Year 5 Agroforestry Management: Monkeying around for mulch

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Agroforestry management changes as years progress. We are stepping into year 5 in this zone. At this point our trees give us most of our mulch. We have never brought in mulch and never plan to. In the early years many other plants were utilized for mulch until they are phased out as the system works it way through natural succession. Heavy pruning drives our system forward as it begins to become stagnant and crowded with overgrowth. Pruning the system hard pulses it into grow mode again. At this moment we have an opportunity to plant a few more species into the system as its nice and open and there’s a lot of sunlight.

Notice how teamwork makes our dream work. Julie cuts the trees apart and Spencer grabs the material as it comes down to limit destruction to our shorter plantings. As Julie finishes the climbing tree work most of the material is already cut, organized and managed as mulch into our system.

Agroforestry management is all about cycles and diligence. PRUNE YOUR SYSTEM!

Syntropic Agroforestry Management: Low Bearing Coconut Row

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Syntropic Agroforestry management can be straightforward when you design the system effectively. Here we have a nice wide area along our fence line so we can have access and an area to work material. Notice how effectively the material comes down and dissipates as mulch into our cropping row. We do own the property next door, so we are not cutting our neighbors Cecropia, but our own trees. The coconuts and sugarcane will have much more sunlight now, the area is pruned and ready for a growth pulse. Next to finish up cutting trees on the hillside and mulch the other side of the row.

Synchronize your system!

Vine chaos into mulch: Syntropic Agroforestry Management

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Hey everyone, I wanted to share a video about reclaiming a zone after it was neglected in management cycles for a little too long and the vines turned into chaos. Delayed management of our agroforestry rows allowed our system to eat itself. With a solid framework and repetitive patterns we can take the chaos and turn it into mulch for our system. These types of systems are resilient even when you delay timing of management cycles and it gets away from you. As long as you take the time and reset it!

We are cropping the passion fruit vine that was planted a few years ago before we had our system set up in that area. Due to this being a crop bringing in some cash flow we have found a way to work with it until we phase it out and replant new vines in an area that wont become a problem.

Plant your vines in an appropriate place, or design systems to be utilized for vines!

For more information about my agroforestry experience check out this link

Let me know if y’all have any questions or thoughts!

1 Year Syntropic Agroforestry Update

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Hey everyone! Starting to ramp up our youtube channel. Check out this video and let me know if you have any questions. Please like and share!

Finally sharing a solid update about our syntropic agroforestry system. The rows in this video are 10 months and 1 year old. Based off of a 15 year old fallow on ripped lava flow. Dialing in syntropic systems in different areas can be a challenge, this is my first rock system and this is our home.

Come grow with us!

Green Onion var. Koba (Allium fistulosum)

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Description

Green onions, Allium fistulosum, are a wonderful, perennial, clumping onion relative. This specific variety, known as “koba,” is a Hawaiian cultivar that is perfectly adapted to our climate. Koba is a short-day onion variety that produces numerous seeds during the winter. Planting in the spring (April-May) allows the plants to grow as long as possible before flowering is induced by changes in day length. This cultivar has thin leaves and grows to about 18 inches tall. The most interesting part of the plant is the way it produces a single, large, fat stem that eventually divides into multiple smaller stems. This onion can be harvested before division, when it is still fat and large, or after, to take advantage of more, albeit smaller, stems. This plant has a regular green onion flavor: mild in the leaves and more pungent towards the bulbs. This is the onion relative to grow; it is as abundant as it is delicious!

Ripe Seed

Propagation

Koba green onions can be propagated by seed, by division, or from bulb “scraps.”

Plant seeds ½ inch deep.

Divide clumps once they have multiplied.

All green onion varieties will re-root and grow from the bulb (bottom white part) of the plant. Simply remove the bottom two inches including the bulb and re-plant.

Remove plant from ground

Divide

Remove tops

Replant and fertilize

Care

Koba green onions are very easy to grow. Keep them weeded when young, give them full sun, and fertilize regularly, especially after a harvest. I’ve found they grow incredibly well in containers, which reduces weed pressures, and you can keep them close to your kitchen for ease of harvest.

Matures in 50-60 days from clump division or 80-90 days from seed.

Eating

Flowers, greens and scapes are edible.

Green onions are perennial if harvested properly. Cutting off the top of the plant one to two inches above the soil surface will allow the plant to regenerate and grow a new top. The harvested tops can be consumed normally. Unfortunately, harvesting and eating the onions in this manner doesn’t allow you to eat the more potent part of the plant, so supplementing additional stems can make up for this missed pungency.

For the full green onion experience, pull them entirely out of the ground and consume from bulb to greens, just as you would with onions from the market.

Green Onion Scapes (unopened flowers)

Where to obtain planting materials

I got my original seed from Hawaii Seed Growers Network, a wonderful resource for Hawaii. https://www.hawaiiseedgrowersnetwork.com/product-page/koba-onions

Green onions can always be grown from market purchased products. Buy fresh green onions and replant the bulb. This is a great method; however, you may not be sure of variety nor the specific cultivar habits.

My Garden

Onions are one of my favorite vegetables. It’s very hard to grow normal bulbing-type onions here in lowland Hawaii due to our daylength, rain, and lack of cool weather. I’ve tried a few times to grow normal bulbing onions and always end up with very small bulbs. Through all this trial and error, I’ve discovered that green onions are a good enough replacement without all the effort! Green onions flourish here, sometimes reaching up to two feet tall, and always have leaves ready for harvest. Every garden should have a patch of green onions near the kitchen!

a different green onion variety. notice larger leaves and blueish tint

Koba grow extremely well in 1/2 gallon pots. perfect for cultivating near your kitchen

Happy Gardening!

Banana Deficiencies in Hawaii

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Banana Deficiencies in Hawaii

Bananas are incredible plants; their vigor and robustness make them exciting to watch as they grow. When they put out their giant flower buds, I’m always amazed! Bananas are the epitome of a tropical garden, renowned for their giant leaves fluttering in the wind, and the huge racks of food that they produce. Bananas are, unfortunately, the most difficult plant I’ve ever grown. I regularly feed them, yet they are almost always deficient in micronutrients. It’s important to recognize the different patterns of deficiencies to combat and keep them healthy. A vigorous, healthy banana will pump out a hundred pounds of fruit in a single rack! If your banana plants are not upright, robust and deep green, pumping out a leaf weekly, they are hungry, and most likely micronutrient deficient.

Williams. Large healthy leaf unfurling next to good sized rack

Iholena. Erect cigar leaf unfurling healthy

Dwarf Namwah. Deep green wide upright leaves

Dwarf Cavendish. Healthy leaf stature

Due to heavy degradation, banana nutrients are notoriously low in Hawaiian soils. Calcium, boron, potassium and sulfur are almost always low or unavailable to the plants. Luckily, this can be mitigated with a bit of care and consideration.

Maoli. Ele ‘ele

Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV)

Banana Bunchy Top Virus is prevalent in all parts of Hawaii and is detrimental to the species. Sometimes deficiencies may look like BBTV. Knowing the symptoms of both BBTV and nutrient deficiencies will allow you to address the issues appropriately. Be sure to source virus free plants from a legitimate propagator. Too many times, people get plants from friends and they come with BBTV. There is no known cure for BBTV; a mat that has been infected will always carry and spread it. The main disease vector is aphids, who feed on the plants’ sap, and can quickly spread the disease from plant to plant. KILL YOUR BUNCHY TOP BANANAS! There is no other way around it, dig them out of the ground and chop up the corms and leave in a place they will die, like cement or in a trash bag out of the weather.

If you are suspicious of a banana plant potentially having BBTV, get it tested! The University of Hawaii extension offices do banana bunchy top virus testing for $12 per sample. Simply take the third leaf from the top, not counting the cigar leaf, cut it in half and cut out a 2 inch section on either side of the leaf midrib. Put in a plastic bag, label and bring it into the offices. Be sure to clean your tools with rubbing alcohol between sampling. I’ve tested many plants at the Komohana Research and Extension Center in Hilo. They have a very quick turnaround, and their results are very accurate.

Banana Bunchy Top Virus Leaf Sample

GO TEST YOUR BANANAS; HAVE YOUR NEIGHBORS TEST THEIRS! This needs to be a community effort to reduce the problem. Many people have Banana Bunchy Top Virus and do not know or do not care. Inform other people of the problem and help them test and remove their bananas. It’s almost not worth the effort for someone to sell/propagate clean bananas because the keiki will be introduced into a diseased location, a very depressing issue. We need to change this, or we simply cannot grow bananas in populated areas. We’ve already lost many of the wild banana plants to habitat depletion and pig damage; do we really want to live in a Hawaii without bananas?

References for Banana Bunchy Top Virus. Information and detailed descriptions.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/bbtd/downloads/bbtv-details.pdf

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/bbtd/

Nutrient Deficiency Patterns

Once you are sure your plants do not have Banana Bunchy Top Virus, it’s time to start identifying deficiency patterns. All banana varieties should produce fat, erect cigar leaves that open into very large, wide and dark green upright leaves. The leaves should sequentially get larger until the leaf before the flag leaf comes out just before flowering.

Be aware that one or multiple deficiencies may show up at the same time.

As water is a necessity for nutrient uptake, drought may lead to deficiency symptoms, including slowed leaf emergence and bunching, even in otherwise fertile soils. It may be a good idea to confirm plants are receiving proper irrigation prior to investing time and money into soil amendments.

Certain nutrients (calcium, boron, iron) cannot be stored and moved within the banana plants’ sap; these will need to be repeatedly added in order to be continuously accessible to the plants.

Many soil amendments are known as “slow-release minerals,” which means it will take time for them to become accessible and be utilized by the plant. A number of deficient-looking leaves may unfurl before results are visible.

To cure a plant more readily, utilize a micronutrient spray along with the mineral dispersal. This will cover the short term while the addition of minerals to the soil works in the long term.

The newest leaves on the plant tell signs of calcium and sulfur, the older leaves show potassium, nitrogen and iron levels.

Remember, an entire banana mat is a single plant, check out my post on bananas for more info.

Boron

Boron is necessary for normal formation and functioning of roots and cell walls. A classic boron deficiency symptom is abnormal unfurling of leaves. Boron deficiencies are closely linked to calcium deficiencies hence the common term “calcium-boron deficiencies.” Be very careful dispersing boron, as too much can be toxic to the plant. Normal store-bought Borax is an easy solution for adding boron.

Symptoms: Leaf etching (raised streaks across the veins); light yellow speckling; crinkling or wavy leaf edges and irregular corrugations; deformed leaves (twisted, curled, buckled or convoluted).

Recommended solution: One teaspoon of borax for immature plants; two teaspoons of borax for mature plants (plants with keiki).

Calcium-boron and sulfur deficient

Boron Deficiency. Irregular corrugations

Boron Deficiency. Crinkling or wavy leaf edges

Boron Deficiency. light yellow speckling

Boron Deficiency. light yellow speckling

Calcium

Calcium is necessary for skeletal development, rigidity, plasticity and hydrostatic pressure. Lacking in this mineral causes deformities indicating tissue collapse, overall weakness and is closely linked to boron deficiencies. Calcium also raises pH, enabling mineral uptake in acidic soils. Calcium deficiencies are, by far, the most common in my garden.

Symptoms: Flat, Travelers Palm look; bunched leaf stalk; leaves gradually diminishing in size and deforming, twisting, cupping, buckling and having wavy margins; newly unrolled leaves droop, unravelling slowly, weakly or incompletely, sometimes sticking together and tearing when opening; loss of rigidity in the leaf tips; marginal leaf yellowing; trunks weaken, and flower stalks lose rigidity.

Recommended solution: add limestone, crushed coral, calcium carbonate or dolomite. Mix into the soil. Use one half cup for immature plants, one cup for mature plants (plants with keiki).

Calcium Deficiency. Curled leaf tip

Calcium Deficiency. Deformed leaf

Calcium Deficiency. Collapsing trunk

Calcium Deficiency. Bent cigar leaf

Calcium Deficiency. Curled/buckled leaf. Loss of rigidity

Calcium deficiency. Non-normal leaf unfurling. Yellowing.

Calcium deficiency. Deformed/Shredded cigar leaf

Calcium deficiency. Shredded Leaf

Calcium deficiency. Bent cigar leaf

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient to all plants. It aids in the manufacturing of amino acids and proteins, promotes the production of chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins and hormones. Without nitrogen, plants become stunted, anemic and weak. Nitrogen is mobile within the banana plant and will translocate into younger leaves. Bananas require water to absorb nitrogen, so water your plants in times of drought.

Symptoms: Stunted plants produce few leaves; older leaves turn chlorotic (yellow-green); bunches appear tiny; overall weakness; vibrant pink or purple leaf stalk wings that are not typical to the cultivar; weak roots; few or no keiki.

Recommended solution: Spread nitrogen fertilizer six to twelve times annually. We use Organic Nutri-Rich Chicken Manure Pellets 4-3-2 with Calcium 7% monthly, utilizing five to six cups per mature plant. Any animal manure will work as long as it’s properly composted.

Nitrogen Deficiency. Dwarf Brazilian/Dwarf Apple. Pink leaf margins. Yellowish lower leaves

Potassium

Potassium is vital for growth, overall health, disease prevention, fruit production and quality.

Symptoms: Browning of leaf margins; premature and rapid yellowing of leaves; slow, stunted growth; fewer leaves coming out at an increasingly slow pace; general plant yellowing; maroon patches on leaves; skinny trunks; tiny racks with small, underdeveloped fruit; midribs of older leaves may be broken at one half to two thirds their proper length; Travelers Palm appearance.

Recommended solution: Add wood ashes when the flower bud appears. Add Sulfate of Potash 0-0-52. One quarter cup for immature plants and one half cup for mature plants. Also add fertilizer as the flag leaf appears before budding.

Potassium Deficiency. Non normal yellowing of lower leaves

Sulfur

Sulfur is essential for vitamin A production. Due to Hawaiian bananas being rich in vitamin A, they need larger doses to produce properly, especially Popoulu varieties.

Symptoms: Very pale-yellow coloration in new leaves; leaf blades become very soft and delicate, and tear easily; new cigar leaves may emerge completely white.

Recommended solution: Add Ammonium Sulfate 21-0-0 or Sulfate Potash 0-0-52, one quarter cup for immature plants and one half cup for mature plants. For Popoulu bananas, add one and a half cups for mature plants.

Sulfur Deficiency. Yellow cigar leaf. Calcium-boron deficiency

Sulfur Deficiency. Yellow new leaf

Sulfur Deficiency. Yellow new leaf. Notice tearing of margin on lower leaf

Pests

Rose Beetle Damage

Solution: Hand pick beetles at night and crush or drown in soapy water. Hand picking is surprisingly effective in reducing populations.

Banana Rose Beetle Damage

African Snail Damage

Solution: Hand pick and squash or drown in soapy water. Collect at night.

African Snail Damage

Banana Corm Weevil

Solution: Obtain weevil-less propagation material, source from a legitimate propagator. Always inspect corms before planting. If a plant has weevils, learn about the correct way to clean corms to dig and remove weevils prior to planting and/or propagation. Plant in a non-infested area.

I do not have weevils nor any photos with their damage at this time. If plants fall over due to weakened roots, banana corm weevils are most likely the problem.

Properly cleaned corm due to banana weevil damage

Tips

To combat potential deficiencies, mineral fertilize along with your normal fertilizing procedures when planting. Up to four times per year (two to three times in low rainfall areas, <60 inches), add the following to the soil:

Immature Plants                                             Mature Plants (Plants with keiki)

1 teaspoon borax                                            2 Teaspoon Borax

½ cup dolomite                                               1 cup dolomite

¼ cup of Ammonium Sulfate 21-0-0               ½ Cup Ammonium Sulfate 21-0-0

Or ¼ cup of Sulfate Potash 0-0-52                  Or ½ Cup or Sulfate Potash 0-0-52

Dig bananas as large of a hole as possible when planting. Place fish scraps and compost in the bottom of the hole. Plant them deeper than their rootball. Fertilize with nitrogen monthly. Pee on them regularly. Spray micronutrients twice monthly. Apply composts and mulch thickly and widely around the base of the plant as often as possible. Literally hill them as you would potatoes, trunks will not rot from contact with soil/mulch. Do not remove leaves until they are completely brown. The plants may still be utilizing those leaves and translocating nutrients. Manage a few delicious varieties intensively; resist the urge to mass plant them. Understand they are difficult to manage properly, which is essential to reduce the spread of BBTV. (Don’t get in over your head!) Test your banana plants for BBTV and share them with others committed to stopping the spread of the virus.

All your efforts won’t be fruitless! Watch the plant pump out larger racks than you’ve ever seen!

Dwarf Maoli

Dwarf Namwah

A lot of my information came from the amazing book: The World of Bananas in Hawaii: Then and Now by Angela Kay Kepler and Francis G. Rust. For a much more detailed and in-depth discussion of bananas in Hawaii including varieties, lore, recipes, nutrients, deficiencies, diseases and pests, check it out! https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-world-of-bananas-in-hawaii-then-and-now/

Citation: Kepler, A. K. and F. G. Rust. (2011) The World of Bananas in Hawai’i: Then and Now – Traditional Pacific & global varieties, cultures, ornamentals, health & recipes. Pali-O-Waipi’o Press. Haiku, Hawaii.

Happy Gardening!

Propagation: Soil Mixes, Potting and Fertilizing

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A reader recently suggested I write about soil mixes and potting plants. Here are the tricks I’ve learned over the past few years.

Propagation is an important process to learn in order to save money on plant materials and continually grow plants for yourself and others. There are a few simple procedures that will help with your propagation adventures and make life a little bit easier. I am including information specific to Hawaii. Materials described are those we currently have available in our region, though I’m sure comparable resources can be found almost anywhere.

I create my systems to be expanded upon, starting out with a small setup and building onto it as I desire. When I first started growing plants, I didn’t think I would be working a 12-acre property and propagating thousands of plants. Luckily, with the way I designed it, I have been able to expand my nursery inexpensively over time.

The Nursery

Having a nursery is ideal for propagation. Young plants do not want to have direct, intense sunlight all day, nor have direct heavy rainfall on them; they demand a more delicate habitat that we can easily create for them. This could be as simple as under the eaves of a house or something more complex.

I call my setup a ‘sun house.’ It consists of an 8’x12’ piece of clear corrugated plastic roofing on top of a 1-inch electrical conduit piping pipe tent (typical pipe tent). This roof creates more dry space than the pipe tent’s standard dimensions (typically 10’ maximum sections), and also allows plants to grow out of the rain in the footings of the tent. The legs of the tent are cemented into five-gallon buckets for weighing down the structure. Space has been left in the top of the buckets and drain holes drilled, so that plants can be grown there! I use a single pitched roof, a lean-to, for maximum rain capturing abilities, with a rain gutter attached that drains directly into two 55-gallon rain barrels. (Currently, there’s no water pump; we fill gallon water bottles with holes drilled into the lid, resembling a shower head, to distribute water.)

Plants go on top of two cinder block pallet tables. A metal screen is placed over the cinder block legs between the top blocks and the pallet. This reduces slug threats to plants, as slugs do not like to cross metal screens. Never allow plants to reach from the ground onto the table or vice versa (creating a bridge), or slugs will find their way across. Consider leveling the ground and placing a weed mat down before setting up a nursery.

Slug deterrent metal screen

When growing plants that need shade, you will want to have a shade house in addition to your sun house, or simply shade half of the sun house. My shade house started out as a 10’x10’ pipe tent with a 75% light filtration shade cloth roof; over time it expanded to 20’x20’. This material allows rainfall through, so you don’t have to water your plants as often as with a solid roof. I have weed mat underneath and pallets on the ground for the plants. (Untreated pallets can be expected to last about a year before deterioration.)

– Pipe tents and shade tarp materials can be purchased at HPM or Ace.

– Corrugated roofing can be purchased at HPM or Home Depot.

– Weed mats, shade tarps and clear plastic tarps can be purchased at Rudy’s Shade Inc.

Soil Mixes

Not all soil mixes are created equal, and I find that most store-bought mixes need a little modification to be more adapted to our (wet) environment. I use Sunshine Mix 4 or Promix as a medium.

I always cut my soil bales with black cinder (purchased directly from a quarry) for increased drainage. Also, in times of extreme drought, the cinder mix will allow water to penetrate the soil more readily. Many times, I’ve gotten plants from other people. On some occasions, when the pots were allowed to dry completely, the soil by itself became impermeable; the only way to induce absorption again was to fully submerge the pot in water for a period of time. What a hassle!

Materials:

Soil Bale: Sunshine Mix 4 – 3 cubic feet or Promix – 3.8 cubic feet

1’’ Minus Black Cinder (sifted through ¼’’ metal screen)

Water

Wheel barrow (or other large container for mixing)

Hoe

Ratio for wheel barrow:

  • ¼ soil bale (0.75-0.95 cubic feet)
  • ½ five-gallon bucket of cinder
  • Two gallons of water

Ratio for larger cart:

  • ½ soil bale (1.5-1.9 cubic feet)
  • One five-gallon bucket of cinder
  • Four gallons of water.

Procedure (for wheel barrow – double this recipe for larger batch/mixing container):

Take soil bale and put it into wheel barrow. Cut off ¼ of the bale and leave it in the barrow and set the rest aside. I use a sickle for cutting.

Using your hands, break the soil down to remove any clumps.

Fill half of a five-gallon bucket with sifted black cinder and pour into the wheel barrow.

If you are up-potting plants, add fertilizer to the mix.

***DO NOT ADD FERTILIZER WHEN PROPAGATING SEEDS OR CUTTINGS!*** It will promote rotting and may attract unwanted pests.

Mix the cinder into the soil with a hoe until homogenous.

Add two gallons of water and allow to absorb for five minutes before mixing.

Mix the water into the soil with a hoe.

The mix is now ready for potting.

Potting

I use plywood on top of my wheel barrow as a table; when I make a mess it’s easy to put soil back into the barrow.

Compaction:

You need to learn the correct amount of compaction when propagating. You’ll want to press firmly, but avoid compacting the soil so much that propagation and watering are hindered.

Potting seeds or cuttings:

Fill the pot completely with no compaction first. Then gently press the soil down, it usually compresses down about one third of the way below the rim of the pot. Add more soil on top with another gentle pressing. The soil will likely appear sufficiently compacted, but go water the pot on a level surface, and odds are, you will see the soil level drop another inch. Give the pot (or tray of pots) a firm tapping on the ground to ensure all air pockets are removed and the soil has fully settled into the pot(s). Add more soil to finally fill the pot. Do not compact this section; we want the pot to have a little head room for water to gather before percolation. You are now ready to add seeds or cuttings to the pot. Check out my seed propagation article for propagation techniques.

*** Seeds require no fertilization until after their first set of true leaves appear. So never add fertilizer into the soil mix. Always top dress later.

Up-potting young plants:

Half fill the pot with soil, then add fertilizer and mix it in. Add enough soil for the top of the plant’s root ball to be slightly below the rim of the new pot. Position the plant in the pot and add soil around it, compacting as you go. Water it and add more soil if necessary. Place in slight shade for the first few days after transplanting to reduce shock. The plant can then be moved to the appropriate light level.

Determining pot size:

I typically use four-inch and one-gallon pots. The idea is to utilize as little soil mix as I can and plant them as soon as possible. I typically start plants in small pots and when they grow large enough, up-pot them into larger pots or get them in the ground. Very few plants will be in their original pots for over 6 months.

Always up-pot or plant out when plants are thriving. If you miss peak timing, they tend to decline and lose their vigor, and may struggle to fully recover. When you see any roots coming out of the bottom of the pot, it’s time to transplant.

Fertilizing

Yes, you need to fertilize regularly! Unless you live in an intact ecosystem where you have a forest, plenty of rain, sunshine, shade and regular leaf litter accumulating into your pots and planted plants, you need to fertilize. Even if you are lucky enough to have all of the above, fertilizing will make plants grow faster and healthier!

When someone asks me “what’s wrong with this plant,” my first question is always, “when did you last fertilize?” The answer is usually, “never,” or “just at planting time.” To which I reply, “your plants are hungry!!!”

Fertilizing can be simple or complicated. I create a blend (azomite, dolomite, alfalfa meal and shrimp or crab meal) and add it to all of my plants when planting in the ground, and then add chicken manure regularly. That’s it! (Well, besides the massive amounts of mulch that I regularly apply! This mulch turns into fertilizer itself, but that’s for another article.)

Fertilizing potted plants:

If you buy pre-made soil blends, then the pH levels should be where you want them; do not add calcium to the mix or you risk raising the pH higher than tropical plants will appreciate. The only time I add my fertilizer blend is when up-potting trees, if they will stay in the nursery for a period of time.

I regularly add chicken manure into potted plants. My fertilizer of choice is organic Nutri-Rich Chicken Manure Pellets. Add a light sprinkling of manure once the first set of true leaves of a seedling appear. This will pump it up for a few weeks. Add more if you notice yellowing or a decline in vigor. If your plants are not a dark, vibrant green, they are hungry.

Healthy green growth on left, Chlorotic yellow-green leaves on right

And there it is, the beginning of your (dark) green thumb.

Happy Gardening!

African Blue Basil (Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum ‘Dark Opal’)

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Description

African blue basil, Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum ‘Dark Opal,’ is an attractive, fragrant perennial herb. This plant is a hybrid of two basil species: camphor basil (a perennial) and common basil (an annual); the resulting cross is sterile and perennial. The plant has a somewhat spicy basil flavor with a hint of camphor, making its taste slightly medicinal. African blue basil grows to five feet tall and wide; it continually grows up and falls over, creating a bush-like habit. This plant flowers profusely and is constantly buzzing from all the pollinators coming to visit. This is one of the most carefree plants in my garden. No pests bother it, and it’s always there, just growing and flowering.

Propagation

African blue basil is sterile, producing no viable seeds, and is therefore propagated by cuttings. Woody and non-woody cuttings work for propagation.

Cuttings ready for propagation

Care

This basil is carefree; it will thrive on neglect and on poor soils. It just grows and grows. Regular fertilizing and pruning promotes healthy tender growth.

Eating

Leaves are edible raw or cooked. In order to encourage the most tender leafy growth, prune regularly, removing flower heads, just as you would with common basil.

Spinach or other greens and spices can be utilized in order to offset the somewhat medicinal taste; many use this technique for pesto and other sauces, dips and spreads.

Where to obtain planting materials

Find someone growing this plant and ask for cuttings. I’ve never seen this plant for sale; it was gifted to me by a neighbor some years ago.

My Garden

I’ve been growing this plant for a few years, now, just as an unidentified blue or purple basil. I utilize it in my polycultures primarily as a biomass plant to feed the soil and as a pollinator attractant, eating a leaf myself here or there. I recently identified the plant as African Blue Basil and started learning a bit more about it. Only today, I learned that people actually make pesto with it – yum! With that in mind, it’s time to go prune my plants and get them to push out some tender new growth for consumption.

Happy Gardening!