Vetiver System - part 1

It has been a while since the last time that I recapped the

properties of the vetiver plant and the applications of the

Vetiver System, this goes especially towards those who

tuned on this interesting world, only recently.

One of the distinctive properties of the vetiver plant is

the root system: it is infact of massive proportions and

it developes only vertically; the incredible number of single

roots that developes are extremely fine: the average

thickness of the single root is measurable between 0,2

and 2 mm and the depth that this root system can reach

is up to 5 - 9 m. A good point to this particular type of

root is that it penetrates the soil strata wrapping the

obstacles and filling the gaps not causing any tension

or stresses to the subsoil, thoug not causing any movement

that can result in rock fall or instability of the overall slope.

The depth reached, also, is the main cause of the plant

survival in the dry period; infact humidity is always present

in the deeper strata of the soil.

The verticality of the developement also implies that the

competition for nourishment and moisture is simply not

present and does not regard adjacent crops or native

essences.

The proven sterility of the vetiver (Monto or sunshine var.)

make sure that it can be introduced in any environment

without any risk of genetic pollution.

The physiology of such plant is applied in the Vetiver System

with the aim to bring to stability almost any slope at risk

applying some simple rules: we need to create barriers

so it is important to allign the plants when planting, in

such way to obtain quickly formed hedges.

The plants will have then a density of 7 - 10 plants in the

meter. The hedges will have to be lied on the contour

in such way not to offer to rainwater any possibility of

finding an escape.

The result will be that water will penetrate in the subsoil

along each hedgerow and there will be no more sediment

flowing or erosion to modify the slope.

In a few monts then, when the plants can be considered

fully grown and the hedgerows well formed, we can assume

that the risk of instability is considerably reduced (up to 40%

increase of the shear strenght factor) thanks to the gripping

action of the root system, and above soil, a very efficient trap

eliminates any sediment flow.

The prevention of diffused erosion is furthermore the first

step towards a new type of agriculture, made of ecological

understanding and profit together, that prevents loss of

soil and fertility, pollution of watertable and food chains.

The slope then is transformed: no more only a risk, but

a safe factor that can be used to bring advantages:

the hedgerows infact infiltrate the rainwaters which are

naturally stored in the deep layers; all this water, subtracted

to a potentially destructive action in its waterways when

rains become exceptional, can be recovered in the acquifer

furter down the track, and in places like Capoterra, in

Sardinia (9 dead this year, two more in year 2000), this

application might sure be appreciated.

More to follow.......

Photo courtesy of The Vetiver Network International

Vetiver Multiplication, a word of advice.

The conduction of the vetiver nursery, makes arise some necessities: the first is to obtain good quality live material free from weeds and runners, the second is to have compact plants, easy to cut and uniform all the way through.

Vetiver grows through basal buds, its growth starts from the formation of the gems around the outer ring of the planted material.

Planting vetiver material,  the main concern will have to regard the dimensions of the live material: when the number of tillers is too great, problems will arise in a second moment. Especially if the planting operation is conducted in the winter time.

The live material will pass its energy to the root system favouring the formation of a deep root system that will give indipendance to the plant in the dry season.

After that, it will die.

This energy, also, will give in the spring time a new breed of basal buds around the outer ring of the material planted in the first place.

Within a couple of years, the dead material at the center of the plant will rot and if the live material was too big in the first place, the plant will be empty at its center and runners will colonize it. In the long run other essences will shade the plant and this will die.

Therefore: it is a good rule of thumb not to transplant direcly big clumps but always divide them in 3-5 tiller propagations which will grow well even if transplanted in the winter time, avoiding then to have an empty plant like the one in the picture above.

Single Tiller: More propagation methods

The practice of burning, misused in the last decades, is useful in 

small omeopatic doses to help with the preparation of new areas to cultivate

or to experiment with new techniques (this is the case). 

If done on a large scale it results in deforestation and has certainly negative 

ethical connotations, but sometimes the old Neolithic cultural wisdom is definitely practical! 

Here's the idea: I'll try out the Thai technique of multiplication in order  

to obtain strips of plants, ready for planting in unstable slopes that require 

the standard density of 10 plants per meter. 

Using a draining nursery liner,

I shall escavate a 20 cm deep and 2 meters long depression to be lined  (the length will be variable) 

This space will be filled with 60% peat, sand 39%, slow release fert 1%. 

The single tillers are generally a byproduct of plant division, they will be prepared as in the photo above 

and placed in the bed every 10 cm, each planted line will be divided by the next with wood.  

A dripping line will be  placed along each row to ensure that the cloth does not produce 

excessive dehydration due to the separation from subsoil and consequent elimination of the 

capillarity effect. 

Furthermore, with burning I've also easily gained a place to put a 1000L tank for fertirrigation. 

In the coming days we will see the progress of the work. 

More to follow

ROWBAGS

One day in September, a few years ago, I needed to move 

a few clumps of vetiver from the nursery to another location;

I couldn't finish the work in the immediate so I abandoned

the clumps in the parking area.

A couple of weeks later, when I put hands in the matter

again, to my great amazement, I wasn't able to pull the 

clumps from the ground because those had stricken roots

in the mean time and formed a solid block with the

compacted ground.

Today I review that incident with the certainty that I found

the keystone to introduce vetiver hedgerows to the public

authorities who act to safeguard the hydrogeological stability

in the interest of local inhabitants at any level.

Here is the Idea:

Let's take a common jute bag used to produce the typical 

sandbag, let's fill it with sand a little slow release nitrogen 

fertilizer, make a few holes along its long axis and place

in it a row of bare root vetiver propagations.

In no time the plants will strike roots which will escape the

jute bag from the bottom (for this it is advisable to place

them on concrete or plastic).

They can easily be produced in nurseries at any latitude.

In the production period, it would be best to keep low the

aerial part and often prune the roots in order to promote

new tillers and new root growth.

Drip irrigation in hot weather would be needed.

When ready, the bags, can simply be alligned on the ground

on contour lines, along their long axis, to form the much

debated hedgerows without moving a single stone or plough a single centimeter of land.

Total planting cost: ZERO

This rowbags can also be placed on top of other common 

sandbag walls or barriers forming in little time some strong

levee banks at very little cost and effort.

All the rest, given the instrument, is a bio-engineeristic task

for a specialistic team to design; here some examples:

- embankments set in order to favour the formation of 

sand barriers in rivers at risk,

- active defenses to slow down and direct the flow of 

floodwaters,

- immediate action (but built to stay)to spread heavy rainfall

in the catchment and prevent flashflood.

With a little fantasy anyone can imagine the huge potential

of this idea, or not?

And many thanks to Nicola for his giving graphic shape to 

my thinking.

Infrastructure protection

Often happens that infrastructures like poles, water tanks silos, etc, sink in the soil, even the concrete base of heavy infrastructures can sink in sandy soils.

If the water tank slips sideways, it can be a costly hassle.

A very handy idea can be to insert SPINES where the need of stengthening arises.

These are derived from the flower stem of the vetiver plant. They form in the plants from the second year of vegetation.

Their original function is to guarantee the plants' survival when this is submerged by debris or soil accumulation along the hedgerows.

The nodes on the stem can alternatively generate new shots or roots depending on the humidity or light received by the node itself.

For practicity, spines are cut with a 45 degrees angle for signalling which is the top and which the bottom (otherwise they die) and to make easier the penetration in moist soil.

The best plantation time is certainly the winter time because the soil is permanently humid; no maintenance or irrigation is needed until spring.

At the end of spring, when the first shots appear, it will be necessary to cut back the weeds around the planting that can shade the tillers and choke them.

The time necessary to the establishment of this new plants is certainly longer than what's necessary to establish ordinary propagation material, but the cost per unit is one third and labour necessary for planting is irrelevant.

This could be a useful hint....

It is not easy!

It doesn't seem easy at all to bale vetiver, the need of doing it may probably go beyond building a house:
first of all the hay has to be cut and left on the ground to dry, has then to be broken up passing it over a few times, then alleys have to be lined up.
The cut leaves and stems are stiff and they finish up to clog the baler with the result of a lot of arm work to be done. the author of the video claims that with a little luck you can bale some ten meters before the baler chokes....
On the other hand a feedback comment on the video reports that some mistakes have been done and the job could have been faster without them.
More work has to be done on the field to find a more practical way to bale.
But why bale it?

Let's move

At mid august, Domenico, the owner of the land where I keep the nurseries, asked me to move all the plants in the end section of the property, within the firsts rains and not in 6 monts as we agreed in the first place.
I thought I could expand the nurseries in that direction in time, so I had ploughed it and got rid of all loose stones.
Unfortunately it was not the time to do this operation, neither I had the money or the time to do it, but, I had to follow directions rapidly.
Fortunately I can count on a number of sincere friends to whom I periodically give massive backaches (if they will start avoiding me, I'll understand why).
Thank you Lupin!
One day of machinery, five days in five at work, and there goes the new nursery.

Some facts

The two rows wich I did not care for, are dead.
This has occourred because the planting has been made in May, therefore after the spring boom, and the plants did not have enough time to sink roots deep enough to find humid subsoil (below 50cm) before this dried out definitely in the summer.
Instead, in the winter period, the soil is constantly humid and its temperature does not inhibit root growth. I deduce that in the plantings made in winter, even if the aerial part dies down, roots keep growing continuosly, reaching whithin the next dry season, deeper layers where a little moisture is always present to guarantee sustainance and allowing the developement of the root system until it reaches important dimensions in 7-10 monts since the planting allowing the cultivation in areas not reached by acqueducts.
On the contrary, plantings made in the spring-summer period, have to be watered deeply at least once for susteinance and several times in order to produce planting material.
The plantings made in the autumn period can be managed without watering, but will have more probability to develope weed infestation because it will go through both autumn and spring boom period therefore the weeds will have plenty of time to establish and grow through a complete cycle from seed to seed.

Cross check

In May, in a period of warm weather, I set out to start a new nursery in another lot which I had cultivated with pumpkins the previous summer, therefore relatively clear of weeds.
I plant four rows 40 meters each, a good slow release nitrogen fertilizer in the furrow and water only while I plant. The only intervention is made in July when I deeply water two rows out of four and I get rid of the major weeds.
I leave everything as it is and I wait the end of August.
The temperature range has not been particularly harsh: we've had the african blob for a couple of weeks only at mid July.
For the rest of the time it has been rather plesant.
I observe

Surprise!

During the winter, I have a pleasant surprise: almost all plants in the abandoned section which had been planted with the singol tiller tecnique (like rice), have shown up. They managed to survive despite the twitch but they did not develope a particularly strong root system.
The difference lies in the fact that when you divide a mother plant, in order to produce planting material, together with some 30cm of residual aereal part, and the few centimeters of spare roots, you transplant the true heart of the plant, the crown.
This is a woody section from which the roots depart and on which the tillers are fixed.
On the contrary, when you "sow" the tillers, no matter how many you place, the crown is absent and the plant takes a long time and a lot of energy to make one new.

Giant leap

At the end of winter, with some spare money obtained with small jobs around, I buy myself a Ferrari: a rotative hoe, 12 horse power with a 80 cm wide hoe section and furrow excavator; four speed plus reverse. Cool!

I get in association with another mad one, the good Marta.
Us three, (the two mad ones and the Ferrari) set out to prepare a new nursery for a thousand new plants: five rows of more than 50 m each, spaced three meters.
We finish by the first of may, Titans stuff! Unfortunately Marta has to leave Sardynia and the new nursery at the beginning of July and goes back to Rome.

The new nursery, this time is irrigater with a very light dripping line which costs 18 cent of euro/meter and comes in large rolls of 3km.
Waterings are limited to only five in the intire summer period, and in the furrow, before planting, i put a slow release nitrogen fertilizer.This factor, of course, makes a great deal of difference and by september the hedges are fully established and is not easy to walk between them.
A great result. Grazie Martina

Improving the tecnique

Spurred by the good results obtained in the nursery, at the beginning of the summer, I set out to plant a new one of 400 new plants, so I follow the same method which consists in cutting away almost all roots and the loss of the aerial part above 30 cm height.
The soil is allready hard like the granite who generated it in the firstplace, but with water and a sharp hoe, I manage.
The furrows are ready, spring boom is behind the shoulders and temperatures are definitely in line with the summer period.
This time I limit waterings since radicated plants have sustained the african blob of 2003 with ease.This second nursery did not suffer the weeds: the period of planting, the watering regime with rare but deep drip irrigations convinceme to adopt this new method.
For that year I can consider myself satisfied and I just keep listening.

First great results

When the minimum temperatures rise definitely above 10°, the crusty soil,compacted by the winter rains and poor of organic matter,starts cracking all around the base of the new plants and, in a week, a new generation of tillers explodes. At least 8-12 each strip,reaching in the same time 40-50 cm high.
I couldn't believe it!
The plants I divided with the axe, had sacrificed all activities above soil level concentrating on the rooting, leaving to the spring time, after easter, the resurrection above land.
I attend them for all the spring with water twice a week and fertilizer, meanwhile weeds take their toll; spring conditions and fertilizer pushes them to come out in massive numbers and the furrows dug in september to accomodate the new nursery is now land of pioneer weeds whose seed rested dormant in the subsoil.
Frequent automatic waterings top up the mess, so whilst clearing it all up, I start making in my mind a list of mistakes
NOT TO BE REPETED.
On the contrary, instead, the single tiller plantings don't seem to produce results at all, they lie submerged by hungry hordes of twitch roots who travel in the soil like starships at near-light speed.
I decide to abandone this section and forget about it.

The propagation

The first 400 propagations, made in september 2003, are planted with a hoe in lines long some 15 meters, one plant every 30cm. and watered with a good quality dripping line. Each plant counts some five or six strips.
Meanwhile in another portion of the same hectare, I try out a different planting system: I prepare a strip of land some 40 meters long, one meter wide, served by the same kind of dripping line, after preparing a sufficient number of strips, I proceed sinking them for about 30cm in number of three or four strips around the dripper; practically I transplant them in wet soil a bit like you would do with rice. (That is why the seminator)
Monts go by and in january I'm allready convinced that I must have made
some kind of mistake because the aerial part of all plants with no ecceptions turned straw colour and died down.
Not a shade of green anywere.

The boom

Spring was very rainy and in april 2003 a wreckless summer blows up.
In may I start noticing some green at the base of the plants and I decide to cut them at some 30 cm height. In two weeks the plants double their diameter, and I realize that there were no reasons to fear and that erosion is facing its "end of the world weapon".
In june arrived the famous african blob of 2003: a high pressure system that keeps minimum temperatures above 30°C, whilst the top temperatures skyrocket above 35-45°C until the end of september.
Not a drop of water for the whole period was given to the plants. They didn't even turn yellow a bit, as if someone would water them during the nigh time while I cynically observed them during the day.
At the end of that month I decide to propagate half of that row, and with a spade I cut the root system 45°all around the plant, then I remove the leaves at about 30 cm; then with a small axe I divide the clumps and I plant back the new plants into the ground.
So I start the first nursery.

Now I watch

Time goes by, seasons do their cycle and my plants grow;
I keep observing their behaviour with critical eye noticing the influence that soil and climate have on it: In Gallura (Sardynia north east) we have loose soils given by the granites of the area therefore sub acid, some concentrated rains in autumn and spring and drought, severe at times for the rest of the year.
It was allready the end of 2002 and further ahead lied the coldest winter of the past twenty years. It was severe, minimum temperatures dropped below zero for ten days in a row, the aerial part of the plants became a straw wig, I tought I lost them..On the other hand but, if they are not suited to the purpouse, better to know straight away.
I keep listening

In the field

We're now in 2000; now the necessity that arises is:where do I put all this plants? My garden is full of pots and this plants go very fast.
Domenico offers me to put them in the end section of his land since that is often submerged and the alfalfa (medicago sativa) he grows on eight hectares does not germinate in there; on the other hand, in that same section, me and Rodrigo have been coltivating "rucola" for the whole summer.
I move them to their new accomodation and I transplant the containers to obtain a first study row of some eighty meters.
Soon the plants develope a robust root system that breaks up the compacted subsoil underneath the plough reach, so that the winter after, despite strong rains, the section is free from the usual pools. BAH!