Jen
Thank you. Yes you are right that is bouganvilla. This is the most favorite vine here because need less maintenance and give lots of colors.
ByndeweedBeth
I wish you DH should live near my new house....................
Kaleem
wild pig repellant?????
LOL, he would be fat and happy!
Last night no pigs came past where we dragged pig parts. Heard them making noises in their tunnels in the uluhe, (nasty, branching, climbing fern that forms acres of dense tangles) but none came into the cleared areas. Also put a shovel of dog droppings at the ends of pig tunnels, and threw pig parts down the tunnels in the uluhe. Not sure just what kept them away, but this is the first night in at least six weeks that there was no pig damage. Hope this was not a fluke, and that it keeps up.
OH GOOD!!!! Keep it up....running out of pig parts?????
Maybe you could go by the Keaau Shelter and get a random collection of dog poop...there is safety in numbers!!!!!
Is there any body know who can tell me that pigs like Hostas? I am really worry about my Hostas , here Hostas are not avaiable and the Hostas I have are from DG friends so these are my most preciouse plants.
Kaleem
Pigs love tubers, worms, fermented anythings. The preferences of pigs in Pakistan are probably not different from here....wherever they can find anything, they dig (root it up). I would grow your hostas in pots or within a fence. Pigs are not picky...they can plow up ground as if they were a tractor looking for grubs, worms etc....
I would look at your local authorities rather than us... They probably have a better idea of what to do.
Good luck!
Carol
At least after following this post, I no longer feel our squirrels and moles are such a big problem here in DC.
Gumlla, the pigs dug up and ate a lot of my hostas corms, as well as decimated most of my lilies. I completely lost three or four different hostas that cannot be replaced. About the only fleshy roots pigs don't like are colocasias, alocasias and xanthosomas. They all contain oxalic acid which pigs don't like. Some of the euphorbia with white sap is also distasteful to pigs. (now watch some hungry pigs prove me wrong). I notice your hostas are in pots, which should protect them from pigs.
OH, keaau...i just remembered that a friend of mine laced some sweetpotatos with poison...might give that a try!!!
Wondering if the pig guts are still working Keaau?
BHMom,
Let's hope no one quotes you out of context on that one.
Golly - don't tell me I've put my trotter in my mouth again!
LOL. I actually like that post. I get a good laugh out of it every time I read it.
Braveheartsmom, the pig guts and dog poop worked for almost a week. Pigs were back with a vengeance last night. I am quite upset with the damage. Alohahoya, met Marvin from Kopua Farms over the weekend. He gave me contact info to a reliable pig hunter he uses. Marvin says he has had major pig damage this year to his commercial crops, which is his livelihood, poor fellow. He also gave me contact info for fellow with 33 yd dump truck who delivers mulch for $100 less per load than the fellow I use. Now I can get another 200,000 lbs of pig attraction cheap! Unless anyone can come up with a better idea, I am back to trying to kill them off one by one.
The only other thing I can think of is skunks. But I really don't think you want to be smelling them all the time. lol
I like my wild foraging pigs really dead!!!! Goferit!
Is the guy's name Bob with the truck? Yes...you need more macnut mulch!!!
I'm soooo sorry that Paradise has such a problem. We who don't normally know of such are really traumatized to realize that all is not as it seems. We all wish for what the other has until we know the real troubles they endure. Will pray that a solution soon presents itself. Oddly East Texas has the same problems. Don't leave a dog outside after dark. Also a lot of what is termed Texas Hill Country. Mankind's irresponsibility is to blame. God save us all.
Princess Kilikina
So sorry to hear the guts and poop were only a short term fix - I think the only thing you are going to be able to do long term is electric wire strung tree to tree, or perhaps you are off the grid?
What poison did your friend bait with Carol? Of course it's got to be something the dogs won't get into...
Good luck with the hunting...
Jenny
The poison was arsenic or cyanide...i forgot which. MOST dogs wouldn't eat sweetpotatoes... (mine would!!!!).... This seems to be a really serious problem.
Aside from Coqui frogs...there are few pests in paradise. I think perhaps more pressure on the local government to help with the pigs is in order....
Don't you, keaau/
We don't have any pigs on Kwaj, it is waaay too small. But the outer islands have come up with a rather unique solution. They raise (?) pigs on the smaller uninhabited islands - then go there to get one or two when they are wanted. No damage - no problems. Too bad you can't do the same within Hawaii. Sure hope you can find a solution...I think Carol may have it right...lots of people screaming to the local government folks to do SOMETHING may prove your best bet.
Good luck!
Shari
Bumping this thread because I want to know how Keaau is getting on with the pig problem...
Keaau, are you there?
I hope all is well...
Aloha,
Jenny
Hey Keaau,
Sounds like you have gone through the ringers dealing with pigs. Being on the edge of Wao Kele O Puna means you have an endless supply of Sus.
They investigate anything newly planted and molest anything with a scent.
I caution you to avoid getting the free mulch. It comes along with many plant disease and pest problems, as well as inviting the pigs.
Spreading pig parts won't distract pigs, as the living pigs will eat dead pigs when they're hungry.
Setting snares on the pig trails may help. It will cause the caught pig to freak-out and it's partners will run.
To maintain a kitchen garden, you will need fencing. Keep your flower beds near your house. Established fruit trees are ok in the open.
Feral pig populations are higher now than they have ever been.
Get a freezer and sausage grinder; smoke the product with the invasive strawberry guava. Invite your friends over for dinner!
Aloha, Dave
Dave,
If Life serves up lemons, we're supposed to make lemonade --you've provided a corollary: when Life serves up Wild Hogs, make sausage.
Hey JPlunket,
Wild pigs make the best sausage that you can catch in your backyard! The invasive strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) is excellant firewood for smoking the meat.
In Puna you can be a good environmentalist / conservationist just by making sausage!
Dave
It all makes sense --animal pests, taken down, ground up and smoked, using plant pests, pulled up. All problems in the world should be as neatly and symmetrically resolved.
I nominate Dave for President. Maybe his unique and conservationist attitude would cure the rest of the ills this poor planet faces.
we may all be reduced (enticed) to this as our food becomes too expensive to be flown in....THAT may solve the problem of wild pigs. We may be talking, soon, about saving the 'last wild pigs on the island;
Our paper had an article this week about how the vog was harming some of the plants on the BI. I guess vog and rain equal acid rain... Anybody notice anything? I thought a couple of weeks ago when we had two bouts of vog coming up from the BI that the garden looked "thin". Almost as if it were autumn-y (is that a word?). Everything seems to have recovered though, even without any rain.
I have seen no harm but I read that Protea nurseries are decimated! but they are in Ka'u and in the direct path of the so2
A lot of the damage can be seen in the National Park. The sulfur acidifies and kills plants in the native forest; weeds too. If you are driving in the Park towards Pahala, you will begin to see a lot of invasive silver oak (Grevillea robusta) in the native forest, and you will see that it is turning sickly yellow. This is from the vog.
AH. So, the natives never adjusted to Pele's tantrums....or is it just killing the exotics?
No Carol, I wish Pele was selective about picking exotics out from the natives, but the smoke is hard on all plants in it's path.
Aren't we lucky over here...????? Bless those Trade Winds!!!!
Not a very good comparison but---Dallas, Texas is one of the most polluted cities in the US. Having been here forever I did not realize just how bad it is. That is---until I visited Maui. Such clean, clear wonderful air. Something we all take for granted and yet it is no longer what it was meant to be. Of all the wonderful memories of just 3 months ago---the clean air is what I miss most. We live in VOG everyday.
And here in the Houston area it's even worse than Dallas. We used to love to go to Dallas to breathe the "clean air"!
It is true that island life cannot be beat, that is for sure! (The scenery in particular, those gorgeous mountains, blue sky, and blue blue water. Here it is mucky water.
Edited to say I think that our pollution is worse than Dallas. Fortunately we don't have VOG here!! Sorry that y'all have to experience that. I'm sure that it is not pleasant.
This message was edited May 13, 2008 7:28 PM
Well, I also hate pollution, but I don't think much other than maybe Mexico City could actually compare to a real VOG situation. One more reason I love where I live. Miss the comraderie, but like to breath. ha ha.
My selfish love for the Trades brings grief to those on the West Coast of the other islands...and i am sorry for that. When I go to Honolulu on thursday...they are supposed to have a lot of vog.... It is a real demon for people with breathing problems...as well as plants!
I just returned from the Big Island and heard all the talk about VOG, but I didn't notice anything or have any breathing problems.
I am glad you didn't run across the VOG BwBeth. It can be really nasty, sore throat and stinging eyes as well as difficulty breathing. Maui sits sort of back in the curve of the island chain so we only get the VOG when there is a southerly flow weather pattern, which isn't too often. Now if only Maui stops the cane burning - it's quite bad on some parts of the island and they even get "Maui snow" which is pieces of black burnt cane floating down!
I did read in the newspaper about it affecting athsma in childred and some adults.