Commercial taro farmers, those who grow taro full time for a living, plant year-round and harvest year-round. Empirically, they believe that September to November is the best "period" for planting, based on harvestable yields. Some will avoid planting February to April because of the tendency of excessive offshoot (keiki) production, which results in too much competition among the plants to produce sizable corms. However, different varieties (cultivars) of taro vary in their propensity to produce a lot of keiki during the February to April period, but this is true of the more prevalent taro cultivars currently grown commercially, such as 'Maui Lehua' and 'Moi.' Theoretically, one would think that the ideal planting time would be in early spring, such as March through April, so the plant will be able to make peak vegetative growth (zero to six months) during the long summer days, where peak photosynthesis would occur, to maximize carbohydrate/starch accumulation in the corms. Apparently, this hypothesis is not true, according to taro farmers. The second part of your question is a separate issue since wetland taro, depending on the cultivar, is a long-term crop requiring anywhere from nine to 14 months to mature. It needs water constantly, throughout the crop cycle not only to fulfill its moisture requirements but also to regulate the temperature of the water in the field (lo`i). Since the highest pan evaporation, transpiration from plants, and solar radiation (which in turn heats up the lo`i water) all occur during the hottest period of the year, the heaviest water requirement period for wetland taro is June through August. For more information, refer to Taro Production Guidelines for Kauai.

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