This uniform ripening determinate variety bred at the University of Hawaii by tomato breeder Dr. Jim Gilbert was named after one of his favorite fishing spots, Kewalo Basin. It is not known if he was also aware of the Native Hawaiian meaning of the place named Kewalo, located on the southern shore of Oahu and translated as the \u201cplace of wailing.\u201d Kewalo was the place where the Kauwa, a very low class of servants, were drowned by holding their heads underwater. Kewalo was also the nesting ground of the owl who was the cause of a battle between the owls and the King Kakuhihewa. The owls from Kauai to Hawaii gathered together and defeated the forces of the King.<\/p>\n
Kewalo tomato seeds were planted at the Urban Garden Center in Pearl City on Feb 20 and kept in the shaded seedling nursery. Sprouts emerged between March 6 and 13. Three of the seedlings were outplanted on April 10. A glitch in the automatic watering system resulted in the death of one seedling (the \u2018wailing\u2019 Kewalo observed on April 24, albeit by drought not drowning) and replanted on May 1, given consistent watering and is growing along with the other two seedlings (the \u2018warrior\u2019 Kewalos). Still, the overall slow growth of the second out planting\u00a0is likely due to poor soil preparation and insufficient watering. While we were informed that the soil in the garden had been prepared for planting, it was very hard. It was also difficult to loosen the soil within the small radius of the hole in the soil cover material. A deeper hole with soil conditioning would have probably promoted better growth. Deep watering could only be conducted once a week, however, the very hot conditions in Pearl City most likely required additional watering for these seedlings to flourish<\/p>\n