Context: KNF Podcast LIVE – 9 February, 2025 @ 48:36 “In Hawaii, in hot weather, instead of rye (as a cover crop), we use corn. Corn is fastest growing. Drake says, “Master Cho talks about corn a lot and I’ve never really had much success with corn because the soil is so acidic. Maybe I need to do more sea water, but I’ve never had success with corn particularly, but it would be worth it to give it a go this year, I don’t know, we’ll see. But he always comes and talks about corn. But you know what works well? Sugar cane. It’s just harder to remove. ” He goes on to talk about river cane, banana…
Question: I wonder if sorghum or Sorghum-sudangrass might work since they can withstand some soil acidity, they are annual, and are used as cover crops typically.
- allonesame asked 2 weeks ago
- Makes sense, similar c4 plant, stalks are full of sugars . Gotta be good for the soil. .
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Sorghum-sudangrass is a great cover crop and chop n drop for gardens its a winter kill cover crop so it easy to terminate, grows fast, digs deep and provides lots of sugars ( i myself grew it in a patch for 2 seasons and used it as a chop n drop mulch it regrows fast and i could get 3-4 chops out of the season chopping at around 3ft/1m the patch that i grew it in was un-amended soil really heavy clay after the 2 seasons it had made great soil ) …it is also great for foraging and grazing but can be dangerous to animals in frost areas if not tended to properly more info here : https://forages.oregonstate.edu/fi/topics/pasturesandgrazing/grazingsystemdesign/preventingprussicacidpoisening#:~:text=If%20favorable%20weather%20for%20growth%20follows%20such%20a%20frost%2C%20sudangrass,if%20pastured%2C%20cause%20cyanide%20poisoning. …lowering the acidity of soil can be done through adding lime to help balance the ph …corn is a great cover crop as well but needs to be terminated early before it starts to put on grains it is also a winter kill cover crop, grows fast, digs deep …sunn hemp i think would also work really well in Hawaii as a great cover crop https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_crju.pdf
- dagoofman answered 2 weeks ago
- Awesome commentary on your experience and extended knowledge with links to articles! We are getting close with what to grow, but have we answered the pH part of Drake’s Quandary?
soil ph is fairly easy to deal with …for a acidic soil adding lime and/or wood ash along with organic material and IMOs will balance out ph, for alkaline soils adding sulfurs along with organic material and IMOs will balance out ph … the key long term factor here in a balanced soil ph is the IMOs while the lime/wood ash and sulfurs are a quick fix to the issue they will need to be added often to maintain balance, IMOs are a long term fix they will create a balanced environment for which they want to live in ….for drakes soil i’d suspect the soil is acidic due to the sulfur content of the volcanic rock he lives on and heavy rainfall in his area leeching and washing out organic matter and minerals from the soil
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