The most recent example of an invasive threat to our agriculture, urban and natural ecosystems is the Ramie Moth. Last month, the presence of Arcte coerula was confirmed on the east side of the Big Island attacking mamaki, traditional medicinal plants that are endemic to the Hawaiian islands. They’re also indirectly threatening the endemic Kamehameha butterfly by competing for the same native host plant resources. What gets less media attention is the Dept. of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, whose researchers and Extension specialists and agents are constantly at the frontlines of pest management, using the latest basic and applied research to protect our ecosystems from these invaders.

In 2018, when the Ramie Moth was first spotted on Maui, PEPS was there with molecular tools to confirm it. Now, PEPS is surveying the moth’s distribution in Hawaiʻi, and searching for potential natural enemies.

Diseases and Damaging Insects

It’s important to note, many invasive species are STILL in Hawaiʻi, still threatening our food supply and way of life – even if you haven’t read or heard about them recently. The following is just a fraction of PEPS’ efforts to eradicate or mitigate the dangers:

Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles: Since 2013, PEPS’ Agrosecurity and Turf and Landscape Pest Management Labs have coordinated a large, multi-agency response against the spread of CRB. These efforts have largely contained the CRB population on Oʻahu, allowing Hawaiʻi’s palm to continue to thrive. Modern genomic techniques (ddRADseq) were used by PEPS’ Insect Systematics and Biodiversity Lab to trace the regional invasion pathways of CRB.

Coffee Leaf Rust: PEPS is engaged in the state response to CLR, a major threat to the Hawaiʻi coffee industry. PEPS’ Agrosecurity Lab performed the initial diagnostic assays of CLR last October, and is now assisting in the Section 18 Emergency Exemption of a pesticide to manage this pathogen. We obtained a Controlled Import Permit to introduce (under quarantine) varieties with potential resistance to CLR from Central America, are performing molecular characterization of CLR isolates from Hawaiʻi to develop future management approaches, and conducting efficacy and residue trials to provide the required data for new pesticides registration in Hawaiʻi that will protect specialty crops, including coffee.

Meanwhile, we are investigating the potential of parasitoids, insect pathogens, and repellent pheromones to manage coffee berry borer, another invasive species of coffee that can damage >80% of coffee production. The success of these efforts should provide an economical and sustainable alternative to the costly insect-pathogenic fungus applications that currently require intense federal subsidies to keep our state’s coffee industry afloat.

Fruit Fly: Hawaiʻi is under a full federal fruit fly quarantine, which has restricted our fruits from being exported to the Mainland. We’re searching for insecticides, biological control agents, and pheromone traps to overcome pesticide-resistant populations. Along with developing new early detection tools, we are collaborating with the federal Dept. of Agriculture on male annihilation and sterile insect techniques.  

Many, Many More: Invasive species management efforts led by PEPS – and of high significance to Hawaiʻi – include citrus leprosis eradication, resistance against basil downy mildew, Phytophthora blight of papaya, black pod rot of cacao, avocado root ro

Being a kid during Covid is tough enough, but if your parent was wounded or killed serving our country, the additional challenges, stressors and difficulty can be significant, to say the least. Hawaiʻi 4-H Military Partnership, a CTAHR program, is proud to host an exciting camp this summer for the dependent youth of Wounded Warriors. Youth campers will enjoy recreation and respite at YMCA Camp Erdman, located on the beautiful North Shore beaches of Oʻahu, the week of June 13-18. This adventure will include high ropes courses, surfing, swimming, yoga, hiking, Hawaiiana-based environmental activities, crafts, and recreational camp games.

Through these outdoor activities and adventures, youth will learn from the setting and environment much of what Hawaiʻi has to offer. They’ll have a rare opportunity to use Hawaiian studies and practices to learn about sustainability through a focus on ʻāina a me kai (land and sea), as well as mālama ponoʻī (self-care).

“The youths will benefit from this opportunity to relax, learn, grow, and be challenged, as well as connect with other youths who have gone through similar situations with a lost or wounded parent,” says Kate Eickstead, Military 4-H Program Coordinator. “They’ll not only have a fun time but will also learn coping skills, go outside their comfort zone, and make real human-to-human connections. This will benefit their surviving parent, too.”

She adds, “This expense-free, high-quality program is made possible by a grant from the US Army and the 4-H Military Partnership, and CTAHR coordination. This summer will be an unforgettable adventure for the kids.”

For more info, visit the Hawaiʻi State 4-H Program or contact Kate Eickstead.

by Darren Park. The UH Seed Laboratory is excited and proud to partner with City Mill, which has always been a strong supporter of CTAHR. A select assortment of our high-quality seeds are now on sale at the new Simply Garden Store at Kahala Mall Shopping Center. Simply Garden is a brand-new pop-up store, and part of the City Mill Family of Companies, which also includes City Mill and Simply Organized. Many of the UH seeds offered by Simply Garden were developed by CTAHR researchers to grow well in Hawaiʻi’s climate, as well as resist diseases. In addition to UH seeds, which will be available in limited quantities, Simply Garden will carry beautiful, modern, sophisticated and unique indoor and outdoor planters and easy-care indoor live plants, including succulents and air plants. Stop by the store and you’ll also find an assortment of adult and children’s gardening products and grow kits, herb garden kits, planters and other gardening accessories, such as gloves, hats, small tools, small river rocks, sea glass and some organic soils.

Doing some shopping? Or just in the Kahala area? Please stop by Simply Garden and support a Hawaiʻi company that has perennially supported our college, and our community.

by Russell Galanti. Teaching practical horticulture during COVID is no walk in the garden … or is it? Across our state, coordinators of CTAHR’s Master Gardener program are addressing the issue of developing an MG training curricula and schedule for 2021 – specifically for these unprecedented times when travel and in-person meetings are still difficult. The Master Gardener coordinators, which include Extension’s Dr. James Keach, Kalani Matsumura, Ty McDonald, Eric Demaria, and me, decided it was time to work together across the state to develop a unified training program, a historical achievement for the Hawaiʻi Master Gardeners. We’re confident we can make it work, because this same teamwork and coordination has already solved multiple problems this year related to developing the training program.

Lecturer travel was the first obstacle to overcome. By offering the class online, guest lecturers do not need to travel to every island individually to present. Offering the course as a statewide class also reduces the need for lecturers to present multiple times on the same subject.

Developing a synchronous program has allowed the Master Gardener coordinators to maximize their resources and offer an improved program through collaborative decision making. The statewide class allows all of the master gardener associations to interact with each other and create a sense of unity.

Most of the class remains online, with all participants meeting for online lectures, and splitting off into individual groups for hand-on activities. Some coordinators have decided to keep larger class sizes and remain completely socially distanced. This is the case for Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi. Hawaiʻi island is experimenting with reduced class size and the ability to still hold hands-on activities.

The details may differ, but one thing is for sure: statewide coordinators agree this has been an excellent team-building effort, and everyone appreciates working together to meet our goals. The training program began on February 12^th – and so far, all participants are very happy with the statewide online format.

For more information on each master gardener program, you can visit the Master Gardener webpage. Each page contains contact information for the individual coordinators.

Photo Caption: A class limited to 10 students sits in the conference room of Komohana Research and Extension Center, ready to connect online with 85 other Master Gardener students from across the state.

CTAHR was in the house! last week for The Conversation, Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s daily hour of locally-focused discussions of public affairs, ideas, culture and the arts.

Joining the “guests from around the block and around the world” was Molokaʻi Extension’s Glenn Teves, who spoke about Extension and the ins and outs of growing food in Hawaiʻi.

“The Agritourism Mini-Grant Awardees is an amazing cohort of local farmers and businesses – and starting us off is Kō Hana Hawaiian Agricole Rum, meticulously crafted from farm to bottle!” says Pomai Weigert of GoFarm Hawaiʻi. The Kohana team “grow single varietals that are hand harvested, pressed to juice and then distilled to perfection, resulting in one of the world’s finest pure cane rums,” she adds. “Their hope is to capture the beauty, honesty, and history of Hawaiian sugarcane flavors, and share that story.” Each Tuesday, the partnership of GoFarm, O’ahu Research & Conservation Development Council, Hawai’i Agritourism Association, and Hawai’i Tourism Authority will announce the next winner via social media.

The awards to local farmers and businesses will support the development of innovative agri-tourism operations in Hawaiʻi. Fifteen local businesses were selected through a competitive application process after receiving training from GoFarm Hawaii and the Hawaii Agri-Tourism Association via the 2020 Hawaii Agri-Tourism Webinar Summer Series.

“To book a tour and tasting of Kohana Rum, order online, and learn more, go to kohanarum.com,” Pomai says. “Be sure to follow GoFarm Hawaiʻi on social media every Tuesday, through June 2021, to see our highlighted awardees each week!” 

Axis deer, invasive and detrimental to Molokaʻi’s fragile ecosystem, have also fed the local community for generations. But with the prolonged drought, these starving wildlife are destroying farm crops and forest watershed, leading to erosion and runoff into the ocean. “They started moving into the farm area and are just raising hell,” said Glenn Teves, Extension agent and Molokaʻi native, in a recent interview for the Star Advertiser newspaper about the ongoing situation. He suggests that killing the deer for slaughterhouses could help food banks and those in need during the pandemic.

It was less than four years ago when our banana industry was reeling from the double punch of Panama Wilt and Bunchy Top Virus. With the value of their product in freefall, Oʻahu farmers reached out to Extension. In response, Amjad Ahmad, Koon-Hui Wang, and Jari Sugano obtained a Specialty Crop Block Grant Program administered by Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture. The grant allowed Extension’s Jensen Uyeda to screen field-grown banana plants for the virus, using a new Agdia Amplify RP XRT rapid DNA amplification technology – an improvement over the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, method. Extension then partnered with Dr. Ming Li of the Hawaiʻi Agriculture Research Center & East County Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau to move clean, BBTV-free plants into tissue culture for multiplication.

Fast forward to now. With Extension’s help, banana growers on Oʻahu’s Windward side are re-starting new banana fields, using BBTV-free keiki plants derived from tissue-cultured mothers. Extension has also developed a rotational insecticide program, designed to work in conjunction with the BBTV tissue culture program.

“We were just about to stop growing apple banana because we had no resources for clean planting material,” says Clyde Fukuyama of Kahuku Farms. “We are very excited and looking forward to start increasing our plantings again. This will definitely help and benefit our farm.”

To date, 875 tissue-cultured banana plants have been distributed to 22 growers, and Extension is optimistic the program has the potential to re-establish previously destroyed banana orchards, and enable growers to rebound from the devastating effects of BBTV and Panama wilt. The initial success has led to another grant secured to distribute a larger number of seedlings (5,000-10,000) to statewide producers. 

“With almost a thousand BBTV-free plants distributed to growers, along with rotational insecticide, we’re hopeful the local banana industry will rebound quickly,” says Jari. "It’s important to note, these plants are not disease resistant — just free of the virus. Growers must closely follow the insecticide rotation in order to keep the aphid vector away.”

Glenn Teves of the Molokai Extension Office and Jay Bost of GoFarm Hawaiʻi were co-hosts of the online seminar, Tropical Squash, on the Culinary Breeding Network’s YouTube channel. Glenn and Jay collaborated with Linda Wessel Beaver of the University of Puerto Rico and Edmund Frost of Commonwealth Seed, a farmer breeder with whom both they share germplasm.
 

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.

I received my BS and MS in Animal Sciences from CTAHR and went to work for the college, but after a long career, I’ve hung up my spurs and retired.

Before I say Aloha! and Mahalo!, I want to tell you about a special cattle-breeding project by Extension at Mealani Research Station.

Know someone or some family that might be looking to improve their farming production and agribusiness skills? CTAHR’s highly successful GoFarm program will kick off 2021 with a new cohort at its Alae site in Hilo. Please forward and share with your networks.

What hasn’t changed during this pandemic is the need for research trials. What HAS changed is the community’s greater need for food donations.

Hawai’i Public Radio’s “The Conversation” series recently hosted two special guests: Glenn Teves of Molokai Extension and Jay Bost of GoFarm.

The Conversation’s Community Growers Urge Residents To Plant Seeds “really resonated with our audience” and “received positive feedback during and after the show!” notes HPR.

What is a mushroom? Is it a fruit, or is it vegetable? Is it even a plant? During this pandemic, it’s more important than ever to create hands-on “classroom” activities that students can do from home. Look no further than Extension educators, who’ve been able to deliver on CTAHR’s Land Grant obligations by helping Oʻahu students cultivate oyster mushrooms.

With the main objective to bring stakeholders together, in the same forum, to discuss and share current issues, concerns, and updates on the status and research in Hawaiʻi, CTAHR Extension will host the third Invasive Pests Mini-Conference via Zoom: December 15, 1:00 p.m.

“The opportunity to grow ‘giants’ with my children is a blessing,” says Wendi Sasaki. “We were able to spend quality time together, learning and growing.’”

The parent participant is referring to a contest of giant fruits and vegetables, brought to Big Island families by the Hawai'i County 4-H program.

If doing taxes is a piece of cake for you, then stop reading now. But for the rest of us who cringe at the thought of preparing our own Agribusiness General Excise taxes, Schedule F and other forms of sole proprietorship or partnership, help is on the way.

Forty-eight cars and trucks took their turns, driving thru the grounds of the Urban Garden Center for a well-deserved chance to vote on their favorite Halloween decoration, and receive tools generously donated by City Mill, as well as other tokens of mahalo! from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture, UH Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center, UH Bookstore, and CTAHR.

Coffee leaf rust (CLR) has been confirmed by the U.S Dept. of Agriculture from coffee plant samples collected on Maui last week. In response, the Hawai`i Dept. of Agriculture (HDOA) began statewide surveys and has detected suspect plants on Hawai`i Island.