It's all about the soil...

[MarkF]

For those of you not following us on https://www.facebook.com/projecthooponopono, here's a flavor of what we're up to. forgive me if this all sounds naive -- the words of a nincompoop -- we're learning.

It's often been said that a smart farmer always puts more effort into the hole, than the plant he sticks in it. We've followed this line of thinking for a number of years and have been pleasantly rewarded. So, our approach will be to continue this fine tradition. Yes, at the recommendation of some folks who know a lot more about palms than we do, we have broadcast K-Mag, and have manually distributed both bird poo and Nitrogen in the form of Blood/Bone/Feather meal with Humate and Azomite. Thankfully, our timing for distribution has been pretty good with ample rain to wash these goodies into the ground.

In the meantime I had a sample of the soil analysed by UH Hilo, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, to get a better understanding of the base condition of our soil here so we don't do anything foolish that might endanger the palms.

We got the results back and they make for interesting reading. They found the soil to be slightly low ph (6.15) so that will need adjusting with lime - they recommend coral limestone.

But the real story is in the traditional nutrients examination:
P=29ppm and should be 67.5ppm

K=66ppm and should be 300ppm
Ca=419ppm and should be 3500ppm
Mg=200ppm and should be 700

So, the soil is going acidic, possibly due to the cinder, and/or use of chems in the past. The scarce nutrient situation is likely down to natural depletion. The plants have been consuming what nutrients were available to them and these were not being replaced through direct feeding, soil improvements, or a healthy, existing population of micro organisms.

The report also suggests quantities, and recommended distribution applications for fertilizer, lime, and K, Thankfully what they are recommending is to either do exactly what we have already done, or simply apply larger quantities of the same things we have already distributed. The exception is lime as we've not yet added any. Specifically, in terms of lbs/acre, they are calling for 200 for Nitrogen, 273 for Phosphorus, and 281 for Potassium. We are on track with the Potassium and Nitrogen but need to double up our efforts on the Phosphorous. But this gives you an idea of the scale. If we were to do this with chems alone, the costs would be unsustainable for any sane person. We will need to get ourselves off direct, chemical intervention as soon as is possible.

I had a feeling we might need lime but I wanted to see the analysis before doing that. I'll be blending that in with some Azomite before applying my first round of compost in February. A change in ph ought to help the plants metabolise the nutrients in the compost more efficiently.

One interesting thing from the guys at UH. They do recommend adding nitrogen over the next two years (they don't know we will be using compost for most feeding in the future). But they also using as little as we can get away with as we are quite close to the ocean and the soil/rock between here and there (about 1,000 yards) is quite porous. They are concerned that large quantities of concentrated nitrogen reaching the local ocean ponds might be detrimental to the marine environment. I share their concern. Mind you, from what I've heard, what few orchid growers remain around here use lots of chems all year long. But, every little bit less that's used is a good thing.

My thinking is to follow the path I am on and the instructions given me by folks with much more tropical ag and palm experience than I, and complete one full year of soil improvement as described. But over the course of this year, and possibly the next, I will be trying to wean the plants off the direct feeding onto compost. This will mean close observation of the condition of each and every plant and LOTS of composting, especially over the next two years. I'm calculating that I may need to produce and distribute as much as 30-40 tons of compost over the next couple of years...possibly even more!

The two downsides are:

1. Lots of manual labor

2. The area around each plant will no longer be pure, black cinder -- instead it will be a noticeable layer of compost. This will change the look of the property and that weighs heavily on me. But right now I think that's a sacrifice I need to make to get this place on a sustainable footing.

I should end this post by saying that, though my plans and opinions may sound cast in stone and solid in logic, they are not. They are based in experience planting, growing, harvesting olives in a completely different environment. So there's plenty of naivete around here. But, so far, the advice of the experts seems to be fairly well aligned and I'm happy that it aligns with my personal biases. If those diverge, it'll be nail biting time!

[Alicehunter2000]

Do you really need to ammend for soil ph? I thought this was well within the range of most palms tolorance and they appreciated being slightly acidic?......that is only what I thought...may be totally off on this.

[richnorm]

Soil conditions can vary a lot around a property so might pay to focus your initial efforts and resources on areas which seem most in need. Containing the mulch with rocks, or old trunks might help retain some of that clean lava gravel look. You can always add a few broms etc for interest too.

[MarkF]

You're right Rich, and the data is from only one sample taken from one location. But, from what I've been told, the soil is only in proximity to the planted palms -- the rest is all cinder -- and Terry told me that the formula for all the plantings was the same.

If only the need was concentrated in specific areas... The need varies more by species - those palms in need of water most are those in the worst shape. Generally, the shorter the species here, the greater the need. All the Licualas and the ground huggers are in serious need. I've focused feedings etc first on those displaying the greatest stress and worked my way out from there.

My intention so far is to limit the spread of mulch to just the immediate and effective radius of each palm. The rest of the land will remain clean, black cinder. I have noticed that plant detritus here takes on the black of the cinder pretty quickly for some reason so I am hopeful that the compost will do likewise and so not stand out against the cinder. As for broms, I was told that Pauleen wanted only palms here and I'm happy to keep it that way. The only exception will be the fruit and veg area next to the barn.

[MarkF]

  On 12/26/2013 at 9:37 PM, Alicehunter2000 said:

Do you really need to ammend for soil ph? I thought this was well within the range of most palms tolorance and they appreciated being slightly acidic?......that is only what I thought...may be totally off on this.

It's a good question and one I'm not sure about. I've been told that a range of 6.5-7.3 is a good target. To be honest, I don't think ph is the priority here. I think the greatest need is water. The sooner I can get a reliable supply of water to the palms the better. The next priority is overall soil health -- in the short term that prolly means fertiliser, k-mag, etc. But longer term the goal is to invest in building up the health of the soil itself and its organics.

In the back of my mind, I keep thinking that the original supply of mac nut husk mulch that was used when the palms were planted is not only depleted of microbials and nutrients, it's also simply too small in volume in many cases for the mature trees -- they've outgrown their soil supply. So, through my composting plan, I hope to enrich what soil there is by growing microbials in the old mac nut soil, and to actually add more soil from the top down. I'll be adding a thin layer of compost over the top of the original soil, and a thicker ring just beyond it out to the current drip line and just beyond. This thicker ring will wash down over time and fill in the gaps in the cinder below, creating a larger volume of fertile soil for the roots to grow into. The roots of the big palms already spread far and wide just below the surface of the cinder, in a desperate attempt to get water and nutrients. But these roots are pushing out through cinder which offers little or no nutrition or water retention. The roots have to go far and wide as there's little food and only transient water to be found out in the cinder. This is all speculation on my part but it seems to fit the picture right now.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

palms do not have the same requirements as usual agricultural crops. I grow both fruit trees and palms, and the two are totally different in their requirements. So I'd be very careful and not apply your techniques from growing olives, they won't work.

I would not add any phosphorus to your soil. Try to find some good organic palm fertilizer if you are averse to using chemical slow release fertilizer. Add copious amounts of dolomite lime, that will take care of buffering some of the acid and release much needed magnesium.

Keep in mind that the more nitrogen you add to the soil, the hungrier your palms will be for all the classic micronutrients, especially K. I've induced pretty bad K defficiencies in some of my palms after adding too much nitrogen. This is why I now use mostly slow release palm fertilizer.

For a good organic palm fertilizer, combine urea or fish emulsion with the right proportions of dolomite lime and greensand. You have to look at the total contents to come up with the right ratios.

[_Keith]

Perhaps I missed it, but was there an observed issue to start this. Apart from scientific analysis, which I do believe in, there is direct observation as well. And while I don't care for the statement "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as it precludes improvement, one must deduce whether improvement is needed at all. If the palms were healthy and growing fine, let them be. If an observed deficiency was noted, then turn to science. But unless it is dying, I would move slowly, maybe half of what the science suggest and a good organic program along side.

[Alicehunter2000]

I gotta ask Mark........what's the the story behind your avitar....lol.........great grandpappy?

[Tyrone]

If leeching of nutrients is a concern, then adding as much compost as you can physically do is a big step in the right direction in the long run. When organic matter composts down to it's most stable form (takes a few years) it becomes humus, which is wonderful stuff. Humus can stay around for 100's and even 1000's of years. Humus is the stuff that turns compost black and stains your hands when ever you handle it. Under the microscope a particle of humus has heaps of voids in it that trap nutrients and moisture and I remember reading somewhere that a humus particle can absorb it's own weight in water. The nutrients it traps would be useless to plants if it clinged onto the nutrients too tightly but they just loosely hold them there in the particle, and they stay there until a root comes along and gently plucks it off. But the humus particle holds onto the nutrient stronger than the force of water can remove it. This is the perfect natural answer to leeching issues.

Also compost is a slow release of nutrients, although when starting out, the amount of nutrients would be a bit low for a hungry plant. Slow release nitrogenous fertilisers help in those situations.

My opinion is to not worry about your pH as I reckon that is perfect. But your calcium and magnesium levels are low. Dolomite lime has both ingredients but they will raise your pH, and if you need those nutrients in higher quantities your pH may leap too high. What I would try is Magnesium sulfate (acidifier) for the magnesium and calcium carbonate (alkaline) which is crushed limestone in your compost and I would watch the pH very carefully as you don't want to go too far. In that situation the Magnesium sulfate should try and neutralise some of the alkalinity of the limestone.

Palms don't appear to have a high phosphorus need either in my experience, and boosting your property with phosphorus would require some form of superphosphate which is highly leachable. If you were going to give it a bit more, I'd try rock phosphate as it's very slow release and won't leach anywhere near as fast, but personally I reckon it's not needed. Bird manures tend to have high levels of phosphorus so maybe you could mix that with your compost.

There my thoughts for what little they're worth.

[MarkF]

Thanks so much for your thoughts -- lots of wisdom here to take on board. As mentioned above, I'm not totally convinced ph is such an urgent issue right now. I still believe water is the most urgent issue and much of my focus is getting our water catchment and irrigation system specced and built -- hopefully complete before the end of January. Guttering on the house and barn should happen in the next two weeks. Then my focus is in short and long-term projects. The short term is to observe and react as best I can to acute problems with specific plants. The longer term project needing immediate focus is the creation of compost at scale. This means getting mulch delivered in volume and adding my IMO brew to it.

This should give me some time to develop and test any other treatments I want to try in a controlled fashion. Then it will be time to observe, observe, observe. Then, when I have some confidence, I'll start to execute a careful migration plan. You're right Keith, there's nothing to replace detailed observation of the actual plants. I'm doing that with a section near the house to see what, if any, benefit their might be in the distribution of micro nutrients and trace minerals along with other fertilisers. I photo each and every tree in the test every single day. I can't be totally scientific about it though simply because there are so many other variables at play such as temperature, rainfall, etc. But there's enough to observe in the difference from the test and control trees to be useful. My aim is to only add fertilisers, etc where and when absolutely necessary. In many cases, though there are likely nutrient shortages at play, the main problem is simply water. Once that issue is taken out, then it will be easier to see just how badly individual plants are being affected by their nutrient environment -- my guess is that most of the plants will not need intense nutrient intervention and that the longer term addition of compost will do them fine for the most part.

Whatever the case, it's just good to have an idea, a goal, and be flexible and open to alternative paths along the way...

[MarkF]

  On 12/27/2013 at 2:04 AM, Alicehunter2000 said:

I gotta ask Mark........what's the the story behind your avitar....lol.........great grandpappy?

It is an Edwardian mug shot of Titus Bottomly, my colleague at The Phantom Manufacturing works, (www.thephantom.co.uk). There we build 'daring death-traps for sporting gentlemen.' I am the tea boy of the establishment.

[MarkF]

  On 12/27/2013 at 1:00 AM, Axel in Santa Cruz said:

palms do not have the same requirements as usual agricultural crops. I grow both fruit trees and palms, and the two are totally different in their requirements. So I'd be very careful and not apply your techniques from growing olives, they won't work.

I would not add any phosphorus to your soil. Try to find some good organic palm fertilizer if you are averse to using chemical slow release fertilizer. Add copious amounts of dolomite lime, that will take care of buffering some of the acid and release much needed magnesium.

Keep in mind that the more nitrogen you add to the soil, the hungrier your palms will be for all the classic micronutrients, especially K. I've induced pretty bad K defficiencies in some of my palms after adding too much nitrogen. This is why I now use mostly slow release palm fertilizer.

For a good organic palm fertilizer, combine urea or fish emulsion with the right proportions of dolomite lime and greensand. You have to look at the total contents to come up with the right ratios.

Lot's to agree with here. In Italy I grow only five cultivars of olive, all mountain variations. Here we have 250-300 different species from a wide range of habitats so it is unlikely that there will be a single formula for all these trees in the short term. So it will be a case of being gentle and watchful. Most of my energy in the short term will focus on getting the right mount of water to each palm that needs more than what the clouds naturally provide here. The next priority will be to get the long term solution of compost started as this will take time before it can be distributed. In the meantime it's a case of watching carefully and reacting as lightly as possible only where intervention seems necessary. It will be a slow process but K'll learn a lot along the way and hopefully do more god than bad.

[Kim]

  On 12/27/2013 at 7:37 AM, MarkF said:

  On 12/27/2013 at 2:04 AM, Alicehunter2000 said:

I gotta ask Mark........what's the the story behind your avitar....lol.........great grandpappy?

It is an Edwardian mug shot of Titus Bottomly, my colleague at The Phantom Manufacturing works, (www.thephantom.co.uk). There we build 'daring death-traps for sporting gentlemen.' I am the tea boy of the establishment.

I visited the Phantom website, but for sure that photo is a semi-famous historical photo of... sorry, can't extract it from my brain. Thomas Edison? Billy the Kid? It's driving me crazy...

[Kim]

Oh, meant to add: personally I think adding organic mulch under the palms in greatest need is necessary for their recovery. Okay, so it will cover the pristine look of the cinder and bring in weeds. Still worth it.

[MarkF]

  On 12/27/2013 at 6:44 PM, Kim said:

  On 12/27/2013 at 7:37 AM, MarkF said:

  On 12/27/2013 at 2:04 AM, Alicehunter2000 said:

I gotta ask Mark........what's the the story behind your avitar....lol.........great grandpappy?

It is an Edwardian mug shot of Titus Bottomly, my colleague at The Phantom Manufacturing works, (www.thephantom.co.uk). There we build 'daring death-traps for sporting gentlemen.' I am the tea boy of the establishment.

I visited the Phantom website, but for sure that photo is a semi-famous historical photo of... sorry, can't extract it from my brain. Thomas Edison? Billy the Kid? It's driving me crazy...

No one famous, except within the Bottomly family of course.

[Alicehunter2000]

uhhh

[MattyB]

I think mulch rings around the palms will look cool. I've always looked at that bare cinder and though it looked way to sterile.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

The bare cinder look does look sterile but I think it frames each palm perfectly visually. There is no confusion as to what the palms look like, especially when photographed.

I thought there was enough rainfall there that no irrigation was needed, guess not. Compost and mulch around each palm will help them grow. The only downside I see is that weeds will start to be a problem.

[_Keith]

  On 12/28/2013 at 5:18 AM, Jerry@TreeZoo said:

The bare cinder look does look sterile but I think it frames each palm perfectly visually. There is no confusion as to what the palms look like, especially when photographed.

I thought there was enough rainfall there that no irrigation was needed, guess not. Compost and mulch around each palm will help them grow. The only downside I see is that weeds will start to be a problem.

I can identify with the framing. Here, everything is green, green and green. Getting a nice shot of a really nice palm is nearly impossible.