Alvin Tsuruda keeps calling his Waihale Products nursery a mess after his months-long absence, but the Waimanalo greenhouse is more like an exuberant jumble of bright anthuriums and all sorts of plant life, some of it growing wild out of the ground.
It feels more like a gardener’s playground than the usual nursery with everything displayed neatly in straight rows — rather fitting for a man who says of his plants: “They’re my toys. I just play with them … this isn’t work.”
Tsuruda has operated his nursery for about 30 years, specializing in anthuriums, with the help of his wife, Gail, and a close friend until they both died several years ago. Since then, he’s been assisted by longtime customers who have volunteered on weekends and after work.
Tsuruda is closing his nursery in April because his lease is expiring, and at 84, “I’m old, too,” he said. He broke his leg last August and it’s taken months of recovery and rehabilitation before he just recently was able to start working again.
He walks slowly over the uneven ground with a cane to ready his plants for liquidation sales and an auction of certain specimens late this month and in mid-March. Customers need to make reservations online for both events. Besides anthuriums, also available for sale will be philodendrons, alocasia, ti leaf, palms, ferns, ohia, ginger, begonia and more.
His shade house fills about a half acre of the 5.7-acre property off Mahiku Place. Tsuruda started specializing in anthuriums as a challenge to prove wrong one expert’s proclamation that he couldn’t grow anthuriums on Oahu, that it could only be done on the Big Island, where the flower industry prevails.
“Well, I’m growing them, maybe not as well as the Big Island,” he said. “But I manage!”
His penchant for the popular flowers was cultivated while growing up on a farm in Haleiwa where his father raised anthuriums in the backyard. Tsuruda started “playing around” with them as a kid. He went on to study agronomy and horticultural science in college, but learned more than theory through lots of trial and error and his own research.
“I’ve killed more plants than people know,” he said, while experimenting with growing hybrids from seed. He likes to grow the big multicolored “obake,” speckled varieties, and he’s played with different sizes and varieties. It takes five to seven years to grow an anthurium from seed to a mature plant, and though the flower may look ugly in the early stages, its true color, shape and size won’t be evident until it reaches maturity, he said.
Tsuruda has concentrated on growing old varieties of the flower that were lost in the bacterial blight epidemic that devastated the Big Island industry in the late 1980s. It’s the most serious disease to watch out for, he said, and becomes evident on the leaves in the form of brown spots encircled with a yellow halo, accompanied by water-soaked margins. Other fungal infestations also show up in brown and yellow spots, but they don’t have the water-soaked borders, he added.
Early treatment involves cutting off the diseased leaves, but once bacterial blight reaches the anthurium’s internal system, there is no cure — just throw away the plant and sterilize the pot and garden tools.
Thrips and mites are the major culprits to pester anthuriums. These critters cause the leaves and spathes (the heart-shaped colorful part) to curl or become deformed. He recommended any three-in-one spray that includes a pesticide, miticide and fungicide, being sure to spray under the leaves and under the leaf sheaths where thrips and mites may hide.
Tsuruda offered these basic tips for keeping anthuriums healthy:
>> The most important thing is “don’t overwater or you’ll get root rot. Once you get root rot, it takes a long time to recover. As long as the soil is moist, don’t water. Anthuriums are drought tolerant, so let them dry out between waterings.”
>> The best growing media he’s found are combinations of cinder and peat moss, or perlite and peat moss. He doesn’t recommend bark, which is cheaper, but “eventually it breaks down and turns like mud,” Tsuruda said.
>> Bright filtered light is ideal. If the plants are indoors, place them near a window to get some morning sun; outdoors, place them under the eaves exposed to the morning or late afternoon sun. They also need high humidity, which is available in the vicinity of other plants.
>> Tsuruda fertilizes with Nutricote (NPK 13-11-11), a complete slow-release formula from Japan that doesn’t burn the plants, but gardeners can also use Osmocote (NPK 14-14-14). Although instructions recommend application every three to four months, he’s found that in warm Hawaii, the potency of Osmocote lasts only two months. But Tsuruda warned that with the faster release of nutrients in warmer climates, roots may burn. Those who use Osmocote should also fertilize with Miracle-Gro for acid-loving anthuriums every few months for its minor elements (copper, iron, manganese, etc.).
Tsuruda said he’s happy to share what he knows and tries to keep learning.
“I learn a lot more from other people, their different techniques and ways,” he said. “The more people get into plants, the better for the industry.”
As an advocate for agriculture, he plans to remain active in community organizations such as the Hawaii Farm Bureau and the state’s botanical gardens.
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Waihale Products
41-910 Mahiku Place
The nursery will hold sales from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 26 and 27, and March 12. To make reservations for time slots, go to 808ne.ws/WaihaleProducts.To bid on auctioned plants via Instagram, type in @waihaleproducts_auctions. Email sale4waihale@gmail.com; or call 808-228-4850.There will be a limited supply of free plants with purchase. Bring your own boxes to carry purchases.
Is there a gardening topic you’d like to read about in the Garden Variety column? Email Pat Gee at pgee@staradvertiser.com with your request.
