Alumni News

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.

When Sean Fong was an undergrad in the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, like many young people, he wasn’t quite sure what the future held for him. But he liked the professors, respected their vast knowledge, and was grateful for their willingness to mentor him. Then he took a turfgrass management class, and the rest is history. The company he would eventually build from scratch, Hawaiian Turfgrass, won Hawaiʻi’s Best 2020 by the Star Advertiser.

Hawaiʻi sits at the crossroads of East and West, U.S. Mainland and Pacific Basin, with a climate prized by tourists – and invasive organisms. Accurate identification of a pest or disease is the first step in learning how to control and limit its spread. Diagnostic services are an essential line of defense in Hawai`i to prevent agricultural losses from pests and diseases. During much of his 36 years at the Komohana Agriculture Research & Extension Center in Hilo, Brian Bushe has recovered and identified more than 50 insect pests and plant diseases, either for the first time in the State of Hawai`i or Hawai`i Island.