UHMG header
Issue No. 13
Sep | Oct | Nov 2015
Fall 2015 Master Gardener Newsletter
In This Issue
MG NEWS from around the STATE
Rapid 'Ohi'a Death/Wilt
SPOT the Ant ~ STOP the Ant
Quick Links

Notes for 2015-2016 UH MG Program Year
from Statewide Coordinator, Jayme Tims Grzebik
Part 2: Empathy in the Garden: Life Happens.
 
Extension Master Gardener certification programs in every State throughout the country ask for Volunteer service in return for training.  Master Gardeners are asked to sign a commitment to share resources and knowledge gained with the gardening public by participating in educational outreach activities.  Our program is a great program for those that want to learn about gardening in Hawaii. But do our programs provide a good place to be a Volunteer? Read the full article here.
 
Master Gardener NEWS from around the STATE

NEWS FROM KAUA'I  
Amanda Skelton, Acting MG Coordinator     
       
Mokihana, Melicope anisata
Mokihana
Melicope anisata
Kaua'i Master Gardener Summer Update    

This has been a busy summer for the Master Gardeners on Kaua'i, with graduation in June and our big annual plant sale at the Kaua'i County Farm Fair in August! As soon as we finished up with our graduation party, all efforts turned to propagating thousands of plants for the four-day Farm Fair. Read here.
 
NEWS FROM O'AHU
Jayme Grzebik, MG Coordinator Oʻahu

'Ilima, Sida fallax
Ilima 
Sida fallax 
Link to read News from the Urban Garden Center (April/May/June 2015) with articles on Eagle Scout Philip Cyr's service project, the Kainalu Elementary School Garden, rain barrel workshops, mangoes, and our graduating 2015 MG class, compiled by O'ahu MGs Catherine Ano & Barbara Alexander. Read here. 

 
NEWS FROM MAUI COUNTY
Cynthia Nazario-Leary, MG Coordinator

Lokelani Rose
Rosa chinensis
Maui Master Gardener Summer 2015  
 
Maui MGs have been busy with public outreach, caring for their on-site vegetable garden, enjoying beekeeping and honey extraction, plus hosting their graduation and certification ceremony. In addition, we welcome Dr. Cynthia Nazario Leary, their new coordinator.
Read here.


NEWS FROM EAST HAWAI'I  
Andrew Kawabata, MG Coordinator

Ohia, Metrosideros polymorphas
'Ohi'a
Metrosideros polymorpha
Air Layer Workshops
by Bill Miller, East Hawaiʻi MGs

On 7 and 14 July, a total of 15 East Hawai'i Master Gardeners converged on the Komohana Research Extension Center and wreaked havoc on the facility's trees. Andrew Kawabata showed us several methods of air layering on an Avocado tree using a knife to remove the bark and cambium layers. Read here.  
 
NEWS FROM WEST HAWAI'I  
Ty McDonald, MG Coordinator 
Ohia, Metrosideros polymorpha
'Ohi'a
Metrosideros polymorpha

West Hawaiʻi Fall News
by Celeste Makrevis, West Hawai'i Master Gardener  
 
West Hawai'i Master Gardeners will be completing the data collection phase of our Surinam Cherry Research Project in September. MG volunteers have been collecting data every week for two years about the flowering and fruiting of over 100 purple-fruited Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora, Pitanga) trees. Read here.   
 
'Ohi'a Quarantine: Rapid 'Ohi'a Death
black staining from Ceratocystis wilt

The Hawai'i Board of Agriculture voted this week to quarantine 'ohi'a plants and plant products on the Big Island to prevent the spread of Rapid 'Ohi'a Death to the other islands. Rapid 'Ohi'a Death, technically known as
Ceratocystis wilt of 'Ohi'a, is a new and virulent disease that has affected tens of thousands of acres of native forests in Hilo and Puna, killing hundreds of thousands of trees.

The quarantine will prohibit shipping flowers, leaves, seeds, stems, twigs, cuttings, untreated wood, logs, and mulch or greenwaste from Hawai'i Island without a permit. Soil and plants grown in soil will be quarantined after January. The ban will affect native plant growers, woodworkers, loggers, and millers but represents the one change to prevent this new disease from devastating 'ohi'a forests across the state. Read the article here.

HDOA Announcement:
 
Spot the Ant - Stop the Ant 
Ants aren't just a nuisance in our homes and gardens; they have ecological effects from the shoreline to mountain tops, everywhere they have become established. Now nearly 60 introduced ant species are established in Hawaiʻi.

Master Gardeners may receive questions about little fire ants, especially during "Spot the Ant, Stop the Ant" month.  Your help is appreciated in getting the word out that it is important to test your yard or property at least once per year, and anytime you bring home new plant materials. Read here.

NEW from CTAHR

Unlock the Secrets in the Soil 
 
HEALTHY SOILS ARE: Well Structured
"soft and crumbly"
"like cottage cheese"
"like a sponge"
"loose and full of holes"
 
Those and other common descriptions of what healthy soil looks and feels like refer to good soil structure.
 
Soil structure, the arrangement of the solid parts of the soil and the pore space between them, is critical to how the soil functions. When the solid parts-sand, silt and clay particles-cling together as coarse, granular aggregates, the soil has a good balance of solid parts and pore space. Read more here.
 
Stop the Splash, Harvest the Benefits
We join the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in celebrating 2015 as the International Year of Soils
 
Aloha!

 

Jayme Grzebik
University of Hawaiʻi Master Gardener Statewide Coordinator

Assisted by Jody Smith | Oahu MG | smithjos@hawaii.edu
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources | University of Hawai'i