Komohana Research and Extension Center, Hilo, Hawaiʻi · October 1–3, 2015

Natural Farming Symposium 2015

A day of talks and hands-on skill shares in Hilo, a day of panels, then farm tours and a film. 25 recordings: nine talks including Drake Weinert's keynote, six demonstrations on the lawn, eight panels, a short ceremony and hallway interviews. Every one is checked line by line and boiled down to what was made, what was measured and what was only told.

Read what it all adds up to →

Also on the record: Konkuk 2016

Topics microbes soil economics policy health taro culture food pigs scale protectors research biochar fermentation minerals school gardens Clear

2 talks on “pests”

Richard Perea ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·38 min

Fermenting the Weeds Bugs Won't Eat

Richard Perea, a farmer from Ocean View, Kaʻū, runs an outdoor skill share on fermenting plants from his land that bugs won't eat. He shows a Christmas berry ferment of rehydrated leaves, brown sugar and water that he drinks and sprays (the 'Biome Rejuvenation Juice' of the YouTube title; it is neither Cleanser (BRV) nor Cho's Food (FPJ)), plus a hydrosol and a vodka bark extract. Then he builds a 'wild grass fertilizer' from guinea grass, forest mulch, Protectors (LAB) and water, used at a cup and a half per 55 gallons.

Found Guinea grass stopped at the line where he sprayed guinea grass fertilizer

christmas berry food guinea grass health microbes pests

Dr. Koon-Hui Wang ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·34 min

Microbes Need Mulch That Rots: CTAHR's Field Trials

Dr. Koon-Hui Wang, a UH plant pathologist and nematologist, reports on her natural farming field trials in Hawaiʻi since 2010, using soil nematodes as her measure of soil health. Microbes (IMO-4) helped soil tilth and the soil food web on most farms, but yields matched or beat fertilizer only where there was crop residue or a mulch that rots easily; on a long-fallow Maui field with bamboo-leaf mulch and no seedling treatment, the natural farming plots yielded far less. Her conclusion: the Microbes need something to recycle, and they don't replace pest management.

Found Farm 1 soybean: KNF plots darker green, more biomass, higher chlorophyll and leaf nitrogen

cover crops microbes mulch nematodes pests research