Request: Vetiver - procuring, planting & general help

Friends,

Anyone of you using Vetiver - for live fence or any other purpose?
Please help understand the process of planting.
We are looking for a source (as close as possible to Hyderabad) who can provide saplings.

Any other experience/tips/comments with regard vetiver, please chip in.

Thanks

WhiteClover,

I have few Vetiver now. I bough 1 sapling last year.

Now I used this years harvest and have planted at few more places.

Traditionally people planted it just before the onset of monsoon. It is dam sturdy grass. No matter where you plant it. in water logged soil or dried area. It will catch up.

It is pretty difficult to harvest. Roots penetrate deep and it is fibrous and tangled. Trick is you plant the root initially in 45 degree angle, add some FYM and then after the new shots appear and become almost 10 cm tall. add soil near to the root area. Root will spread in the newly added soil and harvesting becomes easy.

Mine is under shade and it may not respond well.
North Indian Vetiver is more aromatic than southern one.

Vetiver lives for many years if not harvested. I am not sure about the exact years.

I am yet to learn more on it.

Another trick is to plant them on a raised bed. raised bed as tall as 3feet. Almost you have to construct like a mud compound wall. As this is labour intensive to form beds, but easier to harvest.

Anoop,
Could you post some pics if you have ?

Dear sir
I have gone through the threads of various members.They are correct to great extent but while planting vetiver one must press the newly planted sapling near the root portion.The plant dies when air content stays near root and the root is not well pressed or well covered with soil.The root should never be visible after watering the sapling.The compressed soil and immediate watering does the trick for successful plantation.However I will like to suggest here that any vetiver grass will not do the justice.The contents of oil in vetiver grass should be main criteria while planting.CIMAP(Central Institute of Medicinal plants) has developed a variety which has good concentration of vetiver oil(.08%) in it.It is the most appropriate time to plant the saplings.We have the mother plants of the same variety but no saplings for sale or gift to any one.Approximately 2 lakh saplings have been sold by us to various farmers and bare minimum are left over.Any other query on this topic please do ask for successful quality vetiver plantation.
rcdixit

saverafarms, please find the attached image.
image 2 closeup of new shoots.

Dear rcdixit,

Thank you for more info.

I have a doubt here. When you say “developed a new variety with high oil content” - Don’t you think some aspect of the grass would have been compromised(knowingly or unknowing)? Do the grass get any pest problem or any such issues. Are you aware of it?

Most hybrids give you good results in short. But they vanish the way they come into the market. (That is exactly what corporates want, so you are always depended on them.)

This has happened to most of our animal, plants and veg genes which were preserved by our ancestors.




Dear sir
Central Institute of medicinal plants have developed a new variety of vetiver which is a long drawn process in research.They are reliable persons and will never vanish.You and me can.Their quality is excellent and one should be progressive to accept latest innovations taking place in agricultural fields.this is called mutation.Since ages the improvement in genes is taking place.The said variety is pest resistance.Rest no comment.
regards
rcdixit

Hello rcdixit,

I was taking about the plants and animals getting vanished and not Institute. :slight_smile:
Anyways why waste time discussing what is good and bad. only time will say.

Also wanted to ask you why does vetiver dies when their is air packet?
“The plant dies when air content stays near root and the root is not well pressed or well covered with soil.The root should never be visible after watering the sapling.”

Thank you.

Dear sir
The genes get mutated for betterment.The human breed is also getting changed with various combinations of races.Do you think the wheat which you are eating is a simple product with out change in its genes.The new variety of vetiver is better,as CIMAP claims, since its oil content is higher.It is not understood why you are not appreciating the betterment factor which is revolutionizing aromatic fields.It is a normal tendency that man is biased and he wants to listen only what his limited vision feels right.If you do not know why the plant dies when air pocket forms in the soil then it is futile to say anything further.However to make you understand the air bubble dries the tender root in the ground and the liquid flow of nutrients withers.This is the precise reason for death of plant/sapling if soil is not well pressed after plantation.Please be cool and understand what is conveyed.If it does not suit you please seek clarifications.I am always available to any one in doubt.We have nothing against each other.let us be good friends and amicable persons.

Hello rcdixit,

I don’t have a doctorate degree in any field. No academic in farming or horticulture. And I am happy I didn’t learn anything. I am learning, improvising and understanding things on our land and consulting actual farmers who still practice traditional methods.
Agreed every genes looks to evolve. But that is a slow process and with in the species. However modern approach is different.

If modern approach is for betterment. Then tell me what happened to Kerala, once milk surplus state now has to depend on other states; same with rice and pulses. Now the next biggest crises Kerala is going to face is cooking oil. People have been lavishing using coconut oil, wonder which state will share its oil(Kerala is already importing oil from other countries).

Apples no longer taste like apples. Milk doesn’t taste like milk. and the list goes on. forget about the nourishment.(at least for me not sure what you feel about it).

I remember during my childhood days. Chickens were raised in our backyard and brooding was also taken care. Now the new giriraj and other hybrid variety don’t get into brooding state, they simply lay eggs. some do sit over eggs but nothing happens and eggs get spoiled. Not to forget they need vaccination or else they perish. Native varieties are not like that.
Native variety of hens could dodge and escape a fox and fly over to a small tree. But the new variety are so huge and cannot easily fly, they become a easy prey.

yes I know rice varieties are also modified. My next target in coming few years is to be self reliant on rice and pulses for our family, I use no oil for tilling or other stuff all manual with native varieties. Not sure if it is going to work. Because my existing rice is getting contaminated.

Now why am I talking about all this. Because I know what it feels and how difficult it is when you don’t have capital or money flowing in on a regular basis and you have to manage cows and other stuff. This is what happens with most farmers who are not well to do. They fall prey because they have to feed their family, it is also because of this they spray and use chemicals.

You and me are well to do and any one reading it because you have computer and other amenities. And time to discuss rather be doing something productive.

Yes I would love healthy discussion. But no matter what I would always stick to age old stuff(but more than 80% of traditional knowledge is lost). They have been time tested and full proof.

Dear sir
Your points are valid as per conservative scale but we should not close our eyes and ears towards new things taking place in the world.There was no internet,no mobile,no skype connection once upon a time but the same is prevailing now.We should accept them as new ways of life without finding faults with them.The same goes for agricultural innovations.Now the wheat variety is giving better yield than it was in old times.Any way your point may be valid as per your thinking pattern but I believe in living with the moving times.Thanks
rcdixit

Excellent discussion.

Is there anyone on this thread into making oil from Vetiver ?

yes,our group is extracting oil from vetiver.

Hi
pl provide scientific name of the Vetiver.

Chrysopogon zizanioides

quote author=sri2012 link=topic=2324.msg10896#msg10896 date=1371180673]
Another trick is to plant them on a raised bed. raised bed as tall as 3feet. Almost you have to construct like a mud compound wall. As this is labour intensive to form beds, but easier to harvest.
[/quote]

+1 trick ( courtesy, Sri Neelakantamurthy, Odekar Farms, Tumkur. Manufacturer of natural soaps,shampoos, ayurvedic medicine etc)

Have a PVC pipe of about 4" dia and 4 ft length. Make it stand still(vertically), fill a mixture of sand 60% soil 30% Vermicompost 10%.
pile up mud from outside( just to support PVC pipe). Plant vetiver. This needs water everyday.
When you want to harvest take out mud pilled out side, topple the PVC pipe and remove the sandy mixture just by tapping.

Dear sirs
The plant is called by various names e.g khas ghas,remaccam(malayalam),sugandhimulah(sanskrit),vettiver in Tamil.Its latin name is vetiveria zizaniodes.This is planted through its slips.The same slips in about 6 months form a clump of hundreds slips.Its root gives most fragrant smell.The same root is used to extract oil of vetiver.It has cooling effect and some manufacturers prepare khus sharbat also out of the khus oil.The process is specialised hence please learn before making any syrup/sharbat etc.
rcdixit

Where do you get vetiver seeds in Andhra? And if I can get the plant I would like to plant it as a live fence.

Please help.

Thank you

The popular varieties of vetiver do not produce seeds. In fact, it is considered to be an advantage as vetiver will not be invasive and become a weed. It is propagated from slips and tillers.

I read the previous discussion on vetiver. The main advantage of vetiver is not its aromatic essential oil, but its role in soil erosion control, and ground water recharge. The vetiver grass grows dense vertical roots of upto 3 meters in a year and so is able to withstand flood water flows to a great extent. It has been used for highway and railway protection of the side banks.

Vetiver grown around vegetables and fruit trees have been observed to increase the yield by around 15 %.

Vetiver can also grow in water on floats. Such floats have been used for cleaning sewage water and for treatment of pig farm effluents.