Tonight I planted a mystery plant that I got from Adam a while back. He got cuttings from a friend, and didn’t recall what it was called. The leaves feel leathery and is resinous. The smell is very pungent like a detergent. It must be some kind magical medicinal plant. I planted it in the garden next to the gobo and artichoke.
I noticed that the plum trees were getting absolutely demolished by the Chinese rose beetles. The lace looking leaf damage is the most obvious sign. They feast on over 250 plants in Hawaii, especially cacao trees. During the day they sleep at the base of the trees and at night they come out to feed on leaves. Most trees can outgrow the damage caused by the beetles, but not until they are a certain size. Without using a systemic insecticide, the only other best way to get rid of them is to just pick them by hand and kill them in soapy water. The best technique I found is to just put the cup right below them, flick them a little, and they will let go and just drop into their bubble bath of death. Since I don’t do it so often, I spent about 30 minutes collecting rose beetles. They are clumsy when it comes to flying. They kind of just hover around and I can catch them in mid air and throw them in the cup. There are hundreds if not thousands more of them out there…
Originally posted on 2021-08-02, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.