Our attempt with growing kava (As a hobby)

[kasa_balavu]

Viti Levu is Fiji's largest island. There are mountain ranges through the middle of it and everything on the windward side is *always* wet and green and everything on the other side is very dry outside of the wet season.

Kava grows well on the other side of Viti Levu, but this side (where Neil and I live) is too dry for kava. The commercial crop here is sugarcane as there is a pronounced wet season for growing and then a dry period that increases the sugar content before harvest.

3 weeks ago my back yard was bone dry and beginning to show big cracks in the ground, but the wet season just started and the grass is already thick and four inches long. It should now rain a few days a week until the end of April.

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

How are the plants doing Neil? Any updates? I'd love to see more pics.

 

[Kava Time]

How are the plants doing Neil? Any updates? I'd love to see more pics.

Unfortunately they died. My dad sprayed weed killer around the plants and somehow it got onto the kava

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Unfortunately they died. My dad sprayed weed killer around the plants and somehow it got onto the kava

Bummer, ya gonna try again?
It doesn't even require weed killer to kill mine, I baby them and they still die.

 

[Kava Time]

Bummer, ya gonna try again?
It doesn't even require weed killer to kill mine, I baby them and they still die.

Nah it requires too much care during dry season in nadi.

 

[GeorgiaSydney2019]

Hi there,
Would you have any idea how I could transport some kava cuttings out of Fiji? My partner and I are attempting to grow some kava in Indonesia and we have spoken to contacts in customs in Indo but wondering if its possible to take them out of Fiji and how to go about doing so?

One more question, will kava grow on sloped land ie. on a mountain slope? Or does it have to be flat.
Thank you in advance?

 

[kasa_balavu]

Hi there,
Would you have any idea how I could transport some kava cuttings out of Fiji? My partner and I are attempting to grow some kava in Indonesia and we have spoken to contacts in customs in Indo but wondering if its possible to take them out of Fiji and how to go about doing so?

One more question, will kava grow on sloped land ie. on a mountain slope? Or does it have to be flat.
Thank you in advance?

I don't wish you ill personally, but I hope this project fails. Indonesia has a lot going for it. The Pacific Islands, not so much. It would be a crying shame if Indonesia, not content with the genocide of Melanesians in West Papua, also took from the other Melanesian nations the only crop for which they currently have a comparative advantage. Please don't introduce non-native kava cultivars to Indonesia.

 

[kasa_balavu]

@Kava Time Bula bro, any update on your yaqona plants? They would be two years old now. Have they survived?

 

[Kava Time]

@Kava Time Bula bro, any update on your yaqona plants? They would be two years old now. Have they survived?

Unfortunately they didnt survive

 

[kasa_balavu]

Unfortunately they didnt survive

Sorry to hear that.
I drove up the Sabeto valley once and saw a small patch of yaqona growing there. They were growing in a very shaded area under large raintrees at the bottom of a mountain so the micro-climate there was much better for grog than in the flat plains of Nadi. Even so, they were very stunted and not doing well at all.
On my last trip to Taveuni I brought back four young plants (~4months old). I washed away the soil, wrapped them in wet tissue paper and brought them over. They're in pots for now, and I'll put them in the ground if they're still alive in 3 months. Fingers crossed.

 

[babesugarbunny]

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing! I would love to have a kava plant at home, because of my big interest in keeping indoor plants.