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UH to renew WAILUA, Kauai -- The search for a cure to a fatal fungus that has attacked about 20 percent of the state's coconut palm trees, probably Hawaii's best-known tourism icon, is about to be renewed by the University of Hawaii's agriculture experiment station on Kauai after an eight-year hiatus.
search for coconut
fungus cure
Kauai's ag station plans to
pick up the hunt halted 8 years
ago by lack of fundsBy Anthony Sommer
Star-BulletinExperiments that began in the 1980s yielded a successful way to prevent the disease, but not a cure.
The project ended in 1992 when Hurricane Iniki wiped out all of the trees that were being studied. The state Legislature did not provide funding for more research until its 2000 session, when it appropriated $50,000.
The primary drum-beater for renewed funding was Philippe Visintainer, who owns the only business in Hawaii that provides preventive treatments, Hawaii Coconut Protectors, headquartered in Paia, Maui.
Visintainer also is head of the Maui Farm Bureau, and he said that's the hat he was wearing when he asked the state for money for new research on what he calls "the AIDS of coconut palms."
"What we really need is $200,000 a year, but that just wasn't a realistic request," he said.
The fungus is called Phytophthora katusae, but its common name is "coconut heart rot." It appears only in Hawaii, although similar fungi are found in other parts of the world.
Because large numbers of young coconut palms grow both in the wild and in plant nurseries, there is little concern the fungus ever will wipe out all of the trees in Hawaii. But it is a major concern for anyone who uses the trees for landscaping -- governments, businesses and homeowners. The cost of replacing a diseased tree can be considerable.
The fungus was first identified in 1971 and probably arrived in Hawaii about three years earlier, according to Jerry Ooka, the UH researcher who headed the earlier experiments on Kauai and who is planning, finally, to continue them. The university's research station is on Kauai's "Coconut Coast," an area heavily planted with coconut palms a century ago in anticipation of an industry that never materialized.
"The disease appears to go in cycles of four to five years. Right now we're in a low point in the cycle with very little spread of the disease," Ooka said. "It appears to spread most rapidly after heavy storms. A great number of trees on Kauai were affected following both Hurricane Iwa and Hurricane Iniki."
The fungus is most commonly found on the wet, windward side of the islands, but has begun showing up on leeward coasts recently. It is spread by the wind, on carriers such as birds and insects, and by gardening tools that have been in contact with diseased trees.
The first symptom is the death of the newest frond emerging from the top of the tree. But by the time that can be seen, the tree is doomed. During the course of the disease, a tree will lose all of its fronds.
UH's earlier research discovered that an annual dose of potassium phosphite injected with a pressurized syringe will boost a tree's immune system sufficiently to ward off the fungus.
Because it is a nutrient and not a fungicide, the material is treated by government agencies as a plant food and is not subject to regulation, Ooda said.
The chemical used by Visintainer varies only slightly -- to avoid patent infringement problems, Ooda said -- from that developed by the university. Visintainer claims a 99 percent success rate and guarantees the trees he treats will be fungus-free for one year.
He charges $20 a tree or $15 if the customer has 50 or more trees. His customers are primarily resorts and golf courses.
"We've tried to make it affordable because we want everyone to use it," he said. Hawaii Coconut Protectors opened for business in January 2000, and Visintainer said he has focused primarily on Maui. But in 2001 he plans to offer the service throughout the state.
Visintainer notes that it costs between $200 and $500 to have a diseased tree removed. Replacement trees cost $100 a foot, so a typical 50-foot tree sold by nurseries runs $5,000. Coconut palms grow a foot a year and reach a maximum height of about 100 feet.<
P> Ka Leo O Hawaii
University of Hawaii
