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Hawaii’s first big shipment of Christmas trees from the Pacific Northwest arrived right on time over the weekend.
Matson Navigation Co.’s first shipment of Christmas trees for consumers docked in Honolulu on Saturday, and the trees will be available for purchase at retailers’ discretion as soon as agricultural inspections are completed, a company spokesman said.
Another shipment is set to arrive Saturday, which means the majority of Hawaii’s Christmas trees will be unloaded well before families celebrate Thanksgiving.
"Basically it’s the same schedule," said Matson spokesman Jeff Hull, noting that the first big tree shipment of 2012 arrived on Saturday, Nov. 17. "It’s just that Thanksgiving is later, so it feels earlier." Thanksgiving last year fell on Nov. 22.
Hawaii’s first shipment of trees, though small and mainly for retail displays, arrived earlier this month, and a final, small shipment is expected to arrive Nov. 30 — also the same weekend it rolled in last year, Hull said.
UNLIKE last year, however, those involved in the Christmas tree shipping business are hoping for a slug- and pest-free year.
"We’re taking kind of some extraordinary measures on this side, so we’re hoping they pay off," Gary McAninch, manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Nursery and Christmas Tree programs, said by phone Friday.
Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials at one point in November 2012 were holding up about half of the container shipments of mainland Christmas trees because the trees were "widely infested" with non-native pests, including banana slugs, which can carry the rat lungworm parasite.
For a second year in a row, Oregon has sent three entomologists to Hawaii to facilitate the tree handoff and inspection, McAninch said.
Last year Oregon entomologists happened to be on hand by coincidence when the slugs were discovered.
"We got a firsthand look at our Christmas trees shipped to Hawaii and it was a big wakeup call for us," McAninch said in a news release posted on the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s website. "Once again, in the next few weeks, we will help the Hawaii Department of Agriculture identify pests that are particular to Oregon. Some of the insects and organisms on those trees are not pests in Hawaii and they can be quickly identified on site, which will allow those trees to immediately go to market."
The entomologists will remain in Hawaii for the upcoming shipment and possibly for the Nov. 30 shipment, depending on whether issues arise with the trees, McAninch said.
Additional steps being taken in Oregon to prevent pests from hitching a ride to the isles include more carefully mechanically shaking trees and not piling trees on the ground after they’ve been shaken. Instead, trees are being placed on pallets or directly into shipping containers.
"I’m confidentthis will be a better year for those growers who ship to Hawaii," McAninch said. "They are very engaged in the process and are using best management practices to minimize the chances of slugs and other pests being shipped to Hawaii along with their trees."
Meanwhile, University of Hawaii-Manoa entomologists from the school’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources have been working with researchers at Oregon State and Washington State universities to further develop a hot water treatment used on infested trees in Hawaii last year that could rid trees of slugs and pests before they’re shipped out.
Arnold Hara, a UH-Manoa entomologist who works at the Komohana Research Extension Center in Hilo, said he recently traveled to Oregon to help with the project, which is still in the research and development stage.
"One of the importers fabricated the unit based on our design, so it’s still being worked on," Hara said. "We haven’t perfected it yet."
The unit is basically a shipping container fashioned with nozzles to spray hot water on the trees — kind of like a drive-thru car wash. Hara said the treatment does not appear to affect the freshness of the trees and looks promising.
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