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Anyone in California growing this plant? Love to hear experiences.
Thanks,
Andrew
Thanks,
Andrew
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Los Angeles
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Re: Jatropha curcas
03/28I have grown Jatropha podagrica, which I think is similar; had one indoors for 8 years, then outdoors for 2 years in Oakland until this winter, where it rotted to death from the wet and cold hm bummer just noticed that yesterday. Since it is a tropical, it grows outdoors in Hawaii easily & is a rampant self-seeder fyi. My buddy has too much of it in his wild garden on the Big Island.
exploding woody seed pods are quite fun --> finding their seeds 20 ft from the plant even!
does not like wet or heavy soil, or cold dampness (indoors or out)...better indoors/greenhouse I think -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
03/28Thanks Chili. They're not exactly the same plant, but the information is helpful.
Exploding seed pods, eh? Sounds wild.
Anyone else?
Peace,
Andrew -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
03/28Jatropha curcas is grown in many parts of the world, especially Africa, as a source of oil to make biodiesel. Most varieties are quite poisinous but a couple are not. This plant is tropical, will grow in most soils, especially dry, worn out soil. A yellow dye can be extracted from the roots, a blue dye from the bark. The bark is also a source of a wax. Many children have been hospitalized or killed by eating the seed kernal which has a pleasent flavor. -
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>>> selfishly e-dreaming of Roy's marvelously ginormous brain
dispersing knowledge about california native plants
(specifically oak chapparral restorations)
:D
to make my online "research" more fruitful on this here rainy day <<<
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I'm studying that new word which seems to be made of two terms "gin" and "ormous", the later being of a less obvious derivation! Although I do take a gin once in a while, it is not really necessary for botanical knowledge. Helps, but it's not essential.
Sorry, but my experience is mostly in the American tropics and, although restoration of California's oak chapparral sounds like a worthy cause, I would be of little help. :) -
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sorry to be OT...
03/29ginormous = GIant + eNORMOUS
and no worries...I know you are all about the tropicals Roy - and how!...I was just dreaming...
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Re: sorry to be OT...
03/30Chili, Ive sent an email to my cousin who minored in California ecology , specifically in saving and restoring...I await gems of knowledge from his hard to get ahold of brain..... -
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too cool!
03/30thank you eris you are a goddess!
btw, this is one of my favorite websites for researching plant communities in CA...by zipcode!
www.laspilitas.com/comhabit/zipcode.htm
ON TOPIC >>>> about this jatropha, I would have to agree that it likes poor soil based on its ease of establishment into the barren wasteland of the big island's western lava field where my friend lives. -
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Re: too cool!
04/01Here are some links I found. No word from my cousin yet.
www.tropilab.com/jatropha-cur.html
www.biodieseltoday.com/
www.svlele.com/jatropha_plant.htm
www.abchomeopathy.com/r.php/Jatr
www.jatropha.org/zambia/index.html
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Re: too cool!
04/01Hail Eris!
Thanks.
Paz,
Andrew
BTW Still looking for first hand accounts. -
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Re: too cool!
04/02Care for a bite of apple? :)
My cousin sounds off thusly...
"I believe these are native to Central America, though the California climate is certainly capable of supporting them. Mostly these plants are known for having been introduced to pacific islands chains, where they have become invasive.
Sorry, I don’t know squat about cultivating them."
Sorry it didn't pan out better. /sad panda
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Re: Jatropha curcas
06/01Jatropha curcas- I have just been invited to join an experimental pilot project planting of this species in Costa Rica to produce biofuel. It appears to have a native center in southern Mexico. It will grow in poor worn out soil and improves said soil. Recent experiences show that it may be best done in a permaculture type situation and I'm inventing an intercropping set-up which I call a "fuel forest".
Other plants that may be grown jointly with it are Pongamia pinnata and Luffa cylindrica, both of which produce good quantities of vegetable oil. The first is a leguminous tree from India (fixes nitrogen) and the second is the famous vegetable sponge. The press cake from all three seeds is a good animal feed. If hog feed can pay harvesting costs, the oil will be almost free! -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
06/01Thanks Roy. I'm currently watching over my seedlings. Will post pictures soon.
Best
A -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
06/01PS I'd love to learn about the Cosat Rica project. -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
06/01As we get things moving, I'll post here. May even start a tribe! -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/20I think I've been following a "will-o'-the-wisp". This is an old time term for something that melts into the mist, mainly because it doesn't really exist. I was lead into this by web accounts of a "non-toxic" variety of Jatropha curcas. This because in Quintana Roo Province in Mexico, they sell little bags of roasted seeds of this poisonous plant on street corners for people to eat! I think that this poorly researched plant has a toxic substance that can be destroyed by strong heating. As you may know, ordinary beans, such as kidney beans, are quite toxic if eaten raw. It's the cooking that deactivates the toxin.
Every time I reached out for this supposed non-toxic variety, including phone calls to ag people at local Mexican universities, nothing. No one that works in the field knows anything about it. So...
Even though this plant does grow wild here in Costa Rica, it is not common. Therefore, I'm about to order 25 Kg of seed from India plus lesser amounts of seed of other oil bearing trees from the same country (karanj, horseradish tree & Chinese tallow tree).
I'm also getting interested in a common local tree, the jicaro or calabash tree. The big gourd-like fruit of this tree contain oil bearing seeds, the pulp can be used to make ethanol and the thick, woody rind can be made into high grade charcoal. This is my kind of tree!
I could use the ethanol to dissolve the toxins from the Jatropha curcas press cake so it can be fed to hogs, then redistill the used ethanol to be able to use it in the process of making biodiesel from the different oils produced. This is fun! -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/20I'm sorry to hear about the disappointing end to your non-toxic Jatropha search, Roy, but your plans sound very ambitious. Isn't Calabash edible? -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/20It's not just my plans. An "angel" showed to put in an initial $10,000 to see if the whole comcept is viable here.There are investors waiting in the wings. A local well known political personage has already lined up the importation of oil presses and biodiesel making equipment.
Yes, calabash is edible in the sense that it's not poisonous. But people don't find it tastes very good. Horses like it though. They are responsible for the seed being spread through local pastures. In Mexico they've started making a liquor of it but I haven't tried it.
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/26Dear Mr.Roy,
It is interesting to find this place on web. In INDIA Jatropha curcas cultivation is in full swing. Our Central & State Govt.s are encouraging the cultivation of this plant by providing subsidies to the farmers. As the agriculture consultants, we worked on this plant and standardised the cultivation of this plant. In our State of Andhra Pradesh which is in Southern part of our Country INDiA, it is unnder cultivation in more than 2000 acres. Just two years back it was started. We are providing complete consultancy to the farmers who wants to cultivate Jatropha curcas from sourcing of planting material, cultivation, farm management, pest & disease management' processing bio diesel etc., that is SOIL to OIL. And as you rightly said the people from a village in Quintana Roo province of Mexico, are used to eat this Jatropha curcas roasted seeds. Because they are Non-toxic variety. Toxic variety even after roasting also contains toxic elements and it is non edible for humans and animals. And it is not true as you said that this is not a poorly reseacrched plant. For example take our country INDIA, many of our INSTITUTIONS worked on this plant. We are working on this plant since 1998. We even, conducted a INTERNATIONAL seminar on Biofuels focussing on JATROPHA. We are having lot of inforamation about Jatopha. Please visit our website: www.sampadafarms.com to know more about us.
Regards
Raghu Ram -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/26Hi Raghu,
Welcome to this tribe.
India seems to be one of the few countries that are heading in the right direction in regard Jatropha curcas. Most places use the big business template to cultivate this crop. This has not been successful here in the Americas. In India they are heading towards mixed cropping and small, village sized cultivations. Right?
When I inquire about the "non-toxic" variety to people that are working on J.c. I mostly get incomprehension even among people in Mexico. It appears that J.c. has 2, possibly 3 toxins. In the Mexican var. one of these is missing, but the raw seed is still toxic. However the second toxin is mostly destroyed by roasting. So the body can handle a bag of these. Ten bags might well be another story.
I am interested in a system that uses the J.c. press cake for animal feed so low toxicity varieties and detoxification interest me. I am also interested in intercropping with a number of possible other oil bearing crops: karanj, the horseradish tree, the Chinese tallow tree, the vegetable sponge vine (Luffa cylindrica) and the calabash tree (Cresentia alata). The later tree is of special interest because, although it produces less oil than J.c. and karanj, it also can be used to produce ethanol. Ethanol can be used to detoxify J.c. press cake and then be redistilled and treated with glycerine from the biodiesel production process, and then used as the alcohol necessary to convert oil to biodiesel. Complicated but economically elegant.
Some questions:
In India is it common to recommend having a bee hive on the Jatropha farm since J.c. produces excellent honey and bee activity increases yield?
How are the seeds shelled there before pressing?
What is done with the fruit husks and seed shells to make them economically valuable? -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/29Dear Mr.Roy,
Thanks for accepting me for your welcome.
I can send you some more information on non-taoxic J c. I am in search of non toxic variety from Mexico. It is advisable to go for non toxic J c cultivation in large scale. By that the cake of this variety can be used as animal feed with out de toxification. May in a couple of weeks I am expecting some seeds from Mexico. Once I got them in my hand, after confirming about the non toxicity, I want to multiply them into thousands by adopting tissue culture technology. This is what I am having in my mind.
Then answers for your questions.
In India is it common to recommend having a bee hive on the Jatropha farm since J.c. produces excellent honey and bee activity increases yield?
You are 100% right. Bee hives in the J c farm definetly increase the yields. Even though we are advising no farmer is adopting this technic in India. We hope that this year it may pick up.
How are the seeds shelled there before pressing?
There are specially designed machines fare available or jatropha for shelling.
What is done with the fruit husks and seed shells to make them economically
At present there is no specific use. Only in coming two years we are expecting huge quanties of seed shells. fruit husks are mixed with FYM for compositng.
Regards
Raghu Ram
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Re: Jatropha curcas
07/29Hi Raghu,
I'm also researching the "non-toxic" variety. First, not all seed from Mexico is of this variety. It started in the area of Veracruz and has been planted in small scale in Quintana Roo and the Yucatan.
Second, this variety is only missing one of the two toxic components. The other is still there and must be removed by heating.
I have not seen a shelling machine. Please get information or some web sites for me.
I have thought about the fruit husks & seed shells. Composting them is wasteful. Say one crushes them and puts them in heavy plastic bags with lots of holes. Then you steam sterilize them and, after cooling, seed them with spores of some of the different edible fungi that normally grow in wood. These will form masses growing out of the holes in the bags and you can have a commercially valuable harvest. Then, since the fungi have broken down much of the original lignins, what remains will probably work well in your biodigester! So you get a food product, biogas AND a good organic fertilizer/compost.
I have wondered about tissue culture a J. curcas. One should get meristems from at least 15 to 20 different high grade plants and use them all mixed. That way you will not end up with hundreds of hectares of genetically identical plants! I would appreciate your solid and liquid media formulas for J. curcas.
Roy -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
09/17Dear Roy,
Your posts have given me a much clearer perspective than the masses of information that I've been trawling on the internet regarding J Curcas. I'm interested in J. Curcas development in the ASEAN region. Would you be able to give me information on the extraction of oil from the J Curcas seeds? Also, do you know how the oil is being brought to market - e.g. to rural communities simply extract the oil, filter it and put it in to their tractors? Or is it a more sophisticated process requiring centralised refining capabilities, distribution networks and marketing agencies?
Best regards, -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
09/18My experience is limited to Costa Rica but I understand that anywhere in the tropics Jatropha oil can be used directly in a diesel engine but the better systems preheat the oil using the exhaust system. The German tractor company that makes the Agro Deutz, offers it with a properly set up motor to run on straight oil. Elsewhere, outside the tropics, it is better to produce biodiesel from the oil because it gets too thick at lower temperatures.
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Re: Jatropha curcas
09/17Dear Raghu,
Thanks for your information. I am looking for information on Jatropha cultivation in the Indian sub-continent. I have the following questions: Which parts of the sub-continent are conducive to Jatropha cultivation? What is the model that is being followed i.e. small farmers growing the crop or large scale plantations? What is the extraction method from harvesting to oil production? How is the biodiesel being marketed - by co-operatives, to local petroleum companies? I think the Indian sub-continent information would be relevant for Indonesia and the Phillipines, hence the questions.
Many thanks, -
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Re: Jatropha curcas
11/17I have seen indications that the soil conditions acceptable for J.c. are quite a bit more complex than just that "it grows well in poor soils". There could well be very important minor mineral nutrients so one "poor soil" might work and another not.
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Re: Jatropha curcas
11/17Dear Mr. Raghu,
I am also do some research about non-toxic jatropha varieties. I am interesting in non-toxic variety because of its useful cake for animal feed without detoxification. I have wondered if now you already have some of this varieties available then I would love to purchase some.
Many thanks,
Hung Lam
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