Reef Friendly Landscaping Pilot Report

Healthy plants require healthy soil. SoilThrive’s mission is to facilitate healthy, aerobic soil structure to support the thriving plant systems above the surface. SoilThriveTM has developed protocols that facilitate this goal by cultivating and propagating beneficial, indigenous microbiology that effectively promote healthy landscapes without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Rather than utilizing untold labor hours and synthetic compounds to amend unproductive soil, SoilThriveTM promotes and leverages nature’s pre-existing systems to reduce unwanted biomass, build soil structure to fight compaction and improve water retention,
and thus enable plant health and vitality.

This collaborative pilot project had a specific focus on organically supporting the soil health of high-traffic areas. The pilot project’s focus is to achieve this by utilizing organic liquid biological soil amendments produced locally on Maui from plant-based compost. The ultimate goal was to create an environment that would enhance the natural biological balance of the soil, which in turn will promote the health of the plants. One of the supporting goals is to reduce the amount of irrigation required to maintain the health of the turf. Using a holistic approach, the team worked to create a more efficient system conserving water and reducing costs. Additionally, the protocols deployed provided additional value with a reduction
in the number of labor hours required for manual dethatching, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The outcome of the pilot project initiated the process of creating a sustainable system for long-term support of soil health in an environmentally friendly and economically feasible process. With this in mind, the pilot projects included 3 initial test plots:

• County of Maui, Keopuolani Park – Baseball Field 1
• Mākena Golf &Beach Club- South Course Tee Boxes
• Wailea Community Association – Event Parking Turf

Download a .pdf of the pilot study report here: