Hawaii County Real Property Tax Dedicated Agriculture Application Due 9/1/25 Most active coffee or diversified ag farms will likely qualify for the 10 year Ag Dedication as an “Orchard”. It’s the cheapest tax rate and you will qualify if you exceed $2,000 in annual farm income and/or meet other baseline standards. To double check, you…
From Flower to Fruit: Optimizing Coffee Tree Nutrition and Soil Health As Kona coffee farmers know well, the journey from flowering to cherry harvest is a delicate dance of biology, climate, and care. Nutrition plays a leading role in this process—not only in supporting fruit development, but also in sustaining long-term tree health and productivity.…
Farms with a distinct harvest season: Note your first flowering on a calendar as other activities such as BotaniGard applications and the early season removal of CBB-infested coffee are timed from the first bloom. During the winter through late spring months, coffee flowers bloom about 8-10 days after rain or heavy irrigation preceded by a (slight…
Aloha, coffee farmers! In this article, we want to share some information about the life cycle of the Coffee Twig Borer (CTB) and how to manage this pest that can damage your coffee plants. The CTB is a small beetle that belongs to the ambrosia beetle family. It is native to Southeast Asia, but it…
When I first started farming Kona Coffee more than 30 years ago the Black Twig Borer (BTB) was already here. Back then damage was barely noticeable and I considered it a minor threat. In fact, I used to tell other farmers that they didn’t have to worry about the BTB at all. This lack of…
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BEST PRACTICES: PRUNING PRACTICES-Notes updated 12/28/2022 (Bob Smith) Pruning is the start of the farming year. Coffee beans form on last year’s growth. Three years growth on the vertical gives the maximum crop. Remove suckers on bent over verticals if using the “Multi-vertical” method. The “Beaumont-Fukunaga” method prunes every third row to the stump, permitting…
Pruning Coffee by Bob Smith WHY: Coffee trees require yearly pruning to remove unproductive branches and to make space for new vigorous growth. Coffee verticals have a growth cycle of 3 years. Maximum production is achieved the 3rd year. Growth thereafter is on a biennial schedule with high yield/low yield in alternating years. Approximately 1/3…