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Our attempt with growing kava (As a hobby)

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
Oh that's disappointing. Would you mind sharing which one it was so I can stop recommending them? Feel free to PM if you'd prefer not to post publicly.
 

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast
Oh that's disappointing. Would you mind sharing which one it was so I can stop recommending them? Feel free to PM if you'd prefer not to post publicly.
Oh no I don't mind sharing it publicly. It will save Steve lots of emailing I'm sure. :) It was Hawaiian Tropical Plant Nursery. He says he's only growing Isa because it's more disease resistant.
 

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast
Thank you, that's good to know.
It's a pity he only grows Isa. Tudei cultivars like Isa became popular among farmers in the late 90's for the same reason... disease resistance and quicker growth.

Have you read these threads?:
http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/growing-kava-in-florida.10178/
http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/real-live-kava-plant.10119/
Ay I didn't even see your links for some reason the first time I read your post. I think I'm going blind or something! lol Thanks so much. I will check them out. :)

I was looking at the Logees site and the reviews said it was Mahakea! But when I tried to order it said it was out of stock and had to be back ordered so I emailed the company to be sure that the cultivar that came back in stock was a noble variety and this was the reply I got from them in the email.

"Good afternoon,
Unfortunately, our horticulturalist says that he doesn’t know the cultivar. He said it came from Hawaii. We apologize for the inconvenience. Have a great day!
Logee’s Customer Service"

So now I am wary. I mean, if I could know for certain it was Mahakea or some other noble variety I would get it in a heartbeat, but it doesn't look like they can guarantee what it is.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
Ay I didn't even see your links for some reason the first time I read your post. I think I'm going blind or something! lol Thanks so much. I will check them out. :)

I was looking at the Logees site and the reviews said it was Mahakea! But when I tried to order it said it was out of stock and had to be back ordered so I emailed the company to be sure that the cultivar that came back in stock was a noble variety and this was the reply I got from them in the email.

"Good afternoon,
Unfortunately, our horticulturalist says that he doesn’t know the cultivar. He said it came from Hawaii. We apologize for the inconvenience. Have a great day!
Logee’s Customer Service"

So now I am wary. I mean, if I could know for certain it was Mahakea or some other noble variety I would get it in a heartbeat, but it doesn't look like they can guarantee what it is.
Did you try the pokifruits.com link ? That is one of the 3 @kasa_balavu mentioned...if it is who I think it is he knows his cultivars. Got many from me.
 

Kava Time

Fiji
Kava Vendor
Update
20170830_172326.jpg


The one i was hoping for that would survive actually wilted. Guess transferring needs to be done extremely carefully. Its been replaced with another plant below
20170830_172334.jpg

20170830_172343.jpg

The next one has gotten quite big..at least 30 cm now. Not exactly sure why its been growing faster and better than the others..I haven't added any fertilizer to any of them yet.
20170830_172355.jpg
 

Kava Time

Fiji
Kava Vendor
Just got some new kava cuttings to plant of 4 different cultivars. Lets play a game :sneaky:

Who can identify whats what cultivar? 1st to 5th..2 of them are the same. Whoever identifies correctly and posts here gets a one time 15% discount coupon ;) You only get 1 valid try so all the best!
20170922_145902.jpg
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
It's hard to tell with just one stem. A vula kasa leka (white short internode) plant might have some stems that have long internodes (and so look like vula kasa balavu). We see this a lot with Vula kasa leka, where the older stems have short internodes, but the younger stems, having grown in the shade of the older stems, had to reach for the light and so sometimes have longer internodes. The leaves are an additional data point that help us identify plants.

Here are my guesses:

1. Loa Kasa Leka or Dokobana leka
2. Matakaro Leka
3. Dokobana Vula
4-5. Vula Kasa Leka or Vula Kasa Balavu


Good luck with growing this lot, Neil. Try with 50% shade cloth.
 

theGrogfather

Sipping on Waka juice. Laid back
Just got some new kava cuttings to plant of 4 different cultivars. Lets play a game :sneaky:

Who can identify whats what cultivar? 1st to 5th..2 of them are the same. Whoever identifies correctly and posts here gets a one time 15% discount coupon ;) You only get 1 valid try so all the best!
View attachment 8400
I'm in. Going off information from your website, here are my guesses.

1. Loa Kasa Leka
2. Matakaro Leka
3. Dokobana Vula
4. & 5. Tricky but I'll go Vula Kasa Leka.

Keep us updated on your plants! I have no chance of growing kava here but it's neat to see everyone give it a shot.
 

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast
I'm not going to even attempt to try to figure out the varieties by the looks of their stems, but this contest makes me wonder if it is possible to tell by looking at the stems if a kava is noble or isa? I still am holding out hope that I can get my hands on a seedling or fresh stem that I can try to sprout, but being able to identify a cultivar by sight would be pretty helpful. :) Alright back to the contest. Good luck everyone. :)
 

Kava Time

Fiji
Kava Vendor
So the initial plantings were somewhat successful. 3 plants died out on me. Below are the 3 standing from the initial plantings with 1 still in nursery.
20171119_183434.jpg

I had to get this plant some serious shading as i had noticed it started dying out. You can tell that the shading has helped quite a bit. All the leaves had turned yellow and were rotting away from the scorching hot sun in Nadi. The yellow leaf attached to it is what the whole plant looked like before the shading.
20171119_183451.jpg
The one below has been faring well under the shade of the coconut trees beside it. The roots are plenty as you can see from the 2nd pic. I seem to have unearthed some of the surfacing roots while watering the plant with a bucket of water.
20171119_183511.jpg
20171119_183651.jpg

The last one has had phenomenal growth for the past 2 weeks. The rain in Nadi has some real magical properties it seems. I have been consistently watering all the plants during the dry season but have not seen this spike in growth unlike the last two weeks of periodic rain. The rain water seems to do wonders for all plants here. You can see that another shoot has come out in the 2nd pic and its grown quite thick.
20171119_183526.jpg
20171119_183538.jpg
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
They look fantastic, Neil!! Lush, vibrant growth. I just got back from Taveuni and these look as good as any I saw of similar age.

I reckon the humidity plays a very significant role. You were giving it sufficient water all along, but the air was dry and hot until we hit the wet season recently.

They're great bro, and doing much better than I expected they would (y)
 
Last edited:

verticity

I'm interested in things
So the initial plantings were somewhat successful. 3 plants died out on me. Below are the 3 standing from the initial plantings with 1 still in nursery. View attachment 8613
I had to get this plant some serious shading as i had noticed it started dying out. You can tell that the shading has helped quite a bit. All the leaves had turned yellow and were rotting away from the scorching hot sun in Nadi. The yellow leaf attached to it is what the whole plant looked like before the shading.
View attachment 8611 The one below has been faring well under the shade of the coconut trees beside it. The roots are plenty as you can see from the 2nd pic. I seem to have unearthed some of the surfacing roots while watering the plant with a bucket of water.
View attachment 8606 View attachment 8608
The last one has had phenomenal growth for the past 2 weeks. The rain in Nadi has some real magical properties it seems. I have been consistently watering all the plants during the dry season but have not seen this spike in growth unlike the last two weeks of periodic rain. The rain water seems to do wonders for all plants here. You can see that another shoot has come out in the 2nd pic and its grown quite thick. View attachment 8607 View attachment 8609
Neato.
The secret ingredient is the old tire, no doubt... :)
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
So Nadi is a city on the main island of Fiji, Viti Levu. Is it the climate in that city that you seem to suggest is not favorable for growing kava, or does kava grow elsewhere on that island? Or does it only grow on the other islands: Kadavu, Vanua Levu, etc? I have heard the city on the other side of the Viti Levu, Suva, mentioned with respect to kava, but that might just be because of the kava market there...
 
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