News and Events


«December 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
2526272829301
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
303112345

Forestry Find

Forestry Find 2 February 2018

Forestry Find

Check out the great new website for Hawai‘i Forestry Extension!

Aquaponics and Health

Aquaponics and Health 21 December 2017

Aquaponics and Health

CTAHR Community Coordinator Ilima Ho-Lastimosa is part of a multidisciplinary effort to address health disparities thorough backyard aquaponics.

Maui County Awardees

Maui County Awardees 21 December 2017

Maui County Awardees

Maui County Extension celebrated its 2017 award winners — Secretary Clarisse Baisa, to left in lei, for service to faculty and staff, and Research Technician Edwin Perez, at right in cap, winner of the Administrator’s Award.

Congratulations Shirley Han!

Congratulations Shirley Han! 21 December 2017

Congratulations Shirley Han!

Office Assistant Shirley Han, left, was recognized for her service to the Molokai Cooperative Extension staff at a December 2017 lunch hosted by Maui County Administrator Cynthia Reeves (in red).

Bee on Screen

Bee on Screen 14 November 2017

Bee on Screen

Videos on the life cycle of bees and apian role in the rise of flowering plants captured national entomology awards for a CTAHR-led team.

Good Breeding

Good Breeding 14 November 2017

Good Breeding

Bred under the direction of the Mealani Research Station staff, CTAHR bulls rank among the top 5% of Angus in the country and are free of a common genetic disorder.

GoFarm’s Weigert Rocks

GoFarm’s Weigert Rocks 14 November 2017

GoFarm’s Weigert Rocks

Agritourism expert and one of “five women rocking” the Hawai‘i food scene Pomai Weigert has joined GoFarm as an agbusiness consultant.

Elder Affairs Advisor

Elder Affairs Advisor 14 November 2017

Elder Affairs Advisor

Center on the Family Assistant Specialist Sarah Yuan has been re-appointed to the State’s Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs for a second four-year term.

New Kaua‘i Agent

New Kaua‘i Agent 26 October 2017

New Kaua‘i Agent

Emilie Kirk has joined the Kaua‘i County Cooperative Extension team as junior Extension agent and Master Gardener coordinator with a focus on edible crops, food safety and security, ag education and production, and leadership development.

Virus Free is Sweet

Virus Free is Sweet 23 October 2017

Virus Free is Sweet

CTAHR organized a sweetpotato growers meeting featuring mainland experts and yield-boosting virus-tested ‘Okinawan’ planting materials.

Ruminating on Peas

Ruminating on Peas 23 October 2017

Ruminating on Peas

Low-water, nitrogen-fixing, tasty cowpeas are a potential niche crop for Hawai‘i producers, as Junior Extension Agent Jensen Uyeda recently demonstrated.

Delegates to National 4-H Congress

Delegates to National 4-H Congress 28 September 2017

Delegates to National 4-H Congress

The State committee reviewed the senior portfolios, interviewed the 4-H’ers and have come up with a list of 10 delegates qualified to represent Hawaii at this year’s National 4-H Congress in late November.

Giant Success

Giant Success 28 September 2017

Giant Success

East Hawai‘i 4-H had a huge presence at the Hawai‘i County Fair—both as volunteers and producers. In fact, they set four state records for produce—including a 20+ pound kalo and 137+ and 2+ pound tomato.

Samoa Swine Survey

Samoa Swine Survey 20 September 2017

Samoa Swine Survey

CTAHR Specialist Halina Zaleski assists in American Samoa’s first swine disease survey in two decades.

Irrigation Covered

Irrigation Covered 13 September 2017

Irrigation Covered

Choosing, funding, and using irrigation systems and conservation groundcovers was the focus of a Cooperative Extension workshop for orchardists at the Kona Extension Office and Research Station.

Documents to download

  • irrigate(.jpg, 90.61 KB) - 1893 download(s)

Myanmar Mission

Myanmar Mission 13 September 2017

Myanmar Mission

Glen Fukumoto and Jonathan Deenik teamed up to teach poultry waste composting and soil fertility to Myanmar farmers and officials through a USAID–funded Farmer-to-Farmer workshop series.

Digest this…

Digest this… 13 September 2017

Digest this…

Anerobic biodigester technology has improved the quality of life for Cambodian farmers, turning animal waste to fuel and fertilizer, thanks in part to MBBE researcher Samir Khanal.

‘Ulu Day on Maui

‘Ulu Day on Maui 12 September 2017

‘Ulu Day on Maui

Maui Master Gardeners helped homeowners select appropriate trees and TPSS’s Noa Lincoln described his research on the staple food crop during the Valley Isle’s first La ‘Ulu (Breadfruit Day).

New 4-H Horse Pen

New 4-H Horse Pen 12 September 2017

New 4-H Horse Pen

Na Lima A Me Na Pu‘uwai O Kohala 4-H Club families and community sponsors celebrated their new riding pen with a horse show, barbecue and other activities.

Landscape Tested

Landscape Tested 12 September 2017

Landscape Tested

About 50 landscapers participated in a practice exam for the 2017 O‘ahu Landscape Industry Certified Technician (LICT) Program at Waimanalo Research Station in August.

RSS
First1718192021222325
6 January 2021

Mahalo! Hilo Medical Center

Extension researchers donate flower bouquets for healthcare workers

Mahalo! Hilo Medical Center

Joanna Bloese has joined the Extension team at Komohana Research Center, and one of her first projects with researcher Joanne Lichty is to examine the effects of soluble silicon fertilizers on plant defense responses, mainly thrips damage in two flowers beloved in the Hawaiian islands: dendrobium and anthurium.

Besides the good news, that preliminary results suggest the fertilizers show potential for improving plant resistance across some cultivars, Joanna and Joanne also found a more immediate impact on the community: as “Thank you” bouquets for healthcare workers on the front lines of Covid.

With students Tiani Kow and Ryan Porter, they’ve created colorful, creative mixtures by adding foraged olive, dracaena, monstera, Ti and gorse flowers to the dendrobium and anthurium. The bouquets, donated to Hilo Medical Center, are being displayed throughout the hospital for staff, patients and visitors.

“This is a difficult time for everyone; COVID-19 is still affecting many families on Hawaiʻi Island,” says Joanna. “We just want to spread hope and aloha. Flowers are a small, but heartfelt, gesture of our appreciation to the frontline medical workers who have worked tirelessly under exhausting conditions to heal our community.”

Ryan adds, “I want to share my gratitude to the healthcare workers, as they are modern-day heroes. I am hoping all the patients can recover quickly so they can once again thrive.”

The study, part of a USDA APHIS grant to develop Best Management Practices for invasive pests and disease in Hawai’i, is employing a bottom-up approach to integrated pest management, similar to fortifying human’s immune system to help prevent disease.

With increasing evidence that silicon plays an important role in plants’ immune response to pest and disease, the hope is this approach will “stretch” the life of chemical tools through fewer sprays, and get more use from them before resistance develops.

“It is really good to see how our research can both benefit our local growers as well as the Hilo Medical Center,” says Tiani. “In such trying times, it is always important to give back to our community as they have been there to support us through the tough times.”