Rev Posted April 18, 2007 Ive known about this stuff for 10 years or more now and i still am yet to find little fault with it http://www.vetiver.org/ ive bought their CD's and booklets and its got loads of great info off their site it would be the most underutilised yet most useful plant i know of i use it for mulch it grows around my evaporation trench and im expanding it year by year to surround the whole thing it uses the effluent and the abundant heat and sunshine over summer to create a fair bit of attarctive, durable mulch for pathways its a great way to recycle those nutrients and water safely back into the yard its really suited to summer rainfall patterns mostly but easily takes the frost here, though it stops growing over winter its indestructible - cept for roundup. everything needs an achilles heel to be safe to use... more http://www.ybe.com.au/landscape.htm http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...supergrass.html http://www.ldd.go.th/EFiles_project/IT-GIS...s%20Natural.htm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
occidentalis Posted April 18, 2007 Apparently it can be quite a problem weed in some areas. Another good thing though is it has some use in TCM. I quite like Vetiver, the band. http://www.vetiverse.com/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rev Posted April 18, 2007 ive heard of the weed thing but most grass in australia today is Monto, a sterile cultivar sourced from the brisbane botanic gardens and as noted its VERY susceptible to glyphosate. a burn and a spray would kill all adults Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vertmorpheus Posted April 18, 2007 Lemongrass is fairly handy stuff for some of those purposes too, good to have a few clumps where the biocycle etc overflows to. Doesn't last too long as mulch, somewhere around but a lil shorter than sugarcane mulch.. but then I don't mulch nearly as deeply as some people tell me I have to (three feet of mulch is probably nice if you a> own a trailer b> water with a firetruck c> have anything you could call "subsoil moisture"). Lemongrass doesn't seed either, or send runners or regen from roots or bulbs. Have to look into vetiver though cheers for the idea. GD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rev Posted April 18, 2007 i use lemon grass too but its not as cold hardy, it does frost back and this has a far deeper root system id offer slips but i want to be sure i have this monto variety b4 speading it about i may have to got to the bris botanic gdns as ive had no luck in replies from the proffessors involved in the qld work Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted April 18, 2007 don't get a match near it. was doing some flame weeding and the flame merely licked a dead blade. It travelled back to the plant within a second and the whole green thing went up in a flash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rev Posted April 19, 2007 (edited) doesnt kill it though but it can be useful if you want to like blady grass the new growth is soft and palatable so you can graze it out (blady grass = poor mans oats) or give it a weak spray Edited April 19, 2007 by Rev Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted April 19, 2007 didn't mean to detract from it's benefits in any way. just a warning not to plant real close to buildings etc as it is a major fire hazard. we were going to use it to stabilise a bank behind the shed, but ot only 1m from the eves that is a fire hazard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites