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  • From: "Charles de Matas" <cdematas@hotmail.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] velvet bean - was grass in orchards
  • Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 17:14:21 +0000

Hi Marjory,
I don't know how velvet beans will do in your climate. Maybe kudzu will be better.
In previous years I have been experimenting with the indigenous mucuna pruriens which has stinging pods (hence name 'cow-itch'). I got poor germination from these last year. Only one vine grew, but it covered several square meters, climbed up a pigeonpea tree and broke it down. I plant the seeds in the rainy season when we get heavy rains. They flower and then dry down at the end of the rainy season, around January here, leaving a lot of biomass. I've learnt to handle the pods of the cow-itch and save the seeds.
It's only a few weeks ago that I got some velvet bean seeds from someone in our permaculture group who got them from abroad. These have non-stinging pods and would be much easier to save the seeds. So I will try the velvet bean this year and maybe also plant the native cow-itch as well since this was growing on my land when I acquired it. I have compacted clay soils so I will have to loosen the soil when I sow the seeds. The beans grow better when planted in soils that have been previous loosened by cultivation.
I've observed two types of grasses that predominate on my land. One is an annual grass that seeds and dries down at the beginning of the dry season. This provides fuel for fires at the beginning of the dry season, which are not very intense and trees can sometimes survive it. I think I can suppress this grass with newspaper mulch, and I've started doing this.
Another type of grass is a perennial that sends out runners and sprawls all over the ground. This provides fuel for fires at the end of the dry season, which are much more intense and usually kills trees. The newspaper mulch would not be effective against this. I've started hoeing out some of the roots but it's just too much to get rid of like this. I'm hoping the velvet beans can smother some of this grass. I've given my brother some of the velvet bean seeds also to try on a bamboo patch that he's trying to get rid of (without success up to now).
I'm trying everything I can think of to stop the cycle of more grass -> more fires -> more grass -> more fires ->.....

Charles.
Trinidad

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  • [permaculture] velvet bean - was grass in orchards, Charles de Matas, 05/28/2007

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