Hilo : what part of Hilo can I grow fruit trees and manage a large garden? (Keaau: buying, live)

[babysteps09]

Ok, very cool. Thank you so much! I guess it just really depends on where Our family will land on the island since climates are so different in every part of the island. Thank you for the "mango" tip. I didn't know about that.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

There's something like 30 different varieties of mango that grow on the Big Island. Once you find a place to live, either ask your neighbors what they grow, or get info from a local nursery or Plant It Hawai'i.

Side note -- I was merrily picking mangoes off our tree for the third year when I discovered that I'm allergic to the sap. Turns out that mangoes are in the poison oak family. Gave me a horrible, very itchy red rash on my hands. Luckily I can still eat mangoes.

[babysteps09]

Oh wow, eating mangos sounds heavenly right now. My most favorite fruit of all times! I'm relieved that there are different types of mangos. Hopefully I pick a place that already has established fruit trees in them. Anyway, thank you for the information regarding mangos. I didn't know that about them either. I'm glad you can harvest and still eat them even after your rash scare!

[hotzcatz]

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/HITAHR_04-06-93_28-33.pdf That's the U of H's 'College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' (which most of us just refer to as 'CTAHR' publication on mangoes in Hawaii. CTAHR has loads of info on almost any crop you'd want to grow in Hawaii, although I've not found their database all that easy to navigate.

You can also get a poster of the different types of mangos in Hawaii: Hawaiian Mangos Poster Or just wait until Plant It Hawaii has one of their semi-annual open to the public sales events and buy trees from them: Mangos | Plant It Hawaii

Yup, it's much nicer buying a house with established fruit trees. Our last one had avocado (Lehua variety) along with tangerines, grapefruit, lemons and pineapples. The neighbor next door had a wonderful orange tree. But, now we've moved to a different house with a bigger yard but no established trees. Sigh! I miss those trees.

[babysteps09]

Oh wow, thank you for the information. It's GOLD to someone who is about to make a big decision to buy a home there. Trying to get all my resources in order. I love networking as wel. Thank you again for posting this.

[hotzcatz]

For growing a garden, the Waimea side of Hilo has much deeper soil in most places. Go to the other side of 'singing' bridge and start looking. Almost anywhere along the Hamakua coast will be good for gardening.

[HonaunauLove]

I think a bigger concern than where you can grow stuff is how far do you want to be from necessities like shopping, and gas and still grow stuff.

[SoloPilot]

Aw, come on, go for broke!

SUGAR CANE!

And I want to see the video when you burn off!

XD

(Full disclosure: A few years ago, when cane was disappearing under development on the Windward Side, one guy from the mainland was toying with the idea of buying on the edge of his tract, then buying a couple of adjacent acres and leaving it in cane as a family "organic" farm. When someone in authority pointed out that his neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the periodic field fires, the idea died a justified death).

[sk290]

Originally Posted by terracore

"I was interested in growing mango, banana, papaya, and avocado trees"

Somebody who had a lot of foresight put 20+ of them on our lot and even at our altitude we get year round coconuts. I don't recall exactly but they are a Samoan or Tongan variety. We sell the sprouts on Craigslist for $5 each.

Are these the tall coconut palms or the dwarf ones? I've seen people sell the dwarf ones on CL but wonder if it's worth the asking price.

[Harpaint]

I would suggest getting out of town. Lots of gardens and fruit trees in town seem to be raided.