Haw’n Tel vs Spectrum (Lahaina, Hawaiian Acres: how much, contractor, to live)

[Luau Time]

Originally Posted by Buckeye77

$190k for a 1 acre lot in Keaau? Wow.

The lots have ranged from $180k to $195k. We were looking for property around $150k, but wound up going $45k over budget.

[terracore]

I'm not familiar with that subdivision but an acre a few miles away tend to go for about $40k, but wouldn't have the CC&Rs and county water that might be important to you. I would be interested in knowing if it will have mail delivery.

As far as internet goes, you won't know until you actually try to order it. My subdivision was wired for Hawaiiantel DSL and that is what the realtor said was available, but when we called to get service they practically laughed at us. Yeah the house was "wired" for it but they had the infrastructure for like 100 clients in a sub that had 1000 trying to order every day. And no waiting list. We spent years getting internet through expensive cellular connection. Forget about Netflix etc it was email and light web browsing only.

Eventually an FCC rural internet grant caused them to wire us for fiber and now we have the fastest internet in the state.

No cable TV. Spectrum said they will probably never get here within my lifetime. Whatever, we have 19 free over-the-air channels, Netflix, Amazon, and all the other cord cutting options. I wouldn't get Spectrum unless they practically gave it away for free.

You may very well have Spectrum and HT as internet options, just don't believe it until you call the company and they tell you what day they are going to show up to turn it on. For us that was several years in an established subdivision.

I had spectrum at another property. Their downtime is comparable to HT. It happens from time to time. If you have a work-at-home situation you might want to make sure you have a phone with "hotspot" feature. I've lost internet for 15 minutes to 2-3 hours several times in the last month and the hotspot saved me from missing meetings etc.

[Luau Time]

Aloha Terracore -

Yes, we will have mail delivery. The community locked mailboxes will be in one location. I assume near the entrance. The CC&Rs aren’t too restrictive. Although I’m not fond of HOAs, this subdivision doesn’t have fees or extreme regulations. It’s reasonable, e.g., no farm livestock like pet pigs or chickens. Rules are enforced by the residents, i.e., 3/4 of the residents must agree whether a resident is non-compliant. However, I don’t believe this type of enforcement really works. But at least it’s in writing if there is a real problem. At least we don’t have to go through committees to get approvals for house colors, etc. We like the location, having internet, and cable TV, and county water was a must for us.

Thanks for your input.

Judy

[terracore]

LOL on the pet pigs and chickens. You're still going to have both species in the neighborhood. Too bad they can't make CC&Rs prohibiting the ferals.

Out of curiosity, is it zoned AG or residential?

[Luau Time]

Originally Posted by terracore

LOL on the pet pigs and chickens. You're still going to have both species in the neighborhood. Too bad they can't make CC&Rs prohibiting the ferals.

Out of curiosity, is it zoned AG or residential?

It’s zoned AG. At least those species aren’t in the subdivision. We’re bordered by plant nurseries. Needless to say we’ll need to fence those little ferals out. Lol

My hubby will be growing produce to sell at the farmer’s market. I’ll need to do some research on the process. If you have any advice, I’m all ears.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

You'll need to do a lot of research about growing things in your area. Especially about the pests and how to deal with them. It seems like things do well for the first year, then the bugs move in. I see new pests all the time and it's a learning curve in how to deal with them. Probably the best advice is to grow in a greenhouse.

The University of Hawaii has an excellent resource called CTAHR College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Their cooperative extension has all sorts of information about growing things in Hawaii and how to identify and deal with pests.

Good luck on having 3/4 of the residents agree on enforcing rules. Who is going to organize this effort? If someone has a problem with a neighbor, do they have to somehow contact every lot owner (mail?) no matter where they are in the world and get some kind of written or verbal agreement? Then what?

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Luau Time

I’ll need to do some research on the process. If you have any advice, I’m all ears.

One area a lot of people don't research enough is how to safely store and use all the pesticides you are going to need.

[trinity1111]

Originally Posted by Luau Time

It’s zoned AG. At least those species aren’t in the subdivision. We’re bordered by plant nurseries. Needless to say we’ll need to fence those little ferals out. Lol

My hubby will be growing produce to sell at the farmer’s market. I’ll need to do some research on the process. If you have any advice, I’m all ears.

Hi Luau.

My piece of advice for Puna area living:

Definitely get an understanding and a potential treatment program for "FIRE ANTS".

Fire Ants are BRUTAL.

It will blow your mind how painful bites are, and how long lasting the effects of just one bite.

A bite is like a bad beesting for 6 hours, and then it turns into the worst "mosquito bite" itch for 2 weeks.

The bite breaks blood vessels and you get unsightly bruising that last for weeks.

Bites on pets can cause blindness.

Anyway, take care and happy researching, Cheers !

[terracore]

My suggestion for controlling LFA is to get a commercial outfit to come eradicate them for you. It will take a few months of treatments. Once they are gone you can toss down Siesta every few months and keep them away yourself. The good thing about LFA is that they do not spread far from their nest and are generally "propagated" by other species (usually humans) moving them around. Also unlike their larger mainland cousins they are not aggressive. They will sting if provoked but they won't purposely swarm and attack like regular fire ants.

Growing in Hawaii is unlike growing anywhere else. Some plants that are annuals on the mainland are perennials here. CTAHR is a good starting point but over the years I've found their information and seeds to be unreliable. A friend of mine recently graduated with a degree from there and explained to me that their corn seeds for example were developed for commercial agriculture meaning regular applications of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. We've been most successful growing seeds from suppliers like Baker Creek that has a large selection of seeds developed for growing in areas all over the world. If they say the plants do best in tropical or subtropical climates, they are usually a good choice for Hawaii. They search the world for new varieties and generally are not "big agriculture" cultivars and do better without having to be sprayed with toxins. There are a lot of youtube channels where people are growing things in Hawaii, Costa Rica, South Florida, etc that have information that would be useful to you.

Personally I wouldn't bother growing anything that is intended to be consumed raw unless it has a smooth skin, like tomatoes that are easily washed, or its something that has to be peeled. The risk of rat lungworm is just too great.

Traditionally there hasn't been a problem selling locally grown produce. The local stores will buy it, the ones paying top dollar were the resorts but the market has dried up for now. Most of the stuff that wasn't going to the resorts were going to expensive stores on the mainland. That is an involved process because it has to be inspected before it will get an AG stamp for transport.

Since we don't get a winter to kill off the pests they are going to be a constant problem. Nematodes in the soil, insects, slugs, giant African snails, rats, birds will all take their toll. Most people start all their seeds indoors or greenhouse or they buy starts from a nursery or farmer's market.

If you have soil you probably live on former sugar cane land. If that is the case you'll want to have your soil tested for arsenic and dioxins before you start getting into the soil: http://hawaiidoh.org/references/HDOH%202011d.pdf There was a case some years back where some fill dirt was transported from an old sugar plantation to the harbor and it was poisoning the water and last I heard the EPA was involved. Most of the soil is safe but they were pretty loosey goosey about drenching everything in poison a hundred years ago and some of the land is sour.

Monoculture does not do well here without using a lot of chemicals. We grow in beds and never the same thing twice in a row. After a crop of corn we'll grow potatoes, beans or peas or something. But we'll have corn going in another bed.

[hotzcatz]

There's a lot of easy to grow things such as bananas and papayas, although they take awhile to start producing. Almost zero care which is a good thing.


There's fruit fly traps and baits which are good for crops such as tomatoes. Many folks plant the Roma types because the thicker skins deter the fruit flies that 'sting' the fruit which causes it to either rot or fall off before ripe. Cherry tomatoes are another good choice. Big beefsteak types are much harder to grow because of the fruit flies.



A bee hive can increase your production since pollination can be low if there's not enough bees around. Plus you'd then have honey to sell. A lot of folks are starting to use a top bar type hive.


Vegetable starts may be an additional thing to sell at farmer's markets.