The 25th annual conference for the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers will fill four days starting Sept. 24 in Kailua-Kona with two additional days at other locations.
The Sept. 24 meetings will be held at the new HTFG office at 81-6393 Mamalahoa Highway in Captain Cook. They will include a board meeting as well as a strategic planning session. Members should contact Ken Love at 323-2417 for information on participating in the planning session. Annual membership is currently $35 but will be $50 in 2016.
The “Back to Our Roots” conference will formally begin Sept. 25 at the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. Registration starts at 5 p.m. with pupu platters appearing at 6 for those who have paid the dinner fee of $35. The keynote address by Yan Diczbalis at 7 p.m. is open to those registered for the conference. He is the principal horticulturist at the University of Queensland in Australia and will speak on various useful methods for improving tropical fruit production.
With experts speaking on a multitude of topics, the conference moves into high gear Sept. 26 beginning with registration and a trade show at 7 a.m. At 7:45, Scott Enright, Hawaii Department of Agriculture chairman, will welcome participants and give an HDOA update. After his address, current HTFG board members will be introduced along with a report on current activities.
“The Fruit Explorer” is the topic of Joseph Simcox’s presentation at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 26. Botanical explorer, ethnobotanist and world food plant ecologist, Simcox has spent decades traveling the globe, tasting and documenting little known food crops grown and consumed by indigenous people. He will have a treasure trove of information about exotic tropical fruit gathered from his travels.
Peter Salleras will follow at 9:45 a.m. In “Striving for Sustainable Tropical Tree Fruits Production in the 21st Century,” Salleras will recount his experiences on his Fruit Forest Farm in Queensland, Australia, surviving two major cyclones with crops intact. The climatic similarities between Queensland and the Big Island mean our farmers can learn from his experience.
Local agronomist and soil expert Bob Shaffer will speak after a break at 10:45 a.m. His talk on “Soil Culture in Hawaii” is based on his years of experience farming and advising on ways to improve soil health, crop quality and pest management in the tropics. At 11:45, Bill Gerlach, research and development director at Melissa’s World Variety Produce in Los Angeles, will speak on market trends in tropical fruit.
Following the 12:15 p.m. luncheon, Sharon Hurd from the Hawaii DOA Market Development Branch, will speak briefly before Yan Diczbalis presents his “Photo Journal of Fruitful Visits in South East Asia” at 1:30 p.m. He will introduce many exotic fruit species suitable for Hawaii.
Mike Scharf and Peter Follett from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will round out the presentations Sept. 26. They will present recent developments and updates stemming from their work. Scharf has served on the Coffee Berry Borer Task Force in Hawaii as a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service employee and can offer the latest information available through his work in the Kona area. Follett has been working as a research entomologist for USDA-ARS since 1997 at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo. The pair will impart new information and field questions regarding USDA activities in Hawaii.
The silent auction will close at 4 p.m., followed by an evening fruit tasting and dinner, which is offered separately from the conference registration fee at $50.
The conference fee of $175 for HTFG members and other area agricultural groups and $250 for nonmembers also includes two field trips Sept. 27. Tim Baldwin of Uluwehi Farm and Nursery will conduct the first tour in Niulii, North Kohala. It will include fruit orchards established using permaculture principles as well as a large collection of banana, unusual bamboo and palm varieties. The second tour is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Guy Cellier’s vanilla farm just south of Kona International Airport.
Mini conferences include speakers on Kauai on Sept. 28 and tours in Hilo on Sept. 29. For more information or to register for the conference, , visit hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org or contact Love at ken@mycoffee.net or 323-2417.
Tropical gardening helpline
Holly asks: I have some huge blue agave plants growing on my land. I was thinking of taking some of them out. A friend suggested I make tequila. Is there a homegrown way to do that?
Answer: The short answer is probably not. First, if you are planning to sell any you cannot use the name tequila or mescal, which are both registered in Mexico. Tequila making is a process that involves some special equipment including large ovens, crushers, distillers and aging barrels. You also have to be careful about distilling at home. It is actually illegal, highly flammable and requires some pretty pricey equipment. But, if you are determined and keep it for your own consumption here are the steps.
1. Harvest blue agave that is fully mature, seven to 10 years old. Remove all the spikey leaves. The heart or pina can be heavy, sometimes more than 100 pounds. You need 15 pounds to produce a liter of blue agave spirits.
2. Cook the heart or pina. You can use an oven but it can take up to 24 hours to soften so the sugars can be easily extracted. Crush the cooked pina to remove the sweet juice.
3. Ferment the juice. This can take a week to 10 days.
4. Distill the fermented juice. You need distillation equipment. At this stage, the juice is high in alcohol and very flammable. The quality of the beverage is improved by two to three distillations.
5. Age the product. Oak whiskey barrels are traditionally used. The quality improves with age. Two months is the minimum. Three years or more results in a high quality beverage.
6. Once aged to your satisfaction, you may bottle the spirts and enjoy them but remember it is illegal to sell them.
A neat little flow chart can be found at tequilaknight.com/how-to-make-tequila.html#axzz3lCJkzXZC if you decide to proceed with making blue agave spirits.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant living on an organic farm in Captain Cook.
Gardening events
Thursday: Cover Crop Calculating meets from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the University of Hawaii Mealani Research Station at 64-289 Mamalahoa Highway in Waimea with Dr. Koon-Hui Wang from UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Participants will learn the benefits and best methods used for cover cropping. Contact Randall Hamasaki at 887-6183 for more information.
Farmers markets
Wednesday: Hooulu Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay
Wednesday: Sunset Farmers Market, 2 p.m. to sunset at the north makai corner of the Kmart parking lot
Saturday: Keauhou Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to noon at Keauhou Shopping Center
Sunday: South Kona Green Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook
Monday to Saturday: U-Pick greens and produce, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tropical Edibles Nursery in Captain Cook
Plant advice lines
Anytime: konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu
Thursday: 9 a.m. to noon at UH Cooperative Extension Service in Kainaliu, 322-4892.
Monday, Tuesday and Friday: 9 a.m. to noon at UH CES at Komohana in Hilo, 981-5199 or himga@hawaii.edu.