Su Ba wrote:Aloha! Welcome to our island.
Since you've just recently arrived, you should be aware that you've arrived during a very wet year. Our rain tends to be cyclic, alternating a couple years of wet then a couple years of dry. You may find that you will need to water your plants during the dry years. I'm over in Ka'u in a location known for rain, but during drought years I go through a lot of irrigation water. Thus I maintain several catchment tanks and can currently store over 24,000 gallons of water. I'm working on doubling that.
This past two years have been so wet that my gardens are suffering. In hindsight I should have made rain protectors for over the crop beds. Since you are on the east side of the island, protecting your plants from excess rain may be an issue. Something to look into. I'm looking at options right now myself.
While I've harvested coconuts for food, I've never worked with the husk fiber. It's rather labor intensive to break it up by hand, so I simply add them in chunks to my pallet grow boxes (sort of like compost bins that I grow veggies in). They are slow to decompose, so they possibly could be used for pots or an ingredient in potting soil. But I have no experience trying to work with it. I've made bowls out of the shells, but haven't tried using them as pots. They should work as long as you don't mind putting all the time and work into them.
Plants sell well here at the farmers markets. Something to look into.
Aloha Su Ba,
Mahalo for the insights & information!

We would love to visit your homestead sometime & perhaps trade plants?!
You are right, it has been incredibly rainy this year. We are having some issues with mold growth on the nursery coconut fibers. Even some of our tree keiki seem to be affected with mold near the base of their trunks. We have had to pull back the
mulch & soil to help their roots get more airflow.
It has been super beneficial to see what plants do well here naturally despite the harsh elements. When the nursery is up & running, we have a lot of choices on what plants to raise.
Bananas, citrus, liliko'i, avocado, mucuna, soursop, pineapple, cacao, fig, guava, pigeon
pea, & sapote do exceptionally well here. We can't grow melons or other traditional annuals (besides eggplant &
tomatoes, which look like they can be perennials here) for the life of us. Perhaps it is because the soil is not rich enough for them.
If you know of any other fast growing perennials to add to the nursery list, please let me know!