Mountain Apple, City Apple

A couple of weeks ago, our friends Justin and Amy came to visit from Tennessee. We had so much fun experiencing all the beautiful beaches and hikes that Hawaii has to offer. One morning we went up to Manoa Falls to experience some of the jungle. Along the hike, we saw incredible plant growth--really, it was overgrowth. Right at the falls, I noticed a mountain apple tree. We were joking about how I don't know much about plants, but I seem to know about all the edible ones. After looking more closely at the area around the tree, I observed some seeds that had fallen and sprouted! I carried back two sprouts, carefully shrouded in leaves and mud to protect them on the ride home.

I planted the seed in a small container, and kept it very wet and shaded. I thought that perhaps it was a lost cause when after a week or so there was no apparent growth. However, patience paid off in this case: the shell eventually split open and a sprout emerged!

The other seed taken from the hike has split in two, reveling a green core. I believe there is a green root down in the soil, though the sprout has yet to rise from the top of that one. In any case, looks like we are going to have a "city apple" tree soon!

Kaimuki Sprouts

So much has happened since my last blog...most notably, we have moved back to Hawaii! When I first got into gardening and sprouting as a hobby, we were living in Tennessee. I became used to a certain level of challenge regarding growing and maintaining plants.

When we got settled in to our new place, I was of course eager to get some greenery. On a major City Mill run, I picked out a few starts, including bittermelon, or goya (as it is known in Okinawa). This fruit is popular in parts of Japan and India, and it is a personal favourite of mine. I have been wanting to grow it for years, but my attempts at planting the seeds in Nashville were unsuccessful.

After just a couple of days I was amazed at the growth of the start! It got quickly out of control and needed the help of some bamboo trellises found on a jungle hike. Hawaii, it turns out, is very easy to garden in!

A small challenge nagged at me, however. The plant itself was undergoing rapid growth, and it kept producing flowers. But the flowers kept falling off of the vine. I tried spreading pollen between flowers, which has worked in the past for our peppers. With this technique failing, I decided to take a visit to our neighbor's house where there is an amazing goya vine growing all along their front fence. I took a single flower and used it to try to cross-pollinate mine. I am not sure if some helpful insect came around right at that moment, or if the trick worked, but either way, a mini-goya appeared just days later.









I have been reading about growing vegetables in Hawaii. According to this book, it should take 90 days after planting to get a bittermelon fruit. So far we are ahead of plan!