough water, too much fertilizer, or not enough calcium in the soil—but these conditions are easy to fix. First, try watering your lettuce more, then ease up on the fertilizer. As a last resort, add a soil supplement containing calcium.

Thrips, birds, and spotted-wilt virus can also affect your backyard lettuce crop. Consult the UH Cooperative Extension service for the latest pest-control techniques.

Be sure to wash lettuce and other produce thoroughly before serving, to remove any tiny snails or slugs that might be on it.

Feed Your Heads

Lettuce grows best in soils rich in organic matter with a neutral pH. Add organic compost, properly composted chicken manure, and a sprinkle of triple superphosphate fertilizer (0-45-0) to the planting hole for a healthy start. If you can’t find superphosphate, a general-use fertilizer such as 16-16-16 is fine.

After planting, apply a dry general-use fertilizer every three to four weeks or fertilize every two weeks with a water-soluble fertilizer. Because lettuce is eaten raw, use clean, potable water for overhead irrigation and when fertilizing.

Happy salading!

Jari Sugano, O‘ahu County Administrator, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources