Don't know the answers to all your questions, but DLNR would.

The dish soap thing is intriguing for a dry area, but it would just wash off in the rain most places.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dept. of Land & Natural Resources

Aloha Farmfreedom,

No snakes (except one which is really hard to tell from an earth worm) and no monkeys, but we do have several varieties of birds of prey. There is the i'o, which is the Hawaiian Hawk (endangered species) and several varieties of owl, most of which are endangered. There are also the endangered Hawaiian Hoary bats, they are almost a bird of prey.

The cane toads sit in front of the bee hives and eat the bees as they come out. There are also several types of moths and some webby bug things (coddling moths, maybe) which get into hives and cause problems.

For "weeds" it depends on who you ask. We have several types of grass which I consider weeds and am trying to eradicate out of my property, but the folks with cows like them since the cows like the young versions of the grasses. Guniea, elephant and reznor grasses will all grow well over ten feet tall and almost up to twenty feet. Most folks use bulldozers to clear overgrown lots when the grasses get too thick. Round-up is also a favorite weed killer, although that is expensive. A scythe works well for small areas. We have several "weed" tree species such as miconia and in my estimation, african tulip trees.

I think you are supposed to have a hunting license for the pigs, goats and turkeys. Nobody hunts the burros although sometimes they get rounded up and sold or given to folks to keep off the road. You can kill all mongooses you find, although if you start killing off the geckos (lizards), you will get a lot of people upset. The geckos are a dyslexic "pest" which would make them "pets". I have one who lives in the kitchen window and likes to drink chocolate milk.

Most folks will kill all centipedes and cane spiders they find, though these are hunting insects and probably beneficial. Centipedes can get up to a foot long and they have a really painful sting. (Maybe it's a "bite" instead of a "sting", I dunno, but it hurts!) I kill all centipedes and just shoo the cane spiders outside. Cane spiders can get hand sized and they are hunting spiders so they don't make messy webs.

To keep the fruit fly away from fruit, some folks tie bags over the flower once it has had time to be pollinized or hand pollinate and then cover.

A hui hou,
Cathy

You sound like you have a misguided notion that Hawaii is supposed to be some sort of pest free "Paradise". That ship sailed in the 1800's and I doubt that it was "pest free" before that. Hawaii is on the planet Earth and the same environmental dynamics are in play here as else where. You need to learn to live with nature and all it inhabitants. Starting with the notion of, which can we kill at will? doesn't sound very healthy for anyone or anything around you.

ilima

Starlings do you have them I have heard of these foriegn invaders : myna birds, a white eyed (bird) something that spreads seeds of a plant that causes erosion , a brown tree snake that is poisonous , parrots , and worst of all Fire ants have invaded one island . These should be eliminated . I realize there is no REAL pardise , and that I will be trading one set of pests for another and one set of problems for other problems . It would be nice to know what they will be . Thank you for your help and time .

Aloha Farmfreedom,

Perhaps you are confusing Hawaii with Guam? They have brown tree snakes. No birds, though, the snakes ate them all.

Most of the plants, animals and people here are "foriegn invaders". There wasn't much on these islands when the first micronesians arrived here. They brought a lot of plants and animals with them to survive. Later the polynesians arrived and pretty much wiped out the micronesians and they brought more plants and animals with them. Since then, there have been all sorts of other plants and animals introduced. Some intentionally, and some accidently.

I suspect the biggest impediment to farming around here is economic. The high cost of land is a huge hurdle. Most soil conditioners and fertilzers are imported which has a high shipping cost associated with it. Once you do produce a crop, the facilities for processing it are almost non-existant and then the product will have to be shipped somewhere and that will cost quite a bit, too. Coffee, papayas and macadamia nuts have some processing facilities available and I've heard there is one for cocoa as well. I think most of the growers process their own crops.

Because we are an island, the only shipping methods we have available are by air (fast, but expensive) and by barge and containership. Much less expensive, but much longer shipping times. So whatever you grow will have to either be sold locally or sent via air or some product that can take several weeks to a month to arrive at it's final destination.

To be a successful farmer, folks have to grow their crops, process them into a saleable form and then market them to the buyer. Just merely growing the crop isn't enough. And it is also important to grow the right crop. A fellow grew several acres of aloe, the plant used to make skin creams and things, but he didn't have a market for the crop.

We have mynah birds, but I haven't heard of them decimating any crops. The white eye is a small green bird (with a white eye) but they aren't all that common. I don't know if you could get enough of them in one spot to wipe out a field of produce. I also don't know of any plants that cause erosion, if anything, plants help hold the soil. There are fire ants, but I don't know how much of a problem they are to crops.

A hui hou,
Cathy

Miconia causes erosion in Hawaii. There is an overall pattern of Hawaii being a pest-free paradise before humans arrived with their livestock and vermin, except that very lack of livestock and crop plants would have made it decidedly less than a paradise for men. And those days are long gone. Now I think the public there needs to focus on eliminating feral livestock instead of finding it charming. One family friend who lives up Manoa was feeding feral pigs last time I visited him at home, scoffed at the notion that there was anything important out in the forest that the pigs were damaging. Same out-of-touch with Nature industrial culture wherever you go.

Yet more marvellous native plants and animals are about to disappear there, due to crushing impacts from human activities. It's a sad tale.

Aloha Bboy,

How does Miconia cause erosion? I know it is a pest tree and folks try to eradicate it, but how can it erode things? Does it keep other plants from growing so there are no small roots to hold the soil?

Perhaps you could "borrow" a pig or two from your Manoa friend. They are pretty tasty roasted! All in an effort to help the ecology and all, of course.

A hui hou,
Cathy

I have a problem with anyone coming here with the attitude of "what can I kill?" before they've even spent enough time here to know what's here and what the real issues are. Some of these "pests" can be lived with, others are more difficult, but anyone indescriminately shooting dogs and cats, mynahs and white-eyes is going to get a lot of people up in arms. Bulbuls, now, that's another story, but I still think there may be other ways.

Feral pigs can be a real problem though, depending on where you live and what you grow. Even though our property backs right up to the mountains (in Waimanalo), we haven't really had a problem with them, at least so far. A couple of young ones came down once, but they seemed more confused than anything else, and just stood there while the dogs went nuts. We finally were able to chase them off. Back up in Manoa and Tantalus though, the state has apparently been issuing more hunting permits for that area now because they have gotten so destructive. Tell your friend to stop feeding them, Bboy. We also have a friend back there who's a heliconia grower, and the pigs were forever rooting up his plants. He even put in an electric fence to keep them out, but either the hunters would cut the wires because they wanted the pigs to come, or branches would fall on them, and the pigs seemed to be able to figure out ways of getting in anyway. He finally just gave up. Last I heard he wasn't growing flowers at all anymore. But we used to grow heliconias and gingers in that same area 20 years ago, and had only minor damage. It must be getting worse.

I had to laugh at your chocolate milk-drinking gecko, Cathy! We have tons of them on our windows at night, especially the kitchen window. Some get into the house and chase each other across the walls and ceilings making weird chattering noises. Doesn't bother me at all. I look at it as entertainment, as well as a handy in-house insect control squad!

My feeling is that you have to work WITH nature whenever possible instead of declaring it the enemy. Yeah, there are some serious pests, and 10'+ weeds, and diseases, and uncooperative weather conditions etc., but you just have to deal with them as they come along, on a case-by-case basis. If you're not willing or able to come here first and see for yourself what's what, at least contact to the DOA or Ag. Extension service about putting you in touch with people growing the crop you're thinking of in the area you're looking at, and find out specifically what their issues are. That's the only way you're going to know. If you come in loaded for bear and start pissing off your neighbors, you're going to have bigger problems than any predator can cause.