O‘ahu Workshop Presentations
March 24 and 25, 2012
The Hawai‘i Public Seed Initiative held its second “Seed Basics Workshop for Farmers and Gardeners” on O‘ahu at the Lyon Arboretum on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25, 2012 with an optional farm tour on Monday, March 26. The two-day Workshop was designed to create a practical working knowledge of seed growing, botany and biology, selection, harvesting, cleaning, and saving of various types of seed.
Click here for a full agenda.
Global Seed Industry by Hector Valenzuela
• Brief Summary of Statewide Seed Assesment from the 2010 Seed Symposium.
• Variety Trials and Seed Viability in Hawai‘i
Seed Basics: Botany and Biology by Russell Nagata
• Monocot and Dicot Plant Differences
• Open-Pollinated/Hybrid/Heirloom
• Inbreeding/outbreeding: Know Your Crops Mating preferences.
• Selfing/Cross Pollination Pollen Transfer (wind, insect, human)
• Reproductive Cycles: Annuals, Biennials, Perennials
• Different Strategies – population numbers, isolation distances, roughing and selection to maintain seed purity
Growing Tomato for Seed in the Garden by Glenn Teves
Overview of what conventional tomato breeders might consider:
• Selecting for cultivars with characteristics that address the special needs of Island propagation.
Grafting Tomatoes For Nematode And Disease Resistance by Angelo Loffredo
• Why graft?
• Varieties for rootstock
• How to care for the graft
• Grafting Demonstration
Growing Dryland Taro by Glenn Teves
Seed Saving And Storage: Basic Techniques And Ideas. Simple Techniques For A Home Mini-Seed Bank by Alvin Yoshinaga
Growing Requirements for Producing Lettuce for Seed by Russell Nagata
• Cleaning Techniques for Dry Seeded Crops.
• Pollination, Isolation, Optimum Number of Plants
• Seed Purity, Improving Lettuce Varieties, Roguing and Selection
• Seed Storage, Viability Testing
Mahalo to Our Workshop Presenters:
Hector Valenzuela Ph.D – CTAHR Extension Vegetable Specialist.
Russell Nagata Ph.D – CTAHR County of Hawai’i Extension Administrator.
Glenn Teves – CTAHR Molokai Extension Office
Alvin Yoshinaga – Retired Seed Conservation Laboratory-Restoration Ecologist at UH Mānoa
Jim Brewbaker PhD – CTAHR Plant Breeding, Biochemical Genetics
Nancy Redfeather – Coordinator Hawai’i Public Seed Initiative – The Kohala Center
Ann Tanaka- Master Gardener
Leyla Cabugos
Angelo Loffredo Ph.D – UH Manoa, Specialist On Biological Control Of Plant Parasitic Nematodes
Ray Uchida – CTAHR County Of Oahu Extension Administrator
Tim Kroessig – Lyon Arboretum Seed Lab
Supplementary Materials
1. Guidelines for Successful Seed Storage (A. Yoshinaga)
2. Seed Storage Internet Resources (compiled by A. Yoshinaga)
The two-day workshops, funded by a Ceres Trust grant awarded to The Kohala Center, are designed to create a practical working knowledge of seed growing, botany and biology, plant selection, seed harvesting, cleaning, and saving. Each workshop will include hands-on fieldwork with a focus on growing lettuce and tomato to seed as well as taro propagation. The O‘ahu workshop will include both lecture presentations and hands-on fieldwork so participants can practice harvesting, selecting, cleaning, and storing fresh seed. Strategies to account for differences in elevation, weather patterns, and rainfall will be discussed.
For more information, please contact Lyn Howe at 808-936-7040, or e-mail seedproject@kohalacenter.org.