Fresh frozen kava root
- Thread starter Gourmet Hawaiian Kava
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D
Deleted User01
Let me see how they do in pots, I have to start them that way at the beginning. Maybe they can stay in pots. I'll keep you posted.
KavaLot
Kava Enthusiast
Is growing them to full term in a pot realistic? Or does the root ball and weight make this too hard to accomplish? I'm an avid indoor gardener up here in Canada and really, really want to give this a try. CFL bulbs are my friend. Cheap to run on a timer and my plants love it. I also like the fact I control the insect activity without pesticides through a controlled indoor environment. I somehow don't think nurturing a couple of kava plants for three years even with artificial light is a problem.
I also wonder if Kava would do better water feeding from the bottom by absorption through a clay pot. My cactuses, succulents and other tropical plants love this as it virtually eliminates the threat of fungus on top of the soil. From what I understand kava plants are especially susceptible to fungus so this might be a good strategy to follow especially in the early going. At any rate I'm jealous of your new hobby and hope everything works out. By all means post as many pics as you like. I'd love to follow the progress.
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I also wonder if Kava would do better water feeding from the bottom by absorption through a clay pot. My cactuses, succulents and other tropical plants love this as it virtually eliminates the threat of fungus on top of the soil. From what I understand kava plants are especially susceptible to fungus so this might be a good strategy to follow especially in the early going. At any rate I'm jealous of your new hobby and hope everything works out. By all means post as many pics as you like. I'd love to follow the progress.
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I saw somewhere, that sometimes the people in Vanuatu would grow a kava plant in an old hollowed out log. It would make the roots more ornamental for gift giving or something. So I'm sure you could replicate that with a big fat piece of pvc pipe or something...or just a big pot.
I saw another thing about scientists experimenting with growing vegetables under different color LED lights. Certain color lights would help bring out different properties in the plant, consistently. This interests me in regards to Kava...cuz perhaps we could boost certain kavalactone percentages or growth speed, simply by growing under specific colors. Too bad none of us have the controlled environment we could study this in.
I saw another thing about scientists experimenting with growing vegetables under different color LED lights. Certain color lights would help bring out different properties in the plant, consistently. This interests me in regards to Kava...cuz perhaps we could boost certain kavalactone percentages or growth speed, simply by growing under specific colors. Too bad none of us have the controlled environment we could study this in.
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violet
Do all things with love
@shakas What kinds of properties? I used to keep about a half dozen planted aquariums with CFL's. Generally, the low frequency red wavelengths would encourage more compact, bushy growth and high frequency faster, but leggy growth, so it was interesting learning to keep the balance and control the plant growth with different wavelengths, timers, and other variables. I plan on using a tank for just potted plants so I can control the lighting, my place isn't very plant friendly in that respect.
I can't recall the specifics, I randomly caught it on some Japanese news channel a while back...I remember they were getting best results with red LED, blue LED and a combo of red & blue sometimes. I think they said green light was usually useless, for the most part. I'm not sure what each ones effects were on the plant though
I wish kava was only a 1 or 2 yr crop...I'm really interested to see if any home growing attempts can successfully make it full-term.
D
Deleted User01
Sir Kavalot, I have some very, very large elephant ears in pots so I have a game plan. As I mentioned, Chris is helping me with some pointers on water, fertilizer, and then cuttings. I also live in South Texas so I have a different set of problems than thour. I'll keep you posted.
FYI. We have 2 small greenhouses so we always have duplicates of our in ground plants in pots and we over winter them in the greenhouse. I just started the pruning and it's very gruesome what the winter did to our inground plants this year. And we took precautions but it was too much. Thank god for the potted plants, then fared way better.
FYI. We have 2 small greenhouses so we always have duplicates of our in ground plants in pots and we over winter them in the greenhouse. I just started the pruning and it's very gruesome what the winter did to our inground plants this year. And we took precautions but it was too much. Thank god for the potted plants, then fared way better.
KavaLot
Kava Enthusiast
Deleted User01, I remember hearing about much of Texas getting a little snow this year and the havoc afterwards. More evidence of global warming. You'll probably see more winter precip in the years to come. We've sure have had more than usual amount along the northeast coast.
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Deleted User01
SirKavalot. That's just the half of it. In San Antonio Tx, we are still in a very, very, very serious drought. It is not even spring yet and they are already talking about watering restrictions where we only water every other week. I have micro-irrigation for the plants but the the grass is another problem. I may end up with a hugemongous brick patio in my back yard in the future. However ..... I have a plan for the Kavas, those are my babies. FYI, we didn't get snow like Dallas but the cold did its damage.