Kaena Point ‘Akoko (Euphorbia celastroides var. kaenana) – Propagation hacks


    I am a big fan of YouTube videos on gardening hacks — easy and innovative ways to propagate or care for common plants such as planting tomato slices to grow new tomatoes or using an ice cream cone as a biodegradable seed-starter pot. Likewise, for decades now, I have tried to discover new and better techniques to propagate native Hawaiian plants. To my credit and great delight, I’ve discovered a few such as embryo extraction for lonomea and olopua, and using gibberellic acid to hasten seed germination of some Scaevola species. Prolonged soaking of ‘akoko seeds — featured on this webpage — is another hack I am proud of. 

    On a related note, it’s interesting how often a particular propagation hack works on more than one species within a particular genus or even family. Perhaps the best-known example of this is how scarification often hastens the germination of plants in Fabaceae or the Pea family. Here, the reason scarification works is well knownthe scar permits water to bypass an impermeable seedcoat and reach the embryo. Less understood is why gibberellic acid kickstarts germination in the seeds of some species and not in others. 

    There’s still a lot we can discover about propagation methods for native Hawaiian plants and why they work. This is why I encourage you to take an experimental, rather than cookbook, approach whenever you are propagating any native plant. And, certainly, if you discover a “hack,” please share it — a YouTube video or website is a good and easy place to share.