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The Honolulu Advertiser
Field of green | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper
Posted on: Monday, March 30, 2009

LIVING GREEN
 Field of green

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

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Let the experts guide you down the path of growing your own eco-friendly yard.

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O'AHU MASTER GARDENER HELP LINE

9 a.m. to noon Mondays-Fridays, 453-6055

Master gardeners at the O'ahu Urban Garden Center, 955 Kamehameha Highway, answer questions from 9 a.m. to noon each second Saturday of the month.

Learn more: www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ougc

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If you're looking for eco-friendly ways to grow a greener yard and garden this spring, go local.

At the O'ahu Urban Garden Center, a 30-acre smorgasbord of plants, trees and turf in Pearl City, trained volunteers stress organic solutions to problems, said Jayme Grzebik, an urban horticulturalist with the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Cooperative Extension Service.

"A lot of my master gardeners really use the most green way," she said. "Really, that's what home gardeners want to use. They just don't know where that information is or what to use to be green."

The center operates a help line and fields about 200 calls a month. The service is free.

"What it really promotes is getting locally derived information," Grzebik said. "We know about your environment. We know about the insects that we combat and the beneficial insects and the specific funguses that attack our plants. All of that is information you'll need as a gardener in Hawai'i."

To get you started on the path to eco-gardening paradise, we sought advice from Grzebik and three other local experts:

  • Jay Deputy, an education specialist in landscape horticulture and turf at UH-Manoa's Department of Tropical Plant & Soil Sciences.

  • Betty Gearen, a retired art teacher who turned her Pauoa home into a sustainable living center called The Green House.

  • Robert D. Harris, director of the Hawai'i chapter of the Sierra Club.

    INSECT PROBLEMS

    Chemical pesticides are not the best solution to an insect invasion. Because they kill indiscriminately, they wipe out the helpful insects, like ladybugs.

  •  Insect problems are often related to ants, so Harris recommends using outdoor ant traps, which are available at nurseries.

    "It's a little more friendly than spraying something a lot more invasive," he said. "If you are able to get rid of the ants, usually a lot of other bugs will be gone, too."

  • Another solution is Neem oil, which is sprayed on leaves. It kills the bugs but not the leaves, Harris said.

  •  Dish soap diluted with water also gets rid of bugs, but be careful that the mixture isn't so strong that it burns leaves. Grzebik doesn't recommend it outright for that reason, and advises gardeners apply it to a few test leaves first.

    "Detergents have different oils and scents and that is what is causing the burning," she said. "You will spray this all over your plant, and the next morning your plant will be completely brown ... and you are back to square one."

    Pre-mixed commercial versions, available at nurseries, offer the same solution without killing leaves, Grzebik said.

  • To ensure that you're getting an organic product, look for the Organic Materials Review Institute certification, Grzebik suggests.

    KEEP LAWN HEALTHY

    A healthy lawn not only will look good, but will resist insects — the need for chemical pest controls.

  • Once a year, aerate your turf and spread a half-inch layer of top dressing, which is a form of compost, Deputy suggests. Aeration is the process of poking holes in the soil, which then allows for better penetration of water and air. Add a layer of top dressing and you end up replenishing the soil.

    "The organic compost has a very large supply of very slowly releasing nutrients," he said. "It will last for some time. The down side is it takes a lot to do this."

  • Mow regularly with a sharp blade, never removing more than one-third of the green part.

  • Regular pruning of nearby trees and bushes also will help your turf. While pruning helps control potentially harmful bugs in your plants, it also allows more sunlight to reach the turf, which promotes growth, Deputy said.

    "Shade is the worst thing that can happen to a lawn," he said. "If you have a lot of trees and shrubs, that will result in the decline of the lawn in that area."

    RECYCLE YARD WASTE

    Finding ways to recycle your yard waste — and keep it — tops many lists of what you can do to become a more eco-friendly steward of your yard.

  • Start a compost pile. "You are using your own green waste to nourish your plants, instead of taking the green waste and putting it on the curb," Gearen notes. "If you create your own compost, it is full of micro-organisms that feed the soil. When you buy compost, those have been killed."

    A wheelbarrow-sized pile of clippings, branches and grass should be ready for use in about three months if you just leave it in an unattended pile and about half that time if you tend to it regularly, Gearen said.

  • If you don't want to wait for compost to form, you can chop green waste into mulch and spread it around your plant, Harris said.

    "Trees like having mulch around them," he said. "The reason is that it fosters good root growth and it traps water after you have a good rain storm."

  • Leave your grass clippings where they lie. "They will provide nutrients for your yard and hopefully reduce the amount of fertilizer you need," Harris said.

    Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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