Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-176
Vetiver
Vetiveria zizanioides
Vetiver is a dense clumping grass grown almost entirely for its roots, which run straight down 6 to 13 feet rather than spreading sideways, making a line of it along a contour one of the strongest soil-structure and erosion tools available - it is specifically planted that way to control erosion in cultivated fields. It tolerates an unusually wide range of soil chemistry and can take a spot that floods and then bakes dry, conditions that kill most other plants. Sold as a sterile clone that sets no seed and throws no runners, it stays exactly where it is planted and needs no containment - but a fertile wild type exists and must never be the one purchased. In a hard winter the top growth can die back to the ground, with the plant regrowing from the crown the following spring.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 8–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 3–9.9
- Plant type
- Grass
- Mature height
- 4–8 ft
- Mature spread
- 3–4 ft
- Plant spacing
- 3–6 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-deep
- Spread pattern
- None
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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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