The Sustainable Harvest of Pïkao
Traditionally pïkao was harvested in autumn. The head was removed from the leaves and at the same time a side shoot was removed from the plant and transplanted deep in the sand, next to the parent plant. This was a way of making sure that the pïkao survived and of thanking Täne Mahuta.

In the 1980s there was an increased demand for pïkao for weaving. This occurred at a time when pïkao was already becoming scarce due to fire, grazing by stock and rabbits, vehicles on beaches, coastal developments and competition from introduced plants. This prompted Forest Research Institute to conduct an investigation examining what method of harvest was the most sustainable.

The effect of three harvesting methods was investigated. The methods were:

Scientists measured such things as the number of plants that died, the number of shoots and flower heads produced by surviving plants and how much fibre was collected for each method of harvesting. They also looked at whether or not the time of year when harvesting happened made a difference.

They found that clipping was the least harmful method of harvesting for the plants and that also there was less wastage as only high quality leaves were taken. Both the other methods resulted in damage to the growth shoot causing many plants to die and would inevitably result in some wastage. The time of harvesting made no significant difference to plant survival.