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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Water from the air
  • Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:57:46 -0700 (PDT)

Some of you may remember the thread “improving the water-retention
properties of soil” which I launched a couple of years ago. One of the
questions I asked at the time was about plants for improving the
water household of the soil, without knowing whether such plants
exist. In the meantime, I have at least found a partial answer to that
question, and would like to share it with you in case there are
those who struggle, like me, with the annual dry season.
 
The Dutch scientist, G. F. van der Meulen, who conducted projects
for rehabilitating degraded tropical soils in Indonesia and Brazil
discovered that certain plants absorb humidity from the air which
is then discharged to the soil from their roots. Among the
water-collecting plants he mentioned are the following:
 
- Centosema pubescens (now Centosema molle)
Soft Butterfly Pea. Trailing, N-fixing perennial
- Eupatorium odoratum
Non-woody perennial
- Eupatorium maximiliana
idem
- Phaseolus candidus var. Membranaceus
 
I haven’t been able to check if these plants can be grown
under other than tropical conditions and how to get seeds
since my Internet access is far too slow. Anyway, this
is something to follow up on.
 
Dieter Brand
Portugal


Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell.

  • [Livingontheland] Water from the air, Dieter Brand, 06/15/2007

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