It sounds like you all have it figured out and all the advice is excellent as far as I can tell. I just couldn't help but agree that it absolutely looks like clopyralid or amiopyralid damage. I had a bad bout with it 3-4 years ago when all my homemade potting soil got contaminated by well composted alpaca manure. It took over a month to figure it out and I lost a bundle of valuable crops in the process. Clopyralid based herbicides have been banned in Oregon except for use on golf courses but then Dow chemical just comes out with Milestone which is amiopyralid instead. It's the same exact problem just with another chemical. To the OP, i'm afraid there really isn't anything you can do for the plants. If the cause is the manure, at least you're not contaminated forever. In the soil the chemicals do break down in a few months. But if left above ground the herbicide can last for years and damage sensitive plants (mostly tomato, potato, legumes) at tiny amounts (parts per million). Oh, I looked into a soil test for herbicide and it was extremely expensive. It's not an average soil test. Seeding some beans or peas is an excellent idea to determine if there's residue. -Mark This post was edited by madroneb on Tue, Jun 25, 13 at 23:20

I'd check to see if you have a county cooperative extension. They'll be able to tell you lots of info about the fruit, what varieties work best for your area and when the best time to set them is. They very well may have a website, too.

Hi Judy, Welcome to the forum! I have a few more bits of advice for you. 1. You may want to use a clay pot instead of plastic. Clay helps the soil dry out faster. 2. Plant it high in the pot, soil almost to the top. That way, your plant won't be shaded by the pot. 3. Being in Hawaii, you should be able to get Volcanic Pumice quite easily. I would recommend that over Perlite but if you can't find it in the land of volcanoes, Perlite is fine. Good luck!

Hi Dan, The mountain holly (Ilex montana) is only common to isolated areas of well-drained rocky or acidic sandy soil in mountains. I have found plants in two locations in West Virginia and in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina above 5,000 ft. elev. I collected fruit/seeds from plants in WV, however opossums ate most of the planted seeds in containers several years ago. I only have about 5 plants about 6 inches tall and they are slow growing. The seed was collected from a very large dark red-fruited plant with large glossy leaves. The male plants nearby were dwarfed since they were growing near a dry cliff in full sun. I you want seeds I can collect them next September. Parker