Where to buy the best soil to have Delivered to my Parcel in Hawaii (Hilo: 2014, landscaping)

[AbleGardener]

Please tell me where to find the best quality soil on Big Island Hawaii . Your opinion matters. If you have experience and know prices, I would be grateful.

[hotzcatz]

It might be useful to know where your parcel is located, roughly at least. If your parcel were located in Hawi, you'd get soil from a different location than if it were located in Naalehu.

There aren't that many sources, though. Isn't the place where the old egg farm used to be above Waimea selling soil? Hmm, maybe that's just mulch. Bryson's cinders near Pahoa would probably know sources as well as Glover's in Hilo and the trucking companies would know, too, since they are the ones hauling it.

A lot of the nursery folks get "cinder-soil" mix to put plants in and do general landscaping with.

Two truckloads of lovely deep topsoil were delivered to our front yard, but that was from some folks doing some grading and grubbing two blocks over and we are on the Hamakua coast where there actually is soil. They dropped the dirt in our front yard since it was closer than where they were dumping it otherwise. It was the topsoil with the rocks and branches still in it which is why they didn't want to keep it. I've been screening the debris out and moving it around and building raised bed gardens with it so my vegetables are closer and easier to work. I don't know of any service that actually sells topsoil, though. It was just a fluke that we got some.

I suppose you could check the Building Department for folks along the coast pulling a grading and grubbing permit and ask them if they have extra soil to sell. Or put a "wanted" listing in Craig's List. If you are in an area that doesn't have coqui frogs, then be really careful when sourcing soil so you don't bring any in. Same with fire ants.

[terracore]

Buyer beware. Any time you get soil delivered you risk bringing little fire ants (LFA) and/or coqui frogs to your neighborhood. Depending on your location both are probably inevitable arrivals anyway.

LFA are not very aggressive. A lot of people freak out about bringing plants or soil to their property fearing the LFA may be hitchhiking a ride yet many of the same people don't realize that they already have LFA on their property.

Also, check the soil out before you have a truckload of it delivered. Some of the "soil" is "manufacturered" out of mulch, cinder, and other additions and is not soil in the true sense of the word. If buying such a product be wary that if they mulched albizia trees the seed pods can survive the mulching process.

[leilaniguy]

A neighbor had topsoil brought in a couple of years ago, it was good soil, but had broken glass, nails, live plant parts and chunks of rotten wood complete with termites and lead paint.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by leilaniguy

A neighbor had topsoil brought in a couple of years ago, it was good soil, but had broken glass, nails, live plant parts and chunks of rotten wood complete with termites and lead paint.

Sounds like they mulched an entire house!

[davephan]

We use 100% screen, pulverized compost for gardening. Do they sell compost? Since the growing season is year around, I assume that there must be composting businesses there where you can purchase compost. In Minnesota, the yard waste products like grass clippings and leaves end up at sites where they transform the yard waste into useful compost. Compost produces much better gardening results that dirt.

[OpenD]

At the county landfills they compost organic materials and grass clippings, and you can take the compost away for free, unpulverized, unscreened. But you have to work for it, unless you get lucky and hit there when the dozer is operating. If you ask nicely the operator will usually dump a load in your truck. Biggest problem is that demand exceeds supply.

The latest news from the county council is they intend to expand the program to expand household recycling to include vegetable scraps as well as grass clippings, to hire a contractor to manage the composting, and to begin charging for the compost, by January 2014. http://westhawaiitoday.com/sections/...s-compost.html

[terracore]

Originally Posted by OpenD

At the county landfills they compost organic materials and grass clippings, and you can take the compost away for free, unpulverized, unscreened. But you have to work for it, unless you get lucky and hit there when the dozer is operating. If you ask nicely the operator will usually dump a load in your truck. Biggest problem is that demand exceeds supply.

The latest news from the county council is they intend to expand the program to expand household recycling to include vegetable scraps as well as grass clippings, to hire a contractor to manage the composting, and to begin charging for the compost, by January 2014. Council digs on compost | West Hawaii Today, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

This has also been blamed for the ubiquitous coqui frogs and little fire ants.

[HiloDiver]

I can't speak for Hawai'i, but in the Florida Keys there was a problem with termites hitching a ride along with "free mulch" from yard clippings.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

There is so much growing stuff that it should be pretty easy to crank out a nice steady supply of compost at home.

Although I will confess that is a slow way to add soil to a property. But everything green or organic can be composted and added back to whatever soil you've got and it will make a huge improvement.