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How To Grow kava

Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Hi everyone, here is your chance to see a little bit if what it takes to grow kava to get this wonderful root we all love so much. There are 28 pictures and I hope you enjoy them all.
The first thing we have to do is clear the land, that is what the first picture shows.
1.JPG

Then when we have a place to plant the kava we need some cuttings to make baby kava plants. You can get cuttings from harvesting a kava plant and you can get hundreds of cuttings depending on the age of the kava plant. You can also take 1 or 2 stalks from a live kava plant and let it continue to grow.
The next 2 pictures is the cuttings after a harvest.
2.JPG

3.jpg

Then after we get the cuttings we need to put them in a medium to grow, I use moss first but you can also use soil. The next picture shows a bunch of the cuttings in the moss that I use. I keep the moss moist and in about 3 or 4 months you will see some shoots coming out from the moss, you can see this in the picture also.
4.jpg

6.JPG

Here is a rooted cutting-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.JPG

After the cuttings have good roots like in the picture then I will put them in planting bags with a soil. They will stay in this bag for 2-3 months and then you will have baby kava plants ready to go in the ground. The next 2 pictures shoe the baby kava plants ready to be planted in the ground.
7.JPG

8.jpg

Now all during this process so far I have started making my compost to mix with the soil. I use a bunch of chipped trees as a base and I add some other things one being seaweed emulsion that I make. I then mix the dark and rich compost with a mix of 50% Hamakua Soil and 50% black cinder to get my final planting medium. The next 2 pictures will show that.
9.jpg

10.jpg
Now after getting all the baby kava plants ready and mixing the compost and soil we are ready to make mounds of soil on the cleared ground so we can plant the kava plants in these mounds. The mounds make it easy to plant many kava plants and also easy to take care of them but most of all easy to harvest the kava plants. The next 2 pictures shows the mounds with some kava in them.
11.jpg

12.JPG

After I plant the baby kava in the mounds of soil I place weed mat around the kava as you can see in the next picture. This helps a lot to cut down on the grass that wants to grow around the kava. After about 6-8 months the kava will be large enough that the weed mat will be moved away from the kava plant because the kava plant itself will shade the area from grass and weeds.
13.JPG

Now we mostly wait, I will take care of the kava and plant more kava while we are waiting for this kava to grow, the next picture show some new kava plantings next to some older kava.
13b.jpg

Now while we are taking care of the kava plants and planting new kava plants we are also waiting for the kava to get old enough to harvest. I like to harvest after 4 years. I will leave some kava growing longer, some over 15 years. The next few pictures shows some of the same kava getting older while we wait.
15.jpg

16.jpg

17 (2).jpg

Still waiting, gotta let the kava get bigger and bigger and bigger. :) Big like this next picture.
18.jpg

Well maybe I waited too long on that last picture, that is real big. that is actually one of the large Hawaiian Awa plants growing in the wild. I put micro chips in this back in the day when there was a lot of theft of this kava.
The next picture shows the kind of kava I harvest, still big no doubt.
19.JPG

Here we are actually harvesting kava plant. This is a Mahakea. We are carefully digging out the lateral roots before we dig up the huge corm or stump of the kava plant.
20.jpg

Some more pictures in my next post. Aloha.

Chris
 
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Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Here are the rest of the pictures. Now after harvesting that large Mahakea we need to cut it up and power wash it, this next few pictures show the big corm and some lateral roots.
21.JPG

22.JPG

And after washing we dry the kava root. We dry it gently so we do not affect the flavor of the kava. This next picture shows some of the dry kava root ready for grinding.
23.JPG

The next few pictures shows the grinding, the kava powder the final product and then yes finally the kava beverage.
24.JPG

25.JPG

26.JPG

27.JPG

I hope you all enjoyed these pictures. Aloha nui loa.

Chris
 

JohnMichael

Kava Synchronized
Thanks so much! Fun to see that Mahakea being harvested.

Hi everyone, here is your chance to see a little bit if what it takes to grow kava to get this wonderful root we all love so much. There are 28 pictures and I hope you enjoy them all.
The first thing we have to do is clear the land, that is what the first picture shows.
View attachment 10178
Then when we have a place to plant the kava we need some cuttings to make baby kava plants. You can get cuttings from harvesting a kava plant and you can get hundreds of cuttings depending on the age of the kava plant. You can also take 1 or 2 stalks from a live kava plant and let it continue to grow.
The next 2 pictures is the cuttings after a harvest.
View attachment 10179
View attachment 10180
Then after we get the cuttings we need to put them in a medium to grow, I use moss first but you can also use soil. The next picture shows a bunch of the cuttings in the moss that I use. I keep the moss moist and in about 3 or 4 months you will see some shoots coming out from the moss, you can see this in the picture also.
View attachment 10181
View attachment 10182
Here is a rooted cutting-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
View attachment 10183
After the cuttings have good roots like in the picture then I will put them in planting bags with a soil. They will stay in this bag for 2-3 months and then you will have baby kava plants ready to go in the ground. The next 2 pictures shoe the baby kava plants ready to be planted in the ground.
View attachment 10184
View attachment 10185
Now all during this process so far I have started making my compost to mix with the soil. I use a bunch of chipped trees as a base and I add some other things one being seaweed emulsion that I make. I then mix the dark and rich compost with a mix of 50% Hamakua Soil and 50% black cinder to get my final planting medium. The next 2 pictures will show that.
View attachment 10186
View attachment 10187 Now after getting all the baby kava plants ready and mixing the compost and soil we are ready to make mounds of soil on the cleared ground so we can plant the kava plants in these mounds. The mounds make it easy to plant many kava plants and also easy to take care of them but most of all easy to harvest the kava plants. The next 2 pictures shows the mounds with some kava in them.
View attachment 10188
View attachment 10189
After I plant the baby kava in the mounds of soil I place weed mat around the kava as you can see in the next picture. This helps a lot to cut down on the grass that wants to grow around the kava. After about 6-8 months the kava will be large enough that the weed mat will be moved away from the kava plant because the kava plant itself will shade the area from grass and weeds.
View attachment 10190
Now we mostly wait, I will take care of the kava and plant more kava while we are waiting for this kava to grow, the next picture show some new kava plantings next to some older kava.
View attachment 10191
Now while we are taking care of the kava plants and planting new kava plants we are also waiting for the kava to get old enough to harvest. I like to harvest after 4 years. I will leave some kava growing longer, some over 15 years. The next few pictures shows some of the same kava getting older while we wait.
View attachment 10192
View attachment 10193
View attachment 10194
Still waiting, gotta let the kava get bigger and bigger and bigger. :) Big like this next picture.
View attachment 10195
Well maybe I waited too long on that last picture, that is real big. that is actually one of the large Hawaiian Awa plants growing in the wild. I put micro chips in this back in the day when there was a lot of theft of this kava.
The next picture shows the kind of kava I harvest, still big no doubt.
View attachment 10196
Here we are actually harvesting kava plant. This is a Mahakea. We are carefully digging out the lateral roots before we dig up the huge corm or stump of the kava plant.
View attachment 10197
Some more pictures in my next post. Aloha.

Chris
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
Kava is a corm-producing plant? It makes me wonder how many other plants do that. The only plants I know of that are corms are water chestnuts, Konyakku, and taro.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
Here are the rest of the pictures. Now after harvesting that large Mahakea we need to cut it up and power wash it, this next few pictures show the big corm and some lateral roots.
View attachment 10198
View attachment 10199
And after washing we dry the kava root. We dry it gently so we do not affect the flavor of the kava. This next picture shows some of the dry kava root ready for grinding.
View attachment 10200
The next few pictures shows the grinding, the kava powder the final product and then yes finally the kava beverage.
View attachment 10201
View attachment 10202
View attachment 10203
View attachment 10204
I hope you all enjoyed these pictures. Aloha nui loa.

Chris
This should be viewed for all consumers of 'awa/kava/sakau/ava;
It may not be the only way to grow this plant but it is, in my experince, the best and most rewarding;
Many farmers will place a few nodes or small plants in the ground and walk away for weeks or months;
Farming 'awa as Chris describes is more respectful to the history of the plant;
and its' co-dependency on people to survive;
It will generate more product and offer a brighter future!
 
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Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Kava is a corm-producing plant? It makes me wonder how many other plants do that. The only plants I know of that are corms are water chestnuts, Konyakku, and taro.
I do not know if it is really classified as a corm but that is what I call it. I will also call it stump sometimes but to me corm sounds better.

Chris
 

mjazzguitar

Kava Curious
Thank you very much for your pictures.
I heard that you can't grow Kava in the U.S. or South America, even if you duplicate the conditions it needs.
They said the same thing about Ginseng at one time.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
People ask me all the time if they could try growing kava in NZ, especially in the Far North (no frost). My answer is typically: possibly yes, it could survive, but it would certainly not thrive.
I recall a story about how the Maori brought kava with them when they settled New Zealand and it sadly didn't survive when they tried cultivating it. They also found a plant they thought was like kava and named it after their word for kava and used it medicinally. I wish I could remember where I read that...
 

kavamehameha

Magnum's 'awa drinking bird
Beautiful pictures, thanks Chris! I really enjoyed seeing the path from a baby plant to the final product!
When such a huge kava plant is harvested, what happens with all the leaves and green parts which are cut away? Are they being composted?
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
I recall a story about how the Maori brought kava with them when they settled New Zealand and it sadly didn't survive when they tried cultivating it. They also found a plant they thought was like kava and named it after their word for kava and used it medicinally. I wish I could remember where I read that...
This past August I read a paper by Dr. Aporosa entitled Māori and kava: New drug fashion or re-engagement with ‘kawa’?
QUOTE-
"...when Māori’s pre-migration cultural practices are considered, observances that are argued to have included kava as a cultural keystone species, this suggests that Māori would have deliberately brought kava with them when they migrated to Aotearoa approximately 800 years ago. With a lack of kava in Aotearoa due to a climate that prevented its growth, it has been postulated that Māori metaphorically re-duplicated the kava culture as ‘kawa’ within marae protocol. That suggestion drew on linguistic connections between kava and kawa and an explanation of kava’s role in creating noa between host and guest...".
 

Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Beautiful pictures, thanks Chris! I really enjoyed seeing the path from a baby plant to the final product!
When such a huge kava plant is harvested, what happens with all the leaves and green parts which are cut away? Are they being composted?
Yes I do compost all the parts of the kava plant I do not use for drinking or planting new kava plants. I am glad you liked the pictures. Aloha.

Chris
 

kavamehameha

Magnum's 'awa drinking bird
Yes I do compost all the parts of the kava plant I do not use for drinking or planting new kava plants.
Chris
Mahalo Chris, I thought so! Just out of curiosity, how long does it take for the composted parts of the kava plant to become proper soil, which may be used to plant new kava? The process of composting takes some time, depending on the kind of plant, so I was wondering how long that is in this case. It's fantastic that all parts of the kava plant can be used in some way! It's like each plant gives something back, not only to us, but also to future baby plants.
 
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Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Mahalo Chris, I thought so! Just out of curiosity, how long does it take for the composted parts of the kava plant to become proper soil, which may be used to plant new kava? The process of composting takes some time, depending on the kind of plant, so I was wondering how long that is in this case. It's fantastic that all parts of the kava plant can be used in some way! It's like each plant gives something back, not only to us, but also to future baby plants.
The kava does not take long to decompose, about 2-4 weeks. That stuff is only part of the mulch I make and I let that turn into the compost. The main component is wood chips, I use a certain type of wood that is very common and abundant, it breaks down quicker than some other woods do. It is the wood chips that take the longest to turn into soil and it takes about 3=4 months. All the other stuff I add is to increase the micro and macro nutrients in the new soil. My finished mix actually has some larger chunks of wood that is still decomposing, this feeds the kava as it is growing. I can tell when the kava needs more compost because the mound it was planted in will sink down and the mushrooms will stop growing in the larger chunks of decomposing wood. Kava loves to be fed and this is a good way to give it food all the time.
So much more to growing kava than these few pictures I posted. Hard to put over 30 years of growing kava in 28 pictures. Aloha.

Chris
 
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