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Beginning Farmer and Ranchers Development Program
Kohala Center
with Jonathan Deenik
NOTES from class on December 1, 2018 by Jim Crum
Presentation by Jonathan Deenik (for registered Students only) here

Depo = dirt
Āina = that which feeds
Kahana Mahi Ai -farmer
“Science is useless if not used to help people and the land”
Gurol Uehar – clay and Hawaiian soils pioneer

Diversity
– 45% mineral — sand— silt— clay (type is critical to fertility)- 5% organic matter — more OM is more fertile
– 25% air
– 25% water- iron oxide is red and usually low fertility. Ferrihydrate is more fertile than – darker are more fertile. 

Formation
– parent material (rock – lava – basalt, or limestone from cora)
– age (krono sequence makes it a great place to study effect)
– climate (water is the key weathering agent.)
– biota (plants)- topography (drainage)

Kohala Climosequence – uala fields – most fertile fields in Hawaii – 26 sq miles- look at impact of rainfall on fertility – 300,000 year ago lava flows- 10”/year aridisols/desert- 40”/year great for growing- 150”/year – 1500mm is like for leaching or not 

Processes
– additions (organic matter, tropospheric dust carried from )- transformations (rock to clay, living tissue to humus)- translocations – losses- taxonomy—  low lands, sodium and toxic but pockets of — middle lands, (humus) near neutral — high lands (ferrihydritic hydrudands) acid and infertile and – microbes are the first items to grow in new lava
Soil surveys of the Hawaiian Islands
– USDA soil conservation service 1960s remapped in the 1990s on the Big Island

Organic matter
– high solvable potassium, calcium, magnesium = fertile- fertility stays at a good levels until over 1500mm if rain per year. Quick drop off. Leeches off to the ocean
– the higher the negative charge, the more fertile.
– negative charge is low with no rain or high rain. Sweet spot is >500mm <1500mm/yr
– organic matter can overcome any infertility.
– waimea (leeward side area) is most fertile because all the best elements come together- 12 soils types globally— mollisols: grasslands and biota is the driver— oxisols: tropical rainforest high weathering and acidity— vertisols: dry leeward coasts that shrink and grow with rain— Andisols: form from volcanic ash. Higher rain is acid and leached— histosols: dense forest but just rock and organic matter. Young
– minerals: sand, silt and clay-maintain the organic matter, and maintain fertility- allophone: first to develop on volcanic soils, tubular and high surface area. 1g could have 1000 sq. meters of surface area. have to add phosphorus via manure- 17% carbon in surface soils and 5% lower. 
– organisms/microorganisms cause decomposition to humus
– improves soil by: causes aggregate stability (fluffy and lights) aerates to increase water infiltration and retention and protects from erosion
– chemical properties: a sink for nutrients retains and then supplies nitrogen, calcium, potassium, detoxifies aluminum and buffers pH change. 
– arsenic is not bio available because t binds with clay, but have to avoid breathing in the dust- aluminum issues can be addressed using manure
– Cornell soil tests don’t work for Hawaii
– microbial diversity is key to nutrient exchange
– mycorrhiza: symbiosis between his fungus getting energy and root systems getting nutrients like (necessary but scarce) phosphate to fed the plant. 
– biological nitrogen fixation: rhizobium and legumes – break the bond and create amino acids- decomposition: physical and chemical breakdown to convert from organic to inorganic (needed by plants). Carbon rich materials break down much more slowly. CtoN ratio lower than 25-30 means things will break down quickly- high carbon (wood, coconut, sawdust, dried leaves) will initially take Nitrogen from plants

Acidity/alkalinity
– lower it is more acid higher is more alkaline
– stays at a good level until over 1500mm of rain per year. Quick drop off. Soluble aluminum increases and increases acidity
– Hamakua is infertile ash soils 
– tea, blueberries, hydrangea, pineapple are acid tolerant
– solubility is dependent on pH.
– At low pH phosphate will bind with the clay surface and aluminum instead of the plant- high pH, phosphorus will react with calcium and be insoluble. Zinc bonds as well
– ideal pH is 6-7: optimizations solubility for essential nutrients
– too high? Elemental sulphur
– biochar can be used but releases lots of nitrous oxide. Instead, bio digester to make methane and
– liming: crushes corral from Kawaihae but not a great source and use 3-4tines. Has to be tilled in
– stay above pH 5.5 to address aluminum.
– soil sample test month after testing. Test every year. 

Management
– high humidity impacts the plants and adds fungus- organic matter is key: concentrated in the surface layer, comes from decaying plants, determines performance – sawdust takes nutrients (nitrogen) away from plant. Use it only as a mulch or in compost – Nitrate: NO3, is the plant available nitrogen and a great source of this is urine when mixed 1/10 water as fertilizer. 4 rights- source- Rate- Time place 
BEI office gets it to Peter Bunn, crop solutions. 

* microbes always win*
Kukui nuts for oil and ground as fertilizer
fish meal made in Oahu at Campbell industrial park
azola is used as a nitrogen fixer as well- 

Hawai’i soil atlas – find out the name of your soil and what it’s  means. Interactive. Based on 1960s soil survey tho’
Polycrops
Pidgeon pea?
Sun hemp: green manure. At flowering, that’s when you mow it and cover it and then till it in as manure. Reduces parasitic nematodes (another way is to get clear plastic and cover it for a few months ). Modules on the roots should have plenty and are red inside. 
Glyricidia (madre de cacao): nitrogen fixer, grows fast, shade, cut back and it grows back fast. 
Perennial peanut: ground cover, nitrogen fixer. 

Posted on by jim.

Education, Ground Cover, Soil