Protea Newsletter International An e­Newsletter for the International Protea Industry and Scientific Community to Promote Communication, Cooperation and the Advancement of Science, Technology, Production and Marketing (and to promote the Hawaii Protea Industry) Volume 2, Number 1, April 2009 Editor: Ken Leonhardt Chairman, lnternational Protea Working Group (IPWG), International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Professor, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii USA Contents: A visit to South Africa ............................................................................. 2 International Horticulture Congress announcement .................................. 3 New protea poster from the University of Hawaii..................................... 4 A message from the Hawaii State Protea Growers Corporation ................ 4 A message from the Zimbabwe Protea Association .................................. 5 Protea night­life ....................................................................................... 6 Proteaceae cultivar development and uses ................................................ 6 Sample costs to establish and produce protea ........................................... 6 Research funding awarded by the IPA...................................................... 7 New cultivar registrations......................................................................... 7 Recent books on Proteaceae ..................................................................... 7 More protea web sites of interest.............................................................. 7 Acta Horticulturae Proceedings of past IPWG Symposia.......................... 8 PNI Vol. 1, No. 1 (archive) ...................................................................... 8 Abstracts of hard to find protea research articles ...................................... 9 Protea associations around the world...................................................... 18 International horticultural events taking place ........................................ 19 Join ISHS............................................................................................... 23 2 A Visit to South Africa, by Diana Roy, Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers, Summer 2008 Newsletter. Shown below is the first page of the newsletter. Go to this link for the full text and pictoral review. It is excellent. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/leonhardtk/v2n1/summer08.pdf (1.2 MB) 3 Start planning for IPA and IPWG 2010 28 th International Horticultural Congress 14 th International Protea Association Conference 10 th International Protea Working Group Symposium Lisboa, Portugal, 22­27 August 2010 www.ihc2010.org Call for abstracts 10 th IPWG Protea Research Symposium Tentative deadline for abstract submission is 31 December 2009 Convener, Maria Jose Leandro, [email protected], and [email protected] 2 nd Convener, Ken Leonhardt, [email protected] Scientific Committee Ken Leonhardt, Chairman, USA Maria Jose Leandro, Portugal Moshe Reuveni, Israel Guijun Yan, Australia Lynn Hoffman, South Africa Juan Alberto Rodriguez­Perez, Spain Audrey Gerber, Australia Anticipated sessions include Botany, Biodiversity and Conservation Crop Management Strategies Nutrition and Irrigation Management of Flowering by Pruning Plant Growth Regulation Plant Protection Disease and Pest Management 4 Variety Improvement Genetics and Breeding Genetic Engineering Postharvest Physiology and Technology Marketing, Promotion and Economics Regional Reports Poster Session General Membership Meeting of the IPA General Membership Meeting of the IPWG Farm Tours Opening Ceremony and Closing Gala Event New Poster Depicting the 101 Leucospermum Introductions by the University of Hawaii Grouped by early­season, mid­season and late­season flowering, this colorful poster will be an attractive addition to your sales office wall. Unfortunately, it has not been printed for lack of funds, but you are welcome to print your own. www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/leonhardtk/Proteaposter.pdf (8 MB) A Message from the Hawaii State Protea Growers Corporation By Tony Bayaoa Aloha, It has been 11 months since our volcano opened her vents with sulfur dioxide (S0 2) emissions that wiped out 95% of the protea fields here on the Big Island. However, for the last 2 months the emissions have slowed down, and the winds have changed direction at last. While in South Africa at the IPA Conference and IPWG Symposium, I spoke with several researchers from different countries that have volcanic activities, and their suggestion was to use charcoal in our fields and around our trees as it acts as an absorbent. We had been making applications of Keligreen and Leafshield for a couple of months, the local recommendations, to shut the stomates to inhibit S0 2 intake, but the plants seemed to be going dormant. 5 We decided to try the charcoal and we have seen great results; the trees do not have any tip burn from the S0 2 and it is very cost effective. To make sure, we applied the charcoal to newly planted protea and left some of the bushes in cinder with no charcoal, for a control. It is now 4 months since we started this little project and a few voggy days have come and gone, and our plants have not been affected by the S0 2. We have also noticed that the new growth is very healthy. This could indicate that not only is the charcoal acting as an absorbent, but may also be giving the plants some well needed nutrients, since our soils are bereft of nutrients. Thank you to those who suggested the charcoal. It does work! Mahalo Nui Loa, Tony Bayaoa, Flowers by Kona Scent LLC, Hawaii Delegate to the IPA, nzthirtytwo@e­mailhawaii.net A Message from the Zimbabwe Protea Association By Martyn Cook, Zimflora LTD Zimbabwe Protea Association Zimbabwe Protea growers continue to produce a quality crop, even with continuing money shortages (availability from banks), food shortages (needed for labour), labour shortages, electricity cuts (resulting in water shortages) and land invasion threats, plus the shortage of inputs such as chemicals and fertilizers. We live in hope that the Unity Government will bring the change that we all so desperately look forward to, in order to get back to our core business – FARMING. Unfortunately, we lost one of our top growers to land invasions at the end of 2008, however, there is still a glimmer of hope that this grower may get their farm back and once again be a quality, viable, protea producer. The Mozambique and Zambian growers are producing top quality proteas and this should be a good season for them. The Zimbabwe Protea Association remains strong, under the Chairmanship of Clive Wakefield and a determined Executive Committee. A long awaited Zimbabwe Protea Association Field Day was held at Piedmont Farm in Mtepatepa (home of Clive & Heather Wakefield) on Wednesday 19 th November, 2008. What a brilliant day, and it was so nice to see such a turn out of 33 ZPA members and associates, including a Mozambique grower and a guest from Hilton in Natal (South Africa). Agenda: • Tour of the Protea Plantation • Discussion on Composting – led by Clive Wakefield • Presentation on the recent IPA Conference (Katy Percival and Martyn Cook) There was a lot of discussion on composting which is of growing interest throughout the protea growing fraternity and was articled in the previous newsletter. 6 The various varieties grown on Piedmont were of great interest to all growers (many of these varieties are not grown elsewhere in Zimbabwe). A power point presentation of the recent IPA Conference was delivered by Zimflora, and there was a lot of discussion on quality, irrigation and freight. On Wednesday 25 th March, 2009, the ZPA held another Field Day in the Darwendale farming area. Contacts: Chairman & IPA Rep – Clive Wakefield ­ [email protected] Secretary – C. Price – [email protected] Protea night­life: Ecological and commercial significance for soil hydraulics. This article by Heidi­Jayne Hawkins, Hans Hettasch and Michael D. Cramer was presented by Heidi at the recent IPWG Symposium in Stellenbosch. Since it was submitted for publication in Functional Plant Biology, it will not be included in the Acta Horticulturae proceedings of our Symposium, so it is included here for your information and use. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/leonhardtk/v2n1/IPWG.pdf (2.7 MB) Proteaceae floral crops; cultivar development and underexploited uses. This article by Ken Leonhardt and Rich Criley was published in 1999 in the Proceedings of the Fourth National Symposium on New Crops and New Uses (edited by J. Janick), Purdue University. Since most protea growers would not have access to this proceedings, this link was created for your convenience. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/leonhardtk/v2n1/leonhrdt.pdf (104 KB) Sample costs to establish and produce protea University of California Cooperative Extension Service. 2007. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/leonhardtk/v2n1/proteasc07.pdf (555 KB) 7 Research Funding Awarded by the IPA in 2008 K. Bezuidenhout – Fusarium Wilt of Proteaceae in Southern Africa: USD 4,000 L. Hoffman & K. Bezuidenhout ­ Post harvest control of Botrytis cinerea in selected Leucospermum and Leucadendron species: USD 2,000 Abstracts of progress reports and final reports will appear in future issues of PNI New Cultivar Registrations International Protea Registry Director: Joan Sadie, [email protected] www.nda.agric.za/docs/Protea2000/contents2000.htm Australian Cultivar Registration Authority [email protected]