What grows in Orchidland?
Almost anything! Coffee, bananas, tropical fruits, palms, heliconia, and exotics. However, except for a few isolated “kipukas” (a hummock where the lava hasn’t flowed recently) there really isn’t much soil. Large planting areas are prepared by having the solid pahoehoe lava ripped with a large D9 bulldozer. The bulldozer then runs over the resulting large rocks crushing them and flattening out the terrain. Then, cinder and maybe a little soil is hauled in and spread. It is a bit costly, (roughly $6,000/acre for the bulldozer plus $2,700/acre for cinder) but the results can be spectacular. Smaller scale plantings can be done by hand clearing around the Ohia trees with selective removal of some trees. Raised beds also work well. Various types of shade houses are common.
