Autumn Maintenance

As the cooler temperatures creep closer; propagating, planting, and division of Vetiver is put on the backburner and general maintenance of neglected clumps and hedges takes over.

Making Biochar with Vetiver

A couple of years ago, I decided to utilise Vetiver biomass in a different way by turning it into biochar. Ideally, a contained method such as a retort or TLUD would be safer but I decided to try it in a flame-shielded kiln which is essentially an open tub or drum. A simple backyard method for making reasonable quality char is a ‘cone pit’ which is the same theory, the new material added on top of the burnt material underneath prevents the lower material from accessing oxygen which creates a simple form of pyrolisis.

Helpful Guides for your Vetiver Journey

A lot of information regarding the Vetiver System and how to use it can be found on The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) and throughout many helpful documents/presentations such as these.

To help new small-scale growers in the subtropics, I have written some high-resolution pictorial guides on propagation and planting in addition to the above resources. These are guides based in SE QLD on decomposed granite soil with rainfall averaging 800mm-1.2m a year. They are intended to help you start your nursery and build your first hedges in any locale.

These guides can be found here or directly as the Propagation Guide (10.3MB), the Planting Guide (17.7MB) or some answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

They can also be found hosted at a smaller resolution on TVNI as the Propagation Guide and the Planting Guide.

Anatomy of a Mature Vetiver Clump

Varied photos of a 4 year old dug up mature Vetiver clump illustrating potential size and crown formation.

Possible Nursery Planting Layouts

Planting layouts in a nursery can be varied and in any style that an owner chooses. Some are streamlined for mechanisation with row width corresponding with tyre track width, for one example. As long as you give a plant room to grow in a sunny position, each ‘mother’ clump should provide you with a significant number of slips (propagation pieces) during later division.