Mangoes thrive as termites die
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Columnist
This is the story of a terminator who saved a mango tree and made a friend for life. It's also the story of new technology preserving an important part of life in some of Honolulu's old neighborhoods.
The tale starts back in 1946 when Aoe Chong and her late husband, David, moved into a new home in the back of Pauoa Valley and planted a mango in their front yard, as did everyone else on the block.
The tree thrived for years, providing family, friends and neighbors with bumper crops. Then one year, the tree just stopped producing.
It was only when David died in 1993 and Chong decided to cut back a big limb overhanging the house that she found the problem.
Formosan ground termites, the kind that cause an estimated $100 million in damage every year in Hawai'i, had chewed a vacuum cleaner-sized hole through the main trunk, working their way up from the inside, leaving only healthy-looking bark and leaves. Once the tree was trimmed, you could look inside and see them munching away.
"Aaiiiieeeh," Chong said. "I lost my favorite peach tree to termites. Then they attacked my other peach tree and my Hayden mango.
"It killed me."
The first pesticide company Chong called had only bad news. It wasn't allowed to put chemicals in a yard, and even if it did, Chong wouldn't be able to eat the tainted mangoes for years to come.
The termites kept munching, and last year, the tree produced only six mangoes.
Chong's son, Stanley, called on Bob Koide, owner of Environ Control, to look at the yard. In the years since Chong first found the termites, a new technology, using a bait system that kills termite colonies without pesticides, had come on the market.
Developed by Dow Chemical system, the Sentricon system allows termites to spread a growth inhibitor that eventually destroys a colony without pesticides.
Sentricon and similar baiting systems have found increasing acceptance in Hawai'i, even though initial costs are higher than traditional treatment and they require regular monitoring. (Dealers say the cost of an initial installation is about $1,200, a third of what it was just a few years ago).
Chong wasn't about to quibble when it came to her mango tree, or the peach tree nearby. In December, Koide, who says about 25 percent of all mango trees he sees have some termites, put one of the bait traps right into the yawning hole in Chong's tree and spread others out around the yard.
"I told him I'd give him a big hug and kiss if he saved my tree," Chong, 79, said.
The other day, she did just that. By April, the termites were gone and this summer, the mangoes are back. Bob Koide, terminator, has a friend for life. And one of Honolulu's oldest traditions, the sharing of summer mangoes, is a little less threatened.
Mike Leidemann's columns appear Thursdays and Saturdays in The Advertiser. Reach him at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.
