Kava Botany 15 Year Old Mahakea Harvest

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

HI everyone, I spent the day harvesting a 15 year old Mahakea. The good thing is that I took some pictures. I hope you all enjoy them.
The first picture is of the 'Awa plant it self.

The first things we do is cut off all the stalks and make cuttings from them, this next few pictures are part of that process.



Now we have all the cuttings in the moss that I use to root the cuttings.


This picture is after all the stalks have been cut off and we are ready to dig up the 'Awa plant. I leave some of the stalks onto help in harvesting the 'Awa.

Here we are all hard at work digging the lateral roots out.

Now we rock it back and forth a few times and it comes out of the ground.

Now we roll it out and down to the truck about 100 feet away.

This Mahakea had some really large stalks, here is a stalk I kept, I figure it's kind of like the old fishing story, if you don't have it, it ain't true. Well check out this stalk.

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures, I will post more later of how we clean it and stuff like that. Aloha.

Chris

 

[ApéroNoble]

Wow! That really brings the connection home regarding how much goes into those GHK gold bags full of powder we all get.

 

[KAVATOM]

Great pics and I really look forward seeing the rest of the process.

 

[Zaphod]

I am pretty sure I would never get it to market. Chop some lateral roots, chew some lateral roots....next thing you know I am just sitting on the ground next to my stump wondering why I want to do so much work. Maybe time for a nap in the warm Hawaiian sun.

 

[I don't know]

Great pics, thanks Chris!

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Those are glorious pictures of my favorite root mass!
You left out that picture from when you guys took a lunch break though:

 

[Alia]

HI everyone, I spent the day harvesting a 15 year old Mahakea. The good thing is that I took some pictures. I hope you all enjoy them.
The first picture is of the 'Awa plant it self.

The first things we do is cut off all the stalks and make cuttings from them, this next few pictures are part of that process.



Now we have all the cuttings in the moss that I use to root the cuttings.


This picture is after all the stalks have been cut off and we are ready to dig up the 'Awa plant. I leave some of the stalks onto help in harvesting the 'Awa.

Here we are all hard at work digging the lateral roots out.

Now we rock it back and forth a few times and it comes out of the ground.

Now we roll it out and down to the truck about 100 feet away.

This Mahakea had some really large stalks, here is a stalk I kept, I figure it's kind of like the old fishing story, if you don't have it, it ain't true. Well check out this stalk.

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures, I will post more later of how we clean it and stuff like that. Aloha.

Chris

Absolutely stunning Chris ! and goes to show- a well harvested 'awa plant not only never dies-- it multiplies!

 

[verticity]

HI everyone, I spent the day harvesting a 15 year old Mahakea. The good thing is that I took some pictures. I hope you all enjoy them.
The first picture is of the 'Awa plant it self.

The first things we do is cut off all the stalks and make cuttings from them, this next few pictures are part of that process.



Now we have all the cuttings in the moss that I use to root the cuttings.


This picture is after all the stalks have been cut off and we are ready to dig up the 'Awa plant. I leave some of the stalks onto help in harvesting the 'Awa.

Here we are all hard at work digging the lateral roots out.

Now we rock it back and forth a few times and it comes out of the ground.

Now we roll it out and down to the truck about 100 feet away.

This Mahakea had some really large stalks, here is a stalk I kept, I figure it's kind of like the old fishing story, if you don't have it, it ain't true. Well check out this stalk.

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures, I will post more later of how we clean it and stuff like that. Aloha.

Chris

Very cool pictures of what is clearly an old and revered elder 'awa plant. The details about the harvesting process are really fascinating. That giant stalk looks like a dinosaur bone.

 

[verticity]

So why did you let that plant stay in the ground for so long? Did you just find it somewhere growing in the wild?

 

[verticity]

Hmm, the lateral roots on that look kind of...hairy? Are those similar to the "hairy" Hanakapi Ai roots?

 

[Deleted User01]

I guess it does take a village to harvest a kava. @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava, let us know if that 15 year old Mahakea is better than your 3-5 year old Mahakea because some people say that the age of the kava makes it more potent. But it's not wine after all, it's kava. Let me know.

 

[FYS]

In the first picture, is there a reason why some of the stalks have such short internodal links and others are relatively smooth in comparison?

What do you do with all the big stalks or stalks that you are using for cuttings? Are they hard enough to do something with or do you just compost them? Are all of the stalks suitable for cloning? Can kava reproduce on its own or do you have to use culm-segment cutting to get new plants?

In the 2nd and 3rd from last pictures do you trim it down any more or is it ready to go? Do those remaining bits of stalk have to be removed first leaving only the stump itself and the roots? Also, is the root dried then ground or pulped first and then dried? I guess what I am asking is what happens between your last picture and final packaging? Unless that's a trade secret or something. I'd love to see some more pictures showing the rest of the process. I tried looking for a thread on it but couldn't find anything.

 

[avahZ]

Kinda sad to see it removed, but

 

[kasa_balavu]

Wonderful, Chris. Thank you for sharing these photos.
I note that this seems to be an isolated plant. Was this one part of a larger kava farm that was left behind when the others were harvested? I assume this is from an old farm because of the smaller kava plant growing behind the wall alongside the coffee plants.

Cool to see the rock wall BTW. There are a few like that in various places in Fiji that mark ancient village fortifications. Is that rock wall an ancient Polynesian one, or do you think it was built post-contact?

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

Wonderful, Chris. Thank you for sharing these photos.
I note that this seems to be an isolated plant. Was this one part of a larger kava farm that was left behind when the others were harvested? I assume this is from an old farm because of the smaller kava plant growing behind the wall alongside the coffee plants.

Cool to see the rock wall BTW. There are a few like that in various places in Fiji that mark ancient village fortifications. Is that rock wall an ancient Polynesian one, or do you think it was built post-contact?

I am glad you liked the pictures, no this is not an isolated plant, There are many other kava plants of different ages, the small one you saw up on the wall by the coffee plants (good eye by the way). This is the way I like to plant my kava, not all in a row all together, I like to space them out and let them reach out as much as they can, the younger kava you saw will now get big and grow out to fill the gap of the one we took out. There are also 3 other young kava plants that were close by that one, they will all get to grow much better now. This area was an area that has a lot of Hawaiian rock walls and this was one of them. We like to leave them there for history sake and we maintain them and rebuild them were needed.
Aloha.

Chris

 

[Kavashua]

Chris can you elaborate on the process of getting the cuttings to root? Like how long before they are suitable for planting? Any hormone necessary to start roots and do the plants only root from a node or can they sprout roots anywhere along the stock? I'm kind of a garden geek and I love plant propagation so this post is very interesting. Thanks

 

[kasa_balavu]

@Kavashua this post may answer some of your questions.

 

[verticity]

What do you do with all the big stalks or stalks that you are using for cuttings? Are they hard enough to do something with or do you just compost them? Are all of the stalks suitable for cloning? Can kava reproduce on its own or do you have to use culm-segment cutting to get new plants?

Kava can't reproduce by itself. It is propagated by cuttings, like bananas and many other crops that people have domesticated. (Kava's wild ancestor piper wichmannii can reproduce, but it is not drinkable)

 

[kasa_balavu]

@Kavashua see also this album by Adil (Paradise Kava)

 

[verticity]

@Gourmet Hawaiian Kava Here is an idea for what you could do with that giant stalk: build a sloth playground. I know you have sloths in Hawaii. I know you also have Koalas there, so you could also have some Koalas with the sloths, and maybe some monkeys too.