I was first introduced to vetiver grass on the island of Grenada .
There , it was called “ sweetroot grass , ” and my Quaker James “ Mike ” Thomas secern me about how farmers used to plant it everywhere along roads and hillside to block up corrosion . He also secernate me it was no longer plebeian , but there was still some here and there .
Some time afterwards , I confabulate a farm where it was being used . Once I recognized the clumps of grass on their hillside , I asked the possessor about them . She had turn them into a regular business , trade vetiver get-go to farmers and gardeners , so I was able to bribe some from her to set up on our own little piece of land .
Then we moved , and those experimentation come to an end .
Until I got some vetiver again about two years ago , and planted some at the ending of one of my Grocery Row Gardens so I could start a patch we could circularize from .
Here it is today :
That ball of vetiver grass is about 8′ tall . I perpetrate it up once and divided off a bunch of vetiver start , then replant it , so who knows how big around it might be if I ’d left it alone !
Vetiver is known as a tropic weed and I could n’t find any information on its dusty - hardiness .
The only answer was to plant it and see !
Now I can safely recommend it to gardener in zona 8b . It ’s survived two winters thus far – one of which had an overnight low of 16 degree , and the next winter , which had an overnight low of 17 level . That ’s quite cold for a tropic grass , yet it survived and jump back blockheaded and green in the spring .
Today , while research vetiver again , I read that :
The industrial plant has a wide orbit of adaption and will tolerate soil pH from 3 to 11 , temperatures from -15 to +55 degree C and is passing drought proof , and yet can survive thoroughgoing submerging in water for at least 3 months .
That is a minimum temperature of 5 degrees , which means vetiver should endure through all of zone 8 and up into zone 7 .
We propagated it for our glasshouse in the spring and sell some pots of it , but it was less pop this spring than we thought it would be .
I think once the great unwashed understand its utility , they ’ll want it . It can steady hillsides and stop erosion , feed animals , be used for the essential oil in its roots , be turned into basket , be used as a chop - and - drop – andas Vetiver.org cover :
“ Studies suggest that there is a significant increase in infiltration due to large , dense and deep roots , and large soil pores with respect to SGH gage , Dabney ( 1996 ) . This increased infiltration results in reduce runoff . A study by Rachman ( 2004 ) indicated that hydraulic conduction within the hedgerow ( 130 mmh1 ) was7 timesmore than in comparative row crops maize ( 18 mmh1 ) , and24 timesmore than in the fully saturate adjacent sediment deposition area ( 5.4 mmh1 ) straight off upslope of the hedging ” . In effect a vetiver hedge acts as a very safe upright drainpipe , directing part of the flow for groundwater recharge , and the symmetry spread equally through the hedgerow to downslope land . “
That is a good grass . We need to implant more . It ’s non - incursive and it ’s a multi - tool !
