Winter Nursery, Growouts, and Seed Production
Our substations on the island of Oahu is an excellent location for winter nursery growouts and production. HARC supports the breeding programs of seed companies and other agricultural institutions with our research staff trained in horticulture, agronomy, entomology, pathology, genetics, physiology, weed science, and environmental chemistry.
A wide variety of crops have been grown at the Kunia substation including corn, potato, watermelon, banana, papaya, rice, wheat, soybean, sorghum, sunflower, lettuce, onion, pepper, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, basil, coffee, and sugarcane. Maximum winter temperature averages 79.8° F while the mean minimum temperature is 63.9° F. Winter rainfall averages 2.5 inches per month with solar radiation of 352.8 cal/cm2/day. The soil is a well drained oxisol (Molokai silty clay loam) with pH ranging from 6.0 to 6.8. The station has good quality irrigation water supplying drip irrigation systems in all fields. The advantages of Hawaii's year-around growing conditions make it an important location for seed production companies. The Experiment Station laboratories and administrative offices are conveniently located on the 108 acre farm in Kunia, as well as the Kunia Agribusiness Complex. These modern laboratories are equipped with state of the art instrumentation and equipment to assist our scientists in conducting their research.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Angel Del Valle Echevarria
Email: aechevarria@harc-hspa.com
A wide variety of crops have been grown at the Kunia substation including corn, potato, watermelon, banana, papaya, rice, wheat, soybean, sorghum, sunflower, lettuce, onion, pepper, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, basil, coffee, and sugarcane. Maximum winter temperature averages 79.8° F while the mean minimum temperature is 63.9° F. Winter rainfall averages 2.5 inches per month with solar radiation of 352.8 cal/cm2/day. The soil is a well drained oxisol (Molokai silty clay loam) with pH ranging from 6.0 to 6.8. The station has good quality irrigation water supplying drip irrigation systems in all fields. The advantages of Hawaii's year-around growing conditions make it an important location for seed production companies. The Experiment Station laboratories and administrative offices are conveniently located on the 108 acre farm in Kunia, as well as the Kunia Agribusiness Complex. These modern laboratories are equipped with state of the art instrumentation and equipment to assist our scientists in conducting their research.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Angel Del Valle Echevarria
Email: aechevarria@harc-hspa.com
Micropropogation
HARC operates a micropropagation facility using plant tissue culture techniques to multiply stock plants in vitro. This system produces high numbers of robust and disease-free clonal plants in a relatively short time.
Micropropagation begins with a grower providing healthy stock plant material for propagation. After the stock plant is sterilized, explants or small sections are placed into culture vessels. Plants are maintained in clean environment rooms (888 square feet) which are temperature-controlled and also on a programmable light regime. Media used to grow the plants can be either liquid or solid, depending on the plant. A high efficiency temporary immersion system (RITA) is also used. In this system plants are maintained in vessels, which at timed intervals, are then flooded with liquid media. The plants are multiplied in culture and finally they are rooted. Plants can be supplied to growers either in vitro or they can be "hardened" and provided as larger rooted ex vitro plants. Hundreds or thousands of plants can be produced from the original stock material depending on a grower's requirements.
HARC provides plants to growers within the state of Hawaii and also exports to other states and countries. Currently the plants in culture are sugarcane, banana, coffee, papaya, pineapple, taro, anthurium and orchid. At present, sugarcane and banana account for most of the plants and annually more than 50,000 plants are supplied to growers.
A dedicated team of four scientists undertakes the micropropagation work. Collectively they have 38 years experience of plant tissue culture.
New projects are always welcome and the group is happy to work with plants which they have not grown before.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Ming-Li Wang
Phone: (808) 621-1389
Email: MWang@harc-hspa.com
Micropropagation begins with a grower providing healthy stock plant material for propagation. After the stock plant is sterilized, explants or small sections are placed into culture vessels. Plants are maintained in clean environment rooms (888 square feet) which are temperature-controlled and also on a programmable light regime. Media used to grow the plants can be either liquid or solid, depending on the plant. A high efficiency temporary immersion system (RITA) is also used. In this system plants are maintained in vessels, which at timed intervals, are then flooded with liquid media. The plants are multiplied in culture and finally they are rooted. Plants can be supplied to growers either in vitro or they can be "hardened" and provided as larger rooted ex vitro plants. Hundreds or thousands of plants can be produced from the original stock material depending on a grower's requirements.
HARC provides plants to growers within the state of Hawaii and also exports to other states and countries. Currently the plants in culture are sugarcane, banana, coffee, papaya, pineapple, taro, anthurium and orchid. At present, sugarcane and banana account for most of the plants and annually more than 50,000 plants are supplied to growers.
A dedicated team of four scientists undertakes the micropropagation work. Collectively they have 38 years experience of plant tissue culture.
New projects are always welcome and the group is happy to work with plants which they have not grown before.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Ming-Li Wang
Phone: (808) 621-1389
Email: MWang@harc-hspa.com
Water Safety Testing
HARC operates a water testing laboratory at Kunia, Oahu that analyses agriculture irrigation and produce washing water for total coliform bacteria and E. coli bacteria. The test system meets FDA standards and is currently funded by a Hawaii Farm Bureau grant covering all costs to farmers for sample testing. Water samples must be collected by trained samplers that are available on all islands. Results will be completed in 24 hours after receipt of the sample and bacterial counts are provided to the farmers but not made public. The Food Safety Modernization Act regulations will go into effect as soon as 2022 and will require farms to have E. coli counts below 126 cfu per 100 ml water. Knowing in advance whether your water meets the FDA standards will allow any contamination sources to be identified and corrected.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Susan Schenck
Kunia Experiment Station
Phone: (808) 621-1386
Email: sschenck@harc-hspa.com
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Susan Schenck
Kunia Experiment Station
Phone: (808) 621-1386
Email: sschenck@harc-hspa.com