Hawaiian Rock Removal 101

[LilikoiLee]

Plantable holes are really hard to find where we live. So I was quite thrilled when I was using my girl-sized O’o bar to find a small hole for a small plant and came across what I thought was a small rock that my husband Mike could easily remove with his man-sized O’o bar. I asked him to check it out. The following are the pictures I
took (except the last one – which I did not know he took) of the process he went through to remove the not-so-small rock so I could have a ‘small’ hole. With each of the pictures is Mike’s comment on the process.

All you need to do is get the O’o bar under an edge and pop the rock out.

#@!!#@&!

Just a tiny little lift and up it comes.

#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

When the rock turns out to be a little bigger than expected you may need some help from the person who had this idea in the first place. Lee assisted by sliding rocks under the lifted edge in order to raise the rock higher and higher. A modern day version of what the Egyptians did.

#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

If the rock turns out to be even bigger than you expected, you may find it helpful to throw your full body weight into the effort.

#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

A tiny bit more “Egyptioning” and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

This would be a lot easier if I was 20 years old.

By this time Egyptians and O’o bars are pointless. The only thing left to do is body wrestle the thing out the hole.

#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!
#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

Anyone can do it after mastering the simple technique of simultaneous lifting and swearing.
#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!#@!!#@&! #@!!#@&! #@!!#@&!

And here it is. Just a small pebble compared to some of the ‘serious’ boulders we find and remove.

Lee who by tnen was sitting on the rock and soaked from the downpour that continued through most of the process said “Now that wasn’t so hard was it?”

The End.

I had the last laugh when I got this picture of the pants she destroyed. She was working with a painfully displaced broken toe and had to spend most of the time sliding around on her okole (bottom) as she helped me.

[Hammer]

You have too much of the stuff in all the wrong places...and here I am wanting the "Hawaiian look" and will be paying to have rock at my place. Just doesn't seem fair.

[LilikoiLee]

We'd be happy to share our rocks with you - even the bolders. All you have to do is fly over and dig them out. Might be a bit expensive to ship them back.

Lee

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Adam is right, I haul rocks in all the time, and here you are, more than you need. Isn't it amazing though that palms can grow in such rocky soil to begin with?

Seems that owning a bobcat is probably a pre-requisite for palm gardening on the big island.

Now my pants look like that after a good day in the garden, especially if it rained or drizzled.

[JT in Japan]

This thread tells the story of a real love of gardening (and landscaping, and working outdoors), both of you! Thanks for sharing.

JT

[Pedro 65]

Great work Lee n Mike, watch ya backs with all that heavy heaving, love the Tahina behind the rock you are siting on Lee and don't sit down near the Pigafetta with the ripped behind .

What palm did you plant in the hole the moved rock left?, keep having fun and keeping fit in your gardens you two. Pete

[Dypsisdean]

Had to smile at every painful pic - been there done that. I think that was bigger than any I have manually removed. But I've had some that required the removal of 2 or 3 other big ones wedged in around it before the one you started on could be extricated.

It is always a quandary when you have a couple of hours into a hole deciding whether you should give up. And the more time you have in, the harder it is to give up. The problem is that the rock could be too big to remove - but it is difficult to know the ultimate size. The last big one like that had me burrowing underneath it so I could wrap the towing straps uaround and hook it up to my truck, just to see if I could get it to budge - always a positive sign. But until then, you just don't know.

But thanks for the story. Now I can have a link to send to those who comment about all the fun and games it must be to just sit back and watch your palms grow in Hawaii.

[Sabal Steve]

I was skateboarding recently and used the exact same method to lift a 1500 lb cement walkway tile to make a ramp.

[bgl]

Lee,

Well, this looks scarily familiar! And now I have a better understanding why "digging holes" has such an appeal to Mike! That's a great workout. And for FREE! Not to mention the satisfaction, which I know is priceless!

Bo-Göran

[Kim]

Nice work, Mike! It would be a shame to leave such a beautiful rock buried in the ground where no one could see it!

I can remember when I posted about buying boulders and having them moved to my place in Leilani Estates, Lee thought I was crazy. But my place is different -- I am more likely to uncover a big empty cavern than a boulder when digging!

[Jeff Searle]

Man........with all those rocks and lack of soil, that's a good reason to stay here in south Florida. Go easy on your husband, he's got many more holes to dig, right?

[Peter Pacific]

Lee, Mike...that is incredible work! I'm sure we've all felt the pain of thankless chores for the sake of a beautiful garden, I feel your joy and pride getting that rock removed.I have been spoiled by sand. Absolutely no obstructions except the sand that keeps falling back into the hole! Good Luck with your garden, I'm sure it's beautiful!

Peter

[mike in kurtistown]

Lee and Mike,

Painfully familiar. But a few months ago, as I started my main planting program, I invested in a Kubota mini-tractor. Several times, I have pulled up monster rocks like that, either with the backhoe or with my big pike (like Mike is using). I just put the loader down next to it, roll the rock into it, hoist it with the machine, drive it over to the disposal site, and dump it.

Sometimes there is a problem finding enough soil to backfill those holes.

[DoomsDave]

Rocks are so much nicer in someone else's garden.

[LilikoiLee]

This thread tells the story of a real love of gardening (and landscaping, and working outdoors), both of you! Thanks for sharing.

JT

I'm so-so about the gardening --- I really really love my wife and she really loves the garden.

Mike

[LilikoiLee]

Lee,

Well, this looks scarily familiar! And now I have a better understanding why "digging holes" has such an appeal to Mike! That's a great workout. And for FREE! Not to mention the satisfaction, which I know is priceless!

Bo-Göran

As far as the free workout is concerned I would actually rather sit in the living room and watch ancient reruns of I Love Lucy/ And in regard to the satisfaction being priceless, half way through the process I would have happily paid anyone to finish the the job. Just joking - it really is rewarding to get a good hole for one of our unplanted palms. Lee spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out what 20 gallon pot to plant to put in the hole. Sometimes I get a big hole and she puts a 3 gal plant in it becuase it's the right plant for the location!

Mike

[LilikoiLee]

Rocks are so much nicer in someone else's garden.

Truer words were never said!

[LilikoiLee]

Rocks are so much nicer in someone else's garden.

Truer words were never said!

Please don't encourage him anymore! He's out taking pictures of his other rock successes.

Lee

PS - Rocks are the only things he likes to conquer. Earlier this year he decide to cut down a quava three (the kind with small, easily crushed, yellow ones which drop thousands of quava berries on one of our trails. Quava trees have very dense trunks and branches. So when he started this project I got my cell phone ready with 911 already punched in (as I alwasys due), It was the 1st time (and, I hope the last) that he got a serious injury. A 500 lb. branch he was chainsawing fell and crushed his hand. I knew he was really hurt when between the screams he agreed to go to the hopital.

The doctor who saw him was shocked that there were no broken bones - only tissue damage and asked if he drank a lot of milk. He does. So your other crazy guys out there - start drinking your milk.

If you think he's totallly mad (he is a bit) let me explain that he says "If I didn't die in helicopter crashes in Vietnam, I'm not going to die moving rocks and cutting down trees in our garden." I hope he doesn't really believe this.

Lee

[LilikoiLee]

Rocks are so much nicer in someone else's garden.

Truer words were never said!

Please don't encourage him anymore! He's out taking pictures of his other rock successes.

Lee

PS - Rocks are the only things he likes to conquer. Earlier this year he decide to cut down a quava three (the kind with small, easily crushed, yellow ones which drop thousands of quava berries on one of our trails. Quava trees have very dense trunks and branches. So when he started this project I got my cell phone ready with 911 already punched in (as I alwasys due), It was the 1st time (and, I hope the last) that he got a serious injury. A 500 lb. branch he was chainsawing fell and crushed his hand. I knew he was really hurt when between the screams he agreed to go to the hopital.

The doctor who saw him was shocked that there were no broken bones - only tissue damage and asked if he drank a lot of milk. He does. So your other crazy guys out there - start drinking your milk.

If you think he's totallly mad (he is a bit) let me explain that he says "If I didn't die in helicopter crashes in Vietnam, I'm not going to die moving rocks and cutting down trees in our garden." I hope he doesn't really believe this.

Lee

Sorry for all of the spelling mistakes above. I was typing this really fast so I could get the post done before he came in from taking more pictures.

[redant]

This has never been a problem in my yard. Winter is another story though.

[LilikoiLee]

Great work Lee n Mike, watch ya backs with all that heavy heaving, love the Tahina behind the rock you are siting on Lee and

don't sit down near the Pigafetta with the ripped behind .

What palm did you plant in the hole the moved rock left?, keep having fun and keeping fit in your gardens you two. Pete :)ve

Sorry, I didn't see the last question when I looked at this earlier. We haven't decided which palm yet. One mistake we made repeatly when first started the garden was to put in anything that fit the hole. Results were not so good. Now we take time to thing about it and hopefully make a good decision

Also, Mike shared your earlier comment with me. Thank you very much; made me feel really good - at 69 I don't hear that said very often - except, of course, by Miike.

Lee