Volcanic Injury to Vegetables on Hawaii Island at Different Distances from the Kilauea Volcano

At the immediate Kilauea volcanic site, vegetable plants will always be injured by sulfur fumes.
At a 5 mile distance from the Kilauea volcanic site, plant damage by burning occurs sometimes, but not so often as to prevent farms from successfully growing there. Plant injury coincided with high sulfur episodes, but there have been high sulfur episodes without injury to plants.
Vog appeared in the Kona area which is 40-50 miles from the Kilauea volcanic site. Rainwater analysis revealed a pH of 4.0 and the presence of 27 detectable compounds in the ppb range. Tomato injury symptoms included: blossom drop, poor fruit set, hollow, small and almost seedless fruits and a less luxuriant appearance. Tomato plants growing outside produced no salable yield, but tomatoes protected by a plastic-covered rainshelter produced nearly 13 lbs/plant.
Here is a link to an excellent article 'Volcanic Emissions Injury to Plant Foliage' by Scott Nelson and Kelvin Sewake
www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freep...

[@randomjohn]

Fascinating on many levels.

[@MattGarver]

Nice video, science seems best when tied to real world applications. Great observations and good results with the shelters, I enjoy your videos.

[@growkratky5558]

Thanks, Matt. I always appreciate your comments and encouragement!

[@teller007]

Very informative video. I have concerns about the heavy chemtrailing done and how it affects gardening. I can see particulate falling from the air and a smog or haze present what is essentially a rural area in Texas. Will keep the rain-shelter in mind. Thank you for your videos.

[@mrd3863]

How do you make this so interesting? Watched twice.

[@growkratky5558]

Thank you. I appreciate your interest!

[@designworksdw1949]

Have a good day.

[@JebGardener]

very interesting. could hydroponics be the key to restoring lava landscapes once the gas subsides?

[@GH-if5xw]

Jeb Gardener Soil(Lava) samples could determine what the makeup of the Lava is. Way back in the sixties, when I started, the Media for growing in those early Hydroponic days was crushed volcanic lava rock, lightweight and it drained well, while retains some moisture, it worked very well. I still use it on plants that don’t like their roots wet. My first foray into Hydroponic growing was a book by J Shulto Douglas, one of the very early pioneers of Hydroponics, I still have his book, along with Resh, whose book is very good. Krakty is a late entry into Hydroponics, but some of his studies and experiences at Hilo, as we all know work very well. The biggest improvement is in the Nutrients, with the other 11 essential macro elements. I presently use MaxiGrow and MaxiBloom, with CalMag and Si. I have carried out trials with various Nutrents and have settled on MaxiGrow and MaxiBloom,The Masterblend is too expensive to ship into Canada, the duties are prohibitive. I also grow in raised beds for peas, runner beans, bush beans, carrots etc. I use the Mittelittner Method, as I know exactly what I am feeding the plants for Nutrents. The modified Krakty method I use In 5 gallon buckets fed from Master 60 gallon bin, to a Float valve bucket to maintain a 3” level of Nutrient, I find the Peat moss and Perlite act as a buffer for Ph and in Hot Weather I don’t worry about nutrients getting too warm. Krakty has a video of the system on his channel. The only difference is I use a colander inverted upside down in the bottom of the bucket, with a 16 oz cup as a wicking device. When the roots want to they go right through the the holes in the colander down into the nutrients. So some roots in HP soil and some in nutrients It’s the best of both worlds.

[@growkratky5558]

Good question, Jeb. Certainly, hydroponics would be a recommended method to grow vegetables there. Lava might be ripped with a bulldozer to allow planting of fruit trees such as papayas and this could be considered a type of soil-less hydroponics since there is only lava rock, water and fertilizer (plus the transplanting substrate) and might be called 'lava culture' (similarly to the way we refer to a sand culture hydroponic method).

[@ToddLarsen]

Thank you so much for making this amazing video! I'm so thankful that you were able to record these instances and put this together over many years to show the differences, i love science and this is right up my alley👍😃 Thank you for sharing and always Keep Building👍