Published
June 18th, 2010
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Growing Taro |
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Same three buckets a couple of chilly weeks later. When it warms up, the taro's growth will accelerate significantly.
It’s been a couple of months since I last posted about my little bucket-lo’i project. I have several 25 gallon molasses tubs re-purposed to be used as pots to grow my taro in. Since these particular taro plants prefer semi-aquatic conditions, I opted to not drill a drain hole in these tubs and to flood them several inches above the soil line. Since I have had problems with compost rotting immersed corms, I opted for plain ol’ top-soil dug from under my large oak trees. A very black and healthy soil. I used similar to grow my lotus, Chinese water-chestnuts and cattail with very good results, as well as smaller buckets of taro I immersed in larger tubs of water down in the pit-greenhouse. So I followed success and planted my new taro tubs the same way.
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Published
April 19th, 2010
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Growing Taro |
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Pi'iali'i growing in a bucket-lo'i.
For the last couple of years I’ve kept taro in the greenhouse in large molasses tubs filled with water. The taro themselves grew in smaller buckets of topsoil submerged in these tubs, which I have dubbed bucket-lo’i. Of all my taro, these taro grew the best and produced the largest corms and healthiest leaves. The upland beds just didn’t have good enough soil to keep the taro healthy, and the containers of taro just never flourished. Containers have been too variable to grow happy taro. The soil is either too dry or too wet, too rich or too devoid of nutrients, too hot or too cold – all in the same pot over the course of a season. But the bucket-lo’i – they were steady as a rock. The water has an excellent moderating effect, changing temperature slowly and also keeping the taro hydrated.
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Published
April 18th, 2010
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Poi |
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This is the lava stone from which a poi pounder will be carved.
A poi pounder is a stone shaped somewhat like a half an hour-glass with a rounded bottom. It’s usually carved out of a gray lava with tight pores. In those days, these stones were pecked at with a hammer stone to shape it – a process that took many many patient hours. Once the shape was finished then another stone would be used to polish the pounder. I opted to use a diamond-bladed grinder instead.
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Published
September 21st, 2008
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Babble Column |
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Kai Kea patch after a year of drought and heat and winter dormancy.
I started a couple of in-ground taro beds early last Spring. The idea was to see if I could keep taro alive thru our harsh environment. I’ve had other beds fail but that was during a multi-year drought. One is dug in about 9″ deep and is positioned in a way that drainage water that runs across our property when it rains hard will flood it good. The other isn’t dug in but has a berm of soil around its borders to slow the exodus of water. It too will get flooded as well.
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Published
September 19th, 2008
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Babble Column |
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I have been growing taro for several years – not just the Colocasia esculenta species, but several Xanthosoma species as well. Taro is just one of the several tropical plants I obsess over, however it’s most certainly the plant with the most uses that I have come across. In this blog I’ll document my progress in acquiring and growing taro, both the successes and shortfalls. If you want to know what to do, and what not to do, this is the blog to check back on periodically. I’ve gotten good at growing and killing taro, at doing things right and at making mistakes. Hopefully this will help make your taro growing experience more productive.
I'm a horticultural enthusiast. My life is deeply shaped by my plant passion. I am decidedly tropical, influenced by having lived on Guam, by life on Hawaii as a young child, and a deep infatuation for fruit and veggies common to the tropics..
MikeV