Um..please explain, Mike! Do they not have any shows or plant societies? Do none of the Hawaiian growers sell? I'm sure they can grow on trees there. Don't be envious...the cuttings we buy in net bags at the shows are around $10 for a 5 or 6" cutting that may or may not be mature or healthy. The one I bought a year ago and has been in the green shack trying to root is just now sending out a new shoot.

We have Orchid Society, water garden club, Vireya Society, Bamboo Society, Palm Society - We have a great orchid show each year, bamboo society has an annual get together and sale. Nearly all the societies contribute plants to our local zoo and botanical gardens. Most folks I talk to don't know what an Epi is. My neighbor has an orchid nursery and has a lot of Epis. When the dept of ag guy came by to certify his orchid greenhouse he saw the Epis and advised my neighbor in a nice way that he could not send them to the mainland as shipping all cactus was banned due to a certain type of bug being present in a desert style cactus that was imported to the islands year ago. So all cactus are labelled "bad". That kills the commercial value of Epis and our local market is not big enough to support production. Remember the Big Island of Hawaii only has about 190,000 residents, mostly in rural areas or the tourist area of Kailua Kona.
Rarely do you see Epi plants at the local farmers markets and there is only one garden shop in Hilo that sells two varieties of Epis for a backyard grower.
They do not grow on trees over here. Not much does and the dept of ag is very protective of native species and just about everything is labelled invasive if its not native.
Locals don't do a lot of gardening as we know it.
Carol, I cannot understand your prices (high) and why would one purchased a year ago be struggling to send out new shoots. Must be the humidity, climate?
I think we have the greatest environment for growing but we live in an isolated bubble. I wonder how many ATP members we have from Hawaii. Not many I bet.
I must stop.
Maybe some one else from Hawaii can jump in here or maybe this is the wrong forum to keep this going.

Ok, found the ATP member map. Looks like we have 10 members in Hawaii, spread over 4 different islands. The map is great because if you zoom in you get a good map of The Big Island, where I'm located and where the other members are in the state.

Thanks for the expanation, Mike. I have only been to the Big Island once, and after seeing the way Ipomea was taking over the rain forrest, I can understand why the Dept. of Ag. is so strict. And as far as bugs are concerned, since most things come in on ships, and they come from around the planet, it makes sense. The ample rain and ample drainage on the islands, along with the atmosphere do make things grow to mamouth proportions, compared to their native environments.

We cross posted . After one visit, I'm hooked! I would love to retire there, but The only property that's affordable is in Pele' path!

Hey Mike - just throwing my 2 cents in here...

I was at the San Francisco flower show last weekend and they had epi cuttings (around 7-8") for between $5 to $10. When I stopped to look, a lady at the $10 box was shaking her head and told me they were $2 at the show last year. I've had no other experience pricing them, but there ya go.

Carol - Ipomea - Are you talking about Morning Glory. That's not really a pest, I have it in my yard and love the blue flowers. We have a couple of other vines that are a problem but nothing drastic. Kahili Ginger is a problem, there's a wild Guava we call Waiwi, that's bad news, a banana squash, some grasses have got established, wild pigs are a nuisance, fire ants, the list goes one. The worst invasive species is "people" Not to deter you but the bulldozers go through the native forests too easily to create new house pads, roads get widened, golf courses are rampant and expensive homes for the wealthy in Kona keep spreading. And of course the county cuts all the trees down in town because of Liability. Its the same the world over I guess.

I'll Bet Metrosideros ( Dave) would disagree with you, as he is a botanist there, but I don't want to start any conflicts here.

I met Dave a couple of years ago at our local farmers market but at the time did not know we were Daves garden members. Nice guy and very knowledgeable. .He also assisted in ID ing a giant costus I have.

That farmer's market is amazing! I saw so many things I didn't recognize.

My big red noid and others are budding out and ready to bloom. No others at this time. No buds on Curley Q yet.

Carol - I think we are talking different farmers markets. We have one at the coffee mill in Mountain View where I saw Dave. Two plant stalls, a veggie stall and one or two other odds and ends if they show up. You might be talking about the market closer to Pahoa. That one is amazing. The plant stalls there have a lot of my savings in their pockets. Always something different. In fact I did get my first night bloomer from there about 10 years ago.

Ah! I was talking about the one in Hilo. Great tourist attraction!

Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth waiting for the buds to bloom...but such is beauty..can't rush it...still waiting... hope it really tries to bloom before I go out of town in two weeks!

Yeah!

Tarev - Nice photos. Its touch and go for two weeks a think. It drives me nuts waiting when they are that size.

I think I will be posting a new bloom pic in a couple of day. Lots of buds coming on Grand Prize which is my Avatar pic. April should be a good month, May and June are the peak.

Getting close here too.

Tarev,
Thanks for posting pictures of the buds. I've wondered what they look like. My plant is two years old now, but I still only have green leaves. Is there an approximate age at which they can be expected to start blooming?

HI Sondra, not really sure what age, since my epis were just give aways that I got. They just usually attempt to bloom here in Spring, when temps are still cool to warm and gets good bright light outdoors. My area is very dry too, so epis behave differently than those growing them in more humid conditions.

We got some good overnight rains and still some this morning, temps are in the cool low 60F's too. Such a welcome relief! Hope it prods my epis to continue its blooming cycle nicely.