Seeds and Seedlings
Beginning Farmer and Ranchers Development Program
Kohala Center
NOTES from class on March 9, 2019 by Jim Crum
“Local Seeds for Local Needs” Presentation by Glenn Teves here
“Growing Vegetable Seedlings” article by Glenn (for registered students) here
Glenn Teves, CTAHR Extension Agent 37 years, farmer 18 acres at Puakala Farms, and Hawaii Seed Growers Network member on Molokai.
Tevesg@ctahr.hawaii.edu
Puakala Farms: PO Box 554, Hoolehua, HI, 96729-0554
gtmolokai@gmail.com
Know what to grow when bases on weather. Everything has to just click and the crop can explode.
Avocado – Guatemalan (winter) & West Indies (summer)
Moloka’i – strong and connected community 4 generations next to each other on island. 7 deer for every resident.
Internet – whatever is left over from farmers market and post online. Gotta look at the prices and market to ($5.20/lb for tomato’s to snowbird. People buy online on Sunday and pickup at distribution centers on island
Seeds – lost art but critical. Kent Whealey creates seed savers
Public seed initiative- 2010 “restore our seed” symposium Hawaiiseedgrowersnetwork.com has an online store
Ag: Growth is controlled by the scarcest resource (nutrients, knowledge, sun, rain)
Taiwan has awesome seeds but you can’t get access to them.
seeds are the spark. Save them for- food security: <7 days worth of food- adapted seed: adapted (Vimeo on Moloka’i). Find varieties that work well and adapted to the area. Hawaii used to be the best disease resistant. Heat tollerence and – seed availability: losing varieties because of big guys buying up everything. Seeds are becoming expensive too- seed sovereignty: need to be self sufficient. Avoid GMO contaminated seed with wrong info. Large monopolies can limit access to things we need/want
Vavilov’s centers to origins – talks about where all crops originated.
Either go heavy on farming or heavy on marketing. CSA, Direct to consumer, 4 seasons. Worth more the farther away from home.
Know your crops! Nutrition, special needs, adaptability, adapt to your farm and adapt your farm. Every crop has a cycle and you need to know the cycle. Most of the world research doesn’t apply to Hawaii. Timing of planting is important to cycles to control weeds.
Taro – crop rotation is key to avoid southern blight $2/lb for taro. Pica Ulu ulu. For 3-year rotation, need a nematode resistant like sun hemp, resistant tomatoes or soybeans
Proper nutrition can address the severity of most diseases. Know your soil! Soil series, pH, organic matter, P/K/Ca/Mg, crop history and rotation.
Clean crops in the field
To pull nutrients from low down and drop them to the ground and add nutrients. Kiewe for example
Daikon, green onion, do well with lots of rain
Calcium is important: dolomite, gypsum, ground coral. Also biochar and opihi shells
Sorghum-Sudan Hybrid can be used as a windbreak. Sterile seed variety from Koolau seed to keep them under control. Chop them low and they grow back. 1-2” apart. Not invasive and nematode resistant. Can plant panax for wind protection for the wind protection. Avocado and mango need wind protection to
Bigger seeds mean bigger crops. Organic seed alliance conference in Oregon and people swap seeds.
*business idea: food coop to have a place for all the people to bring their crops or collaborate on harvesting. B&C rated markets for food.
Pickles – salt and chill for 3 hours to keep them crunchy.
Dried bananas – a lot of work to it
Sell mixes to pull people in. If you have something you like, force them to take other products you sell too – market muscle. Sometimes you find inspiration by trying to find inspiration (sell to local Times instead of driving to Honolulu)
Soy beans – no money in it for fresh, so need value added.
Seed vendors: Southern exposure, johnny’s. Try 4-5 varieties and test them out to see how they do.
Big island- new soil- wide-range of soils- steep areas lead to runoff so need to capture and retain soil- high runoff: leaches calcium, magnesium and potassium- low pH<5.5 ties up phosphorus and creates toxicity. – liming is costly. $150/ton and 15tons/acre
Soil- the older the soil, the more it is depleted- lower temp volcanos and slower moving keeps better soils- sampling is very important!- low in phosphorus = purple stems and leaves.
Fertilize in spring and not winter. Fertilize banana in August to get them ready for the winter.
Climate Change:- weather extremes: – unseasonable weather: – insect flare ups: black witch moth. Mayans know them well and see them as diseased relatives. Rose beetles on banana and corn. – new dominant weeds: Guinean Grass
How to grow seedlings- key to success – good plants produce good seeds- heirloom should be a thing that has been around 50 years of more- annuals: done in one year (carrots and beets 2 years)- biennial: requires 2 years to complete cycle and overwinter. Chill or vernalization required to trigger flowering. – in Hawaii, some biennials may act like annuals: kale, colored carrots, radish, chard, etc. – open pollinated are inbred lines that “breed true” and most common seed saved. Expensive!- Hybrid F1 is selective breeding by cross-pollinating two different parent plants. A strategy to discourage seed saving. More diverse – self pollinators: inbreeders. peas, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc- out crossers: can cross with each other so need to be isolated. broccoli, cauliflower, cabbagecross breeders. Squash, cucumber, watermelon.- Require bees: plant buckwheat to attract bees and pollinate the melons. Keep hem by having water and flowers. Lava rock on top of water to wick up the water for bees to drink. – Planting distance are keys to to cross pollination – inbreeding depression: when the gene pool of a variety is narrowed by seed selection- vernalization: length of time at or below a certain temperature that each Bienniel crop requires for flowering for its second season. Bienniels = 41-50, – separate: size (screens, sieves, colanders), weight (winnowing), floaters and sinkers (green onion), threshing & beating (), stepping/dancing/stomping. – germination testing: every lot should be tested to determine percentage. There are germination standards if you want to sell them. – dry the seed to 7% humidity. Put them in a jar in the fridge and silica. Don’t have them over 70 degrees. – they are alive! Keep metabolic rate low to preserve them. 32-41 degrees- control pest: freeze for 1/2 day. Don’t leave them around too long.
In hawaii, – temp at night may now be low enough to allow he plants to rest. – find what needs the the least about of fertilizer- pest and disease tolerance- late maturing. Pull flowers off to allow them to grow bigger and produce later- look and taste. Culinary breeding network has a winter squash flavor wheel.
Hawai’i challenges- pests! They don’t die- most vegetable varieties are developed elsewhere
Alan Kapuker – Seeds of Change and Peace Seeds and Peace Seedlings.
African mustard seeds – grow great and excellent spice
Eggplant: UH long green is a great sweet variety. Beatrice is traditional.
Green onion: very popular. Splitting type. Koba does well here and makes seeds. High pH 6-6.5
Hawaiian shallot – akakai and grown as green onion
Lettuce: most are loose leaf. Best are UHManoa, Sierra, Hilo Green. Issues with Tip Burn, early bolting, increase “milling” and pests.
Northern organic vegetable breeding network
Genetic resource information network from USDA
Rat lung – from African snails.
Purple peacock – kale x broccoli
Pak Choy – Chinese mustard but easy to grow. Anti-cancer crops.
Carrots were developed to be orange by the Dutch because it’s their national color
Culinary breeding network Hawaii.
Tomatoes: Kalohi do well. – determinant: more concentrated over shorter time and better with wind- indeterminate – cherry. Blond Girl- healani from Volcano. and Juliet cherry, love song. – lots of diseases so need to find the 5 varieties that work – blossom end rot is from calcium deficiency
Seeds that can go right in the ground: beans.
Seedlings- Potting mix is expensive to try to minimize. As small a cell as possible. 1-2”. – Farmers either water too much or not enough so prepare your mix well. Try out different mixes, make notes in a journal – You need to come up with a recipe, start to finish to be able to repeat it. From plant seedling to harvested and sold plant. – Only reuse potting materials for transplanting. – Fertilizer for potting: miracle grow, bone and blood, time release. – they are ready to transplant if you can pull out the plant with the dirt, but roots not coming out of the bottom- plant 3x diameter of he seed
Be careful of drought. Know the environment they come from, but when the flowers come out, they need food and water
Avocado like shade for germination. hanai Ai – Uh sustainable Ag. has resources and newsletters. Moloka’i native Hawaiian
“The only way things change is through radical ideas expressed loudly”
Tomatoes and potatoes can’t handle a lot of water.
You lose control when products go off island and can’t always trust folks on Oahu
Marketing- carbon footprint- how nutritious and fresh is your food?- where does your food come from?- do you want to support “blood diamond” agriculture- America likes cheap food, but at What cost?!
“You start as an idealist, then become a realist, but try not to be a cynic.”
Business ideas* oversite of seed naming and lineage. * food hubs, collaboratives, and and food systems
Liam at Kohala Center is web site contact. Probably best to have a student-run site.
Puakala Farms: PO Box 554, Hoolehua, HI, 96729-0554
gtmolokai@gmail.com
Know what to grow when bases on weather. Everything has to just click and the crop can explode.
Avocado – Guatemalan (winter) & West Indies (summer)
Moloka’i – strong and connected community 4 generations next to each other on island. 7 deer for every resident.
Internet – whatever is left over from farmers market and post online. Gotta look at the prices and market to ($5.20/lb for tomato’s to snowbird. People buy online on Sunday and pickup at distribution centers on island
Seeds – lost art but critical. Kent Whealey creates seed savers
Public seed initiative- 2010 “restore our seed” symposium Hawaiiseedgrowersnetwork.com has an online store
Ag: Growth is controlled by the scarcest resource (nutrients, knowledge, sun, rain)
Taiwan has awesome seeds but you can’t get access to them.
seeds are the spark. Save them for- food security: <7 days worth of food- adapted seed: adapted (Vimeo on Moloka’i). Find varieties that work well and adapted to the area. Hawaii used to be the best disease resistant. Heat tollerence and – seed availability: losing varieties because of big guys buying up everything. Seeds are becoming expensive too- seed sovereignty: need to be self sufficient. Avoid GMO contaminated seed with wrong info. Large monopolies can limit access to things we need/want
Vavilov’s centers to origins – talks about where all crops originated.
Either go heavy on farming or heavy on marketing. CSA, Direct to consumer, 4 seasons. Worth more the farther away from home.
Know your crops! Nutrition, special needs, adaptability, adapt to your farm and adapt your farm. Every crop has a cycle and you need to know the cycle. Most of the world research doesn’t apply to Hawaii. Timing of planting is important to cycles to control weeds.
Taro – crop rotation is key to avoid southern blight $2/lb for taro. Pica Ulu ulu. For 3-year rotation, need a nematode resistant like sun hemp, resistant tomatoes or soybeans
Proper nutrition can address the severity of most diseases. Know your soil! Soil series, pH, organic matter, P/K/Ca/Mg, crop history and rotation.
Clean crops in the field
To pull nutrients from low down and drop them to the ground and add nutrients. Kiewe for example
Daikon, green onion, do well with lots of rain
Calcium is important: dolomite, gypsum, ground coral. Also biochar and opihi shells
Sorghum-Sudan Hybrid can be used as a windbreak. Sterile seed variety from Koolau seed to keep them under control. Chop them low and they grow back. 1-2” apart. Not invasive and nematode resistant. Can plant panax for wind protection for the wind protection. Avocado and mango need wind protection to
Bigger seeds mean bigger crops. Organic seed alliance conference in Oregon and people swap seeds.
*business idea: food coop to have a place for all the people to bring their crops or collaborate on harvesting. B&C rated markets for food.
Pickles – salt and chill for 3 hours to keep them crunchy.
Dried bananas – a lot of work to it
Sell mixes to pull people in. If you have something you like, force them to take other products you sell too – market muscle. Sometimes you find inspiration by trying to find inspiration (sell to local Times instead of driving to Honolulu)
Soy beans – no money in it for fresh, so need value added.
Seed vendors: Southern exposure, johnny’s. Try 4-5 varieties and test them out to see how they do.
Big island- new soil- wide-range of soils- steep areas lead to runoff so need to capture and retain soil- high runoff: leaches calcium, magnesium and potassium- low pH<5.5 ties up phosphorus and creates toxicity. – liming is costly. $150/ton and 15tons/acre
Soil- the older the soil, the more it is depleted- lower temp volcanos and slower moving keeps better soils- sampling is very important!- low in phosphorus = purple stems and leaves.
Fertilize in spring and not winter. Fertilize banana in August to get them ready for the winter.
Climate Change:- weather extremes: – unseasonable weather: – insect flare ups: black witch moth. Mayans know them well and see them as diseased relatives. Rose beetles on banana and corn. – new dominant weeds: Guinean Grass
How to grow seedlings- key to success – good plants produce good seeds- heirloom should be a thing that has been around 50 years of more- annuals: done in one year (carrots and beets 2 years)- biennial: requires 2 years to complete cycle and overwinter. Chill or vernalization required to trigger flowering. – in Hawaii, some biennials may act like annuals: kale, colored carrots, radish, chard, etc. – open pollinated are inbred lines that “breed true” and most common seed saved. Expensive!- Hybrid F1 is selective breeding by cross-pollinating two different parent plants. A strategy to discourage seed saving. More diverse – self pollinators: inbreeders. peas, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc- out crossers: can cross with each other so need to be isolated. broccoli, cauliflower, cabbagecross breeders. Squash, cucumber, watermelon.- Require bees: plant buckwheat to attract bees and pollinate the melons. Keep hem by having water and flowers. Lava rock on top of water to wick up the water for bees to drink. – Planting distance are keys to to cross pollination – inbreeding depression: when the gene pool of a variety is narrowed by seed selection- vernalization: length of time at or below a certain temperature that each Bienniel crop requires for flowering for its second season. Bienniels = 41-50, – separate: size (screens, sieves, colanders), weight (winnowing), floaters and sinkers (green onion), threshing & beating (), stepping/dancing/stomping. – germination testing: every lot should be tested to determine percentage. There are germination standards if you want to sell them. – dry the seed to 7% humidity. Put them in a jar in the fridge and silica. Don’t have them over 70 degrees. – they are alive! Keep metabolic rate low to preserve them. 32-41 degrees- control pest: freeze for 1/2 day. Don’t leave them around too long.
In hawaii, – temp at night may now be low enough to allow he plants to rest. – find what needs the the least about of fertilizer- pest and disease tolerance- late maturing. Pull flowers off to allow them to grow bigger and produce later- look and taste. Culinary breeding network has a winter squash flavor wheel.
Hawai’i challenges- pests! They don’t die- most vegetable varieties are developed elsewhere
Alan Kapuker – Seeds of Change and Peace Seeds and Peace Seedlings.
African mustard seeds – grow great and excellent spice
Eggplant: UH long green is a great sweet variety. Beatrice is traditional.
Green onion: very popular. Splitting type. Koba does well here and makes seeds. High pH 6-6.5
Hawaiian shallot – akakai and grown as green onion
Lettuce: most are loose leaf. Best are UHManoa, Sierra, Hilo Green. Issues with Tip Burn, early bolting, increase “milling” and pests.
Northern organic vegetable breeding network
Genetic resource information network from USDA
Rat lung – from African snails.
Purple peacock – kale x broccoli
Pak Choy – Chinese mustard but easy to grow. Anti-cancer crops.
Carrots were developed to be orange by the Dutch because it’s their national color
Culinary breeding network Hawaii.
Tomatoes: Kalohi do well. – determinant: more concentrated over shorter time and better with wind- indeterminate – cherry. Blond Girl- healani from Volcano. and Juliet cherry, love song. – lots of diseases so need to find the 5 varieties that work – blossom end rot is from calcium deficiency
Seeds that can go right in the ground: beans.
Seedlings- Potting mix is expensive to try to minimize. As small a cell as possible. 1-2”. – Farmers either water too much or not enough so prepare your mix well. Try out different mixes, make notes in a journal – You need to come up with a recipe, start to finish to be able to repeat it. From plant seedling to harvested and sold plant. – Only reuse potting materials for transplanting. – Fertilizer for potting: miracle grow, bone and blood, time release. – they are ready to transplant if you can pull out the plant with the dirt, but roots not coming out of the bottom- plant 3x diameter of he seed
Be careful of drought. Know the environment they come from, but when the flowers come out, they need food and water
Avocado like shade for germination. hanai Ai – Uh sustainable Ag. has resources and newsletters. Moloka’i native Hawaiian
“The only way things change is through radical ideas expressed loudly”
Tomatoes and potatoes can’t handle a lot of water.
You lose control when products go off island and can’t always trust folks on Oahu
Marketing- carbon footprint- how nutritious and fresh is your food?- where does your food come from?- do you want to support “blood diamond” agriculture- America likes cheap food, but at What cost?!
“You start as an idealist, then become a realist, but try not to be a cynic.”
Business ideas* oversite of seed naming and lineage. * food hubs, collaboratives, and and food systems
Liam at Kohala Center is web site contact. Probably best to have a student-run site.