No Chill Stone Fruit for Hawaii

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: peaches, plums

Practices

• Farm Business Management: feasibility study
• Production Systems: general crop production

There is currently a lack of locally grown stone fruit in Hawaii, with most peaches and plums imported and chilled. While there are some private peach and plum trees on the island of Kona, there are not enough to market. This project proposes to seek out trees acclimatized to the tropical environment for marketing purposes that will eliminate the need for excessive importation and provide high-quality, locally grown, no-chill stone fruit. Additionally, this project will work closely with chefs and a culinary school to secure a market for the produce.

The project was able to meet the objectives stated in the original proposal by propagating and purchasing trees for project cooperators. The project coordinator was able to research additional varieties of low-chill plums and peaches that might be able to produce in Hawaii. Some of these will remain under test until they can be propagated and shared with grower-cooperators. Plums were given to American Culinary Association chefs, who developed recipes and communicated with other chef members. One chef was given a few peaches, which the project found was much slower to develop than plums, to test. Growers will continue to develop and work with these Prunus species to build the waiting market. The project was also successful in grafting the low-chill peaches to the no-chill plum rootstock. A few peaches have developed from these grafts, but more time will be needed to determine yield and other data. Cooperators will continue to work with these fruits.