Vetiveria vs. Phragmites
Jacky Foo
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---forwarde message----
Vetiveria vs. Phragmites
Submitted by Hanns Pitot on Mon, 23/07/2007 - 22:51.
Would anybody be able to compare reed (Phragmites australis) and
vetiver grass in CWLs?
Hanns-André Pitot
Jacky Foo
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Vetvera vs. Phragmites
Submitted by M P Singh on Tue, 24/07/2007 - 07:03.
I could lay my hands on one article by Paul T. The link is
http://www.vetiver.com/ICV4pdfs/BA05.pdf
Paul and Dick would of course, be able to give more details. I am
cutting and pasting something from the article for those who may not
have the time to go through the process of download and going through
the whole article.
This paper does not deal with simple household effluent though.
I would like to add another thing about Nutrients. We have the problem
of excessive use of nitrogenous Fertiliser in our area ( India and
Pakistan) For our agriculture. This results in good amounts of Nitrous
Oxide escaping to the atmosphere. Nitrous Oxide has a global Warming
potential of 310. So the ability of our plants to pick up excess
Nitrogen is an important factor. Excess Nitrogen going with the
effluent is not all used by the crop, whatever it is. The cut paste is
reproduced below:
"Why Vetiver Grass Instead of Phragmites
>From the above it is clear that plants used for SBRB should have an
extensive root system to penetrate down to the base of the soil to
ensure the system is properly aerated by the roots. The most commonly
used plant for Reed Bed systems is Phragmites sp and in Australia
Phragmites australis, which is a common wetland plant. However most
published results indicate good removal of BOD Nitrogen nutrient loads
through Phragmites sp reed beds can typically be as low as one tenth
that of effluents generated by gelatine processing operations.
Given the validated performance of vetiver in dealing with extremely
high nitrogen loads GELITA is therefore investigating the potential
for substituting vetiver for reeds in a higher rate treatment soil
based reed bed. (A detailed full paper is presented at this
conference).
In addition Phragmites australis:
· Has a relatively shallow root system, (a typical feature of wetland
plants)
· Has a slow recovery growth after harvesting as it relies on the
growth of new shoots from rhizomes and seeds instead of the old
shoots.
· Is also a major weedy pest in all wetlands and waterways in
Queensland due to its prolific seeding habit.
In comparison Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides):
· Thrives under water logged conditions,
· Is tolerant of high level of pollutants, including heavy metals and
nutrients(particularly N and P)
· Has a high capacity of absorbing these pollutants:
· Grows well under extremely adverse conditions such as high salinity,
high acidity and alkalinity and sodicity.
· Has a prolific and deep root system
· Has high potential biomass production under nutrient rich conditions
such as provided by effluent.
· Has a high water use rate: (7.5 times higher than Typha under
wetland conditions)
· Is sterile seeded, reproduces vegetatively and therefore presents no
threat ofweed potential
M P Singh
Jacky Foo
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---forwarded message-----
from paul....@gmail.com
subject Re: Vetiver weediness and Eucalyptus
Dear MP
Your outlines and recommendations are very comprehensive and clear, I
have nothing elso to add. Congratulations
However I have some points to mention here as I had trouble accessing
the discussion group until now.
1- when planting vetiver on in CWL,
- On currently operated WL, use well mature potted plants, 50-70cm
tall with good roots. AS young vetiver grows very slowly in very wet
or innundated conditions
- On new CWL, plant vetiver first under dryland, water it with
effluent frequently to promote growth, but dont inundate it. When it
is about 50-70cm tall start your treatment
2- on the questions of bad odour and mosquitoes. These 2 occur only
under stagnant conditions, so keep the effluent level just below the
surface either stagnant or flowing then you dont have these 2 problems
3- I have some papers on the new version of CWL called Soil Based Reed
Bed, if interested contact me at [paul....@gmail.com] and I will
send it to you.
I hope these answers some of your concerns
Paul Truong
Brisbane, Australia
Jacky Foo
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Vetiver vs. Phragmites
Submitted by Hanns Pitot on Tue, 24/07/2007 - 08:35.
Dear MP and dear Paul,
Thanks very much for this info. If Liayat wishes to compare the
effectiveness of various plans in CWLs, these two are obvious
contenders. In Germany, rushes (Juncus sp.) are sometimes recommended
- there would certainly species native to Pakistan that could be
tried. Another plant that comes to my mind would be papyrus (Cyperus
papyrus) - would anybody know about the suitability of that plant in
CWLs? Then, there is cat tail (Typha sp.), that is known to have a
relatively flat root system, and thus be suited in relatively flat
systems.
One addition that I would like to make: If Phragmites is used in CWLs,
it's typically not cut. The cleaning action does not come from the
absorption of nutrients into the plant mass, but from the conversion
of dissolved nitrogen (ammonia and nitrates) into nitrogen gas, which
is released into the atmosphere. These are aqueous microorganisms that
perform the transformation.
Phragmites is very tough and can stand high loads of contamination.
It's even used in drying beds, where pure sludge is being fed. It's
true it's very invasive, but only in water-logged places, where it's
likely to be already there anyway.
What would be more important to me as parameters (rather than the
reduction of N and P), would be the rate of reduction of pathogens,
and the reduction of BOD. Phragmites should be very efficient for
both, but the other plants that I've mentioned possibly, too.
Kind regards,
Hanns-André Pitot
Jacky Foo
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sourcing for plants for CWL: Canna
Submitted by Jacky Foo on Tue, 24/07/2007 - 11:23.
Hanns Pitot wrote:
>...In Germany, rushes (Juncus sp.) are sometimes recommended....
>...Another plant that comes to my mind would be papyrus
>(Cyperus papyrus).....
>...there is cat tail (Typha sp.), that is known to have
>a relatively flat root system, and thus be suited
>in relatively flat systems.
>...Canna (Canna indica) has been used a lot in CWLs
>in India....
I have used all these plants before,..... I like Canna and used it for
shallow trench systems. The water around Canna (for some reasons)
encourage water fleas to grow and this was great for me since my guppy
fishes grew very well. I used guppies to control mosquito larvae. The
system was great for the workers since they could harvest Canna and
sell as ornamental plants (landscaping), guppies for chickens. These
provide incentives to them in their work. I had a few plastic
containers for breeding guppies and the workers would enjoy collecting
water fleas for the baby fishes several times a day. After they had
their lunch, they would also think of feeding the fishes. The sludge
from the trench where Canna is grown is also very black in colour.
This gives the compost a nice black colour. Canna flowers all the time
and the pleasant colour of the flowers somehow pacify people from
complaining too much about the odor.
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Jacky Foo
http://www.iobbnet.org