Plum Harvest in Koke‘e Starts Fourth of July

Plums harvested at Koke‘e State Park. Photo courtesy of DLNR

The annual plum harvest begins Saturday, July 4 at Kōke‘e State Park. Permits to harvest will be available, as it has been in past years, starting on Independence Day at the park’s headquarters, according to a news release by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Free harvest permits are available at the park’s headquarters must be completed there and then returned to the headquarters’ drop-box after harvesting. Plum picking is permitted between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. in designated areas.

While plum season is a cultural staple on Kaua‘i, the stone fruits are not native to the island. The Hawaiian Journal of History notes plums were brought to Kaua‘i in the 1930s and planted on lands that later became Kōke‘e State Park.

Each person can take up to five pounds of plums each day for personal consumption. Other conditions are specified on the plum harvesting permit. A short pole with a net will make harvesting easier.

For years, including this one, the crop has been on the decline due to weather, over harvesting and damage to trees. Optimum harvesting hasn’t happened since the 1950s and in 2014, the DLNR Division of State Parks personnel  said Kaua‘i hadn’t seen a good crop in more than five years.

Plum pickers are reminded to help prevent forest fires and to pick up their litter.