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.

Recycling water "Own Means"

The place where my vetiver plants grow  is virtually surrounded 

by farms and farmers that, despite any legislation on  

the disposal of nitrates, dispose of the wastewater simply discharging it in 

holes in the ground, or better in ditches. 

Given that here the irrigation water costs 150€ for 45 days 

by the single hydrant (as a result of an effective 

privatization action conducted in recent years 

in a bipartisan fashion by any government and 

by each regional authority), I have decided to proceed 

as usual with "Own Means" to dispose of some pollution 

that ends up at sea (very close to the land in question) and save 

some money which, these days, for sure, will find better use elsewere.

 

The ditch bottom  retains a good 50 cm of water 

(for a flaw of execution) until at least July, 

I therefore devised a two stages system, able to filter the suspended solids. 

The first stage consists of a gravel filter contained within a 

concrete pipe that sat abandoned for years in the nearby field;

a submerged pump draws the water through the gravel which, this way is kept free of algae and 

mucilages present in industrial quantities, 

thus denouncing the strong presence of nitrates and phosphates. 

The second stage is built with a modified pump pressure aid  with 

two check valves, a couple of fittings, and filled with quartzite to operate 

a more accurate sand filtration of water. 

The chemical quality of water of course does not change, 

the plants take advantage of the nourishment excess 

and the excess of such irrigation is released in the watertable after 

a vertical filtering operated by the plant itself.

A double goal is so achieved: intercept pollution and save money.

Not just a pretty face....

Vetiver and mass production: Update

Today I received the periodic update about the in-vitro propagation protocol of vetiver: 

here's the news: there were no major problems with bacterial or virus contaminations 

and only in one case 

a re-sterilization was necessary, the buds extracted started to grow and 

perhaps a month  the  proliferation phase will begin, followed by the greenhouse hardening of the first plants. 

Soon a first batch of plantlets Will be produced  in order to perform a field pilot test, 

maybe at the end of spring. 

Perhaps then, at the end of summer we will have obtained some genuine data on this promising chapter.

Many thanks to Romano and all the people involved.

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.

Vetiver and mass production

In order to shoot dead all the obstacles that can arise and the difficulties to the spreading of the Vetiver technology, and in order to make more accessible to everyone and more competitive the hedgerow system, from today, vetiver Sardegna has begun a new path of studies: the in vitro production.

The final aim is to reduce as much as possible the cost of the single plant and uniform all propagation material to a standard that makes easy the use of mechanized planting.

With this method we will obtain to reduce the main economic obstacle to the spreading of the vetiver system: the cost of labour and propagation material.

Next season will be used to asses the costs and devise a method to mechanize the planting of hedgerows, plus a comparison with other methods of environmental protection.

Yesterday, 5th of November I have signed a preliminary agreement with one of the biggest nursery production sites; their work is mainly in the fruit tree production, I have found some very good allies, in love with their work and their mission, that will make possible this great project to come true.

Next spring, after a preliminary  period of  study of the material, we will asses together how beneficial this method will be to our work.

Vetiver biomass: second milling test

This second test was conducted with a forage mill:

as obvious, the machine is too small to chop large

quantities of biomass, but was the only one of

that kind available at the time; there are much

bigger ones. What really counts is that the chopping

is performed on the horizontal axis as compared

to the insertion direction of the biomass.

This fact guarantees a much stronger coherence

if compared to the previous test.

The result was much more satisfactory than the

previous one; next year I'll chop a large quantity 

of leaves and stems with a much larger mill. also 

the timing of the operation will be an interesting 

data to account for.

Vetiver biomass: milling test

First milling test performed in order to obtain 

heater grade chopped biomass:

Just about 30 Kg of biomass have been transformed.

The objective is to find a tool (power or engine) that chops 

leaves and stems down to the correct size for burning in an 

automatic biomass heater.

The point is, besides the size, that the product has to be 

coherent.

No further operations will have to be needed afterwards to 

preserve economicity.

The result of this first test is not completely satisfactory 

because the product presents different sizes. To achieve 

a better result, sieving is necessary in order to discard 

oversize material.

The problem starts with the machine's work: the chopping 

is done on the same axis of insertion of the biomass: this 

makes also the machine prone to choking. The final product 

is part pulverized, part oversize.

Let's move over.

Biomass Calculation

I consider concluded the drying period of the biomasses obtained from the first cut performed at mid July. The total weight of all the biomass cut in the three test sites sums up to Kg 15.

The total length of the hedgerows considered for the tests are in their second year vegetation, are conducted with no irrigation or fertilization and were cut at 30 cm height, the total length of these rows  was  6m.

Therefore the weight per meter of dry mass is 2,5 Kg.

If we apply this data on an hectare consisting of 200 rows, spaced 50cm 

and 100m long the total weight per hectare of the

dry mass obtained is 50 Tonnes.

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....

Biomass for boilers

We're almost there:
the biomass cut during this summer has dried up, soon I'll drop in at tziu Piero's (sardinian honorific title for the elderly) to try out with him the grinder to be used with the tractor.
If the dimensions of the chopped biomass will be about 2 cm, than we'll have the ultimate fuel for biomass boilers.

Vetiver in a permaculture environment

I first met permaculture in 1990 in Australia; since then I often spoke about it, but never here nor in my vetiver activity context: today I would like to speak out about the contribution that vetiver can give to a type of agriculture as beautiful as the one imagined by Bill Mollison.

Permaculture needs huge quantities of mulch that often is contaminated with undesired seeds, somethimes we'll have to consider the use of sprays.
This mulch (often hay) is needed to cover the ground and protect it from the elements, and favour the developement of life underneath it.
given the durability of hay and its cost to buy or produce, havig to replace it becomes a bit of hassle that can easily be avoided.

The designs used in permaculture, often use vegetative hedges to promote the growth of precious crops: "suntraps" circular sections of windbreak open towards the sun are planted in order to maximize the available heat in the winter period. To apply vetiver hedgerows to this purpouse will generate free mulch (or energy) when the precious cultures do not need protection like the summer periods.

As known, vetiver mulch has an exceptional durability and resistance to rotting so to be often used for thatching. This can generate good savings of time, money, effort and fossil fuels for the permaculturist.

Still needs to be assessed if it is preferable to keep vetiver mulch as it is, or if a fine chopping is better.

Any contribution is wellcome.

Vetiver in California

Aesthetics and environmental good joined can well go together.
Dough Richardson paints landscapes with vegetation waves and stabilizes slopes and embankments at the same time.

Landscape architects of Italy, please take note......

Seeking basin lagoons

While trying to deepen my understanding of the vetiver potential to clean up wastewaters and at the same time to produce biomasses for the energy industry, I want to start a new course of studies which would imply the usage of one or more floating pontoons on any of the thousand lagoons existing in Italy, therefore I'm now seeking volounteers of any sort (private enterprises of public administrations willing to host these structures and follow them up, to cut the leaves and weight them in the growing season.

Anyone willing to contribute, can find me through the site Vetiver Sardegna or this blog.

Towards Sustainability

From the "Sole 24 ore" Thursday 24th of May 2007:
A recent study of IBIMET Italian Biometeorological center of CNR in Florence has concluded that in order to maximise the CO2 absorbtion from the atmosphere, the good agricoltural practice has to incorporate as much cultivation residues as possible: this goal can be achieved using intercropping, that allow the soil to stay protected at all times by a vegetating layer, performing shallow tillings to avoid contact between organic matter and open air. This also allows to use less fertilizers.
The data shows, that with an increase of 1% of organic matter, a Ton of CO2 can be permanently sequestered, if this result was to be applied to half of the arable lands in Italy, 50% of the total emissions could be sequestered.

ENERGY

The idea that I have in mind since a while, is to use vetiver to produce all heating and hot water needs for the rural household and the associated business activity in a sustainable way:

This noble goal can be achieved with the use of low temperature heating sistems posed under the floor, large heat accumulators, a technical room and an appropriate stove capable of trasforming the abundant biomass in heat.

Obviously the state of the art in environmental care is achieved when the produced biomass is cut from the reed beds that treat the waste waters of the enterprise and house or the hedges between fields..

This proper heater exists, can be fed with the usual pellet or almost any other properly dried fuel.

By designing the system for excess, you can also produce power that can be send on to the power grid.

This could be one good reason to bale veitiver.

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?

New frontiers: hay houses

It is nowadays frequent to encounter houses built with hay walls, Mr Werner Schmidt is an artist in the field because joints together great design and energy saving due to total insulation given by the building materials building this way is also remarkably cheaper..
A canadian, Cory Vitt, has produced, for the first time, vetiver bales and erected a wall with it, but with different tecniques than Mr Schmidt: the bales are posed together, coverd with wire mesh and plastered with a layer of cement. Here is the Photo gallery of the job, comprehensive of compression tests and final monument.
Enjoy.