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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-720
Crambe
Crambe hispanica
Crambe is a fast-growing spring annual in the mustard family, grown not for food but for the industrial oil packed into its seed - oil so rich in erucic acid that it goes into lubricants, nylon feedstock and plastics rather than a kitchen. What is left after pressing makes a strong livestock feed for cattle and sheep, standing in for soybean meal at almost any level, though it stays toxic to poultry even after processing. The one thing that catches growers out is timing the harvest: the seed pods shatter the moment they turn straw-coloured, so the crop has to come off within days or it reseeds itself on the ground instead of filling the bin.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- Not yet recorded
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5–7.8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 3.3–6.6 ft
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 8–16 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Solanum aethiopicum
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African Rice
Oryza glaberrima
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Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
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Ajwain
Trachyspermum ammi
Ajwain is a frost-tender annual grown for a small, pungently aromatic seed used to flavor curries, pulses, breads and fried pastry, and just…
Herbaceous
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
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Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
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Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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