I got a Compact Spicey Jatropha in June in a pot cause it's not hardy here. Mine is doing fantastic in mostly shade with some dappled sun in the afternoon. It's probably grown a foot since June, and even though it doesn't bloom profusely for me (probably because of more shade) the blooms it has really show up - they are neon!!) No bugs bother it, the hummers visit, although it's not their favorite, and the leaves are so, well, tropical.
Has anybody noticed how many tropicals and zone 9+ are becoming Superstars? I do wish they'd try to find more perennials that work in more of the state.

Yeah, it's gotten pretty common down here, but it's not hardy. I've only seen nice-sized plants in Galveston.

I have a couple growing in a very protected area and they seem to do OK, but it would probably be better in a large pot.

Debndal, I also noticed this. I wonder why?

Even if jatropha isn't hardy, if it can establish itself rapidly, drought tolerant, and can be grown in full sun, then it's probably worth growing as an annual.

I know that duranta, doesn't establish itself easily, (at least the "flowering part" of duranta ) so it isn't a very good "annual".

Plumbago is a superstar, and I don't know if it is hardy up in Dallas. It's one of my favorite plants, but it doesn't make a good annual, because it does not establish itself quickly. Usually the first season, plumbago struggles to establish itself. The next year, it does better. But, a plant like this wouldn't be practical where it isn't hardy.

pricklypear - I just have a hard time spending the kind of money for an annual that doesn't have time to establish in a season, so you have to buy them already large. I don't see myself spending $20-$25 or more on very many already grown jatropha, duranta, manihot, or plumbago. I've had limited success with plumbago up here in DFW. I do overwinter the duranta in a small greenhouse, I cut it waayyy back, an aloysia virgata, red ruellia and diamond frost euphorbia - whatever I can fit in there that I'm not sure will survive in the yard. My euphorbia continifolia and now the jatropha will come in the house for the winter. I'm sure it's all a marketing scheme really. Since so many are doing Texas native perennials now, they have to come up with a reason for us all to go spend more money at the nurseries. So it's really to the industries interest for superstars to not be hardy in most of the state. Oh well......

I've been growing a compact spicy jatropha for a few years in a large pot in full sun on my back porch. It does well and blooms nearly year-round. Occasionally the leaves get a little sun burned, but not bad. The hummers like it, and it's one of my favorite container plants!

My jatropha is out in the garden now because my covered patio doesn't get any sun in the summer. As the sun gets lower though my patio will get good winter sun, so I will pull it up to the patio. Then when we have really low temps I can rush it into the house until it warms back up. It's really maddening when you can grow just about any zone 8-9 plants without worry except for those 3 days where we get zapped by really cold temps. Grrrr!!

Where do you get a compact one? The ones here are all over 10' tall. None of the ones on the island seem unhappy with all the rain. I put mine in the ground last summer & it's well over 6' now.
A superstar?? Well, I guess but it's just an OK plant, gets too big too fast, not that exciting to look at when not in bloom. It is heat tolerant and drought tolerant.
Tally HO!

Tally,

You answered my question. I think anything that "looks" tropical in full reflected heat is a bonus, especially, if it can be "dug and stored"

About the only thing with "neon" type blooms in full, hot sun are crape myrtles.

Have you noticed that anything that is tropical looking, doesn't look good in full sun around here.

Cannas and bananas get sunburnt.

Perenial hibiscus is too thirsty. Tropical hibiscus seems to need some shade. (I think. Mines' in part shade, and so is all the other ones I see.)

(Natal plum looks pretty good, but this one not only isn't cold hardy, it also can't be "dug" and stored. )

Bougainvillea looks good in the valley, but I can't even get the prickly bush to bloom in a pot, here in San Antonio.

Can red ruellia tolerate full sun?

There are zillions of exotic looking tropicals that look beautiful in the shade, and any of us could go to any store and buy a bunch of them, plant them in the shade, and dig them up and store them over the winter. These shade gardens would be a jungle adventure, but the fun is gone as soon as our eyes look into full sun.

OK: I've vented. We could start a thread on tropical looking stuff that looks good in full sun in Texas. (Or are there so few plants?)

NO! We could start a thread on subtropical and tropical looking stuff.
Tally HO!

Yeah, Tally, let's go for it!!!

September 9, 2007

Malis Farmers Discover a WeedÂs Potential Power

By LYDIA POLGREEN

KOULIKORO, Mali  When Suleiman Diarra BananiÂs brother said that the poisonous black seeds dropping from the seemingly worthless weed that had grown around his family farm for decades could be used to run a generator, or even a car, Mr. Banani did not believe him. When he suggested that they intersperse the plant, until now used as a natural fence between rows of their regular crops  edible millet, peanuts, corn and beans  he thought his older brother, Dadjo, was crazy.

"I thought it was a plant for old ladies to make soap," he said.

But now that a plant called jatropha is being hailed by scientists and policy makers as a potentially ideal source of biofuel, a plant that can grow in marginal soil or beside food crops, that does not require a lot of fertilizer and yields many times as much biofuel per acre planted as corn and many other potential biofuels. By planting a row of jatropha for every seven rows of regular crops, Mr. Banani could double his income on the field in the first year and lose none of his usual yield from his field.

Poor farmers living on a wide band of land on both sides of the equator are planting it on millions of acres, hoping to turn their rockiest, most unproductive fields into a biofuel boom. They are spurred on by big oil companies like BP and the British biofuel giant D1 Oils, which are investing millions of dollars in jatropha cultivation.

Countries like India, China, the Philippines and Malaysia are starting huge plantations, betting that jatropha will help them to become more energy independent and even export biofuel. It is too soon to say whether jatropha will be viable as a commercial biofuel, scientists say, and farmers in India are already expressing frustration that after being encouraged to plant huge swaths of the bush they have found no buyers for the seeds.

But here in Mali, one of the poorest nations on earth, a number of small-scale projects aimed at solving local problems  the lack of electricity and rural poverty  are blossoming across the country to use the existing supply of jatropha to fuel specially modified generators in villages far off the electrical grid.

"We are focused on solving our own energy problems and reducing poverty," said Aboubacar Samaké, director of a government project aimed at promoting renewable energy. "If it helps the world, that is good, too."

Jatropha originated in Central America and is believed to have been spread around the world by Portuguese explorers. In Mali, a landlocked former French colony, it has been used for decades by farmers as a living fence that keeps grazing animals off their fields  the smell and the taste of the plant repel grazing animals  and a guard against erosion, keeping rich topsoil from being blown away by the harsh Sahel winds. The Royal Tropical Institute, a nonprofit research institution in Amsterdam that has been working to develop jatropha as a commercial biofuel, estimates that there are 22,000 linear kilometers, or more than 13,000 miles, of the bush in Mali.

JatrophaÂs proponents say it avoids the major pitfalls of other biofuels, which pose significant environmental and social risks. Places that struggle to feed their populations, like Mali and the rest of the arid Sahel region, can scarcely afford to give up cultivable land for growing biofuel crops. Other potential biofuels, like palm oil, have encountered resistance by environmentalists because plantations have encroached on rain forests and other natural habitats.

But jatropha can grow on virtually barren land with relatively little rainfall, so it can be planted in places where food does not grow well. It can also be planted beside other crops farmers grow here, like millet, peanuts and beans, without substantially reducing the yield of the fields; it may even help improve output of food crops by, among other things, preventing erosion and keeping animals out.

Other biofuels like ethanol from corn and sugar cane require large amounts of water and fertilizer, and factory farming in some cases consumes substantial amounts of petroleum, making the environmental benefits limited, critics say. But jatropha requires no pesticides, Mr. Samaké said, little water other than rain and no fertilizer beyond the nutrient-rich seed cake left after oil is pressed from its nuts.

The plant is promising enough that companies across the world are looking at planting millions of acres of jatropha in the next few years, in places as far flung as Brazil, China, India and Swaziland. A company based in Singapore has announced plans to plant two million hectares, about 4.9 million acres, of jatropha in the Philippines.

Here in Mali, a Dutch entrepreneur, Hugo Verkuijl, has started a company with the backing of investors and assistance from the Dutch government, to produce biodiesel from jatropha seeds.

Mr. Verkuijl, 39, an economist who has worked for nonprofit groups, is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs who are marrying the traditional aims of aid groups working in Africa with a capitalist ethos they hope will bring longevity to their efforts.

"An aid project will live or die by its funders," Mr. Verkuijl said, but "a business has momentum and a motive to keep going, even if its founders move on."

His company, Mali Biocarburant, is partly owned by the farmers who will grow the nuts, something he said would help the business to succeed by giving the farmers a stake.

It takes about four kilograms (about 8.8 pounds) of seeds to make a liter of oil, and Mr. Verkuijl will sign contracts with farmers to buy the seeds in bulk. The fuel he produces will cost about the same as regular diesel, he said  more than $1 a liter, which is about 1.06 liquid quarts. He will also return the nutrient-rich seed cake, left after the seeds are pressed for oil, to the farmers to use as fertilizer. He said he hoped to produce 100,000 liters of biodiesel this year and 600,000 a year by the third year.

Even if jatropha proves a success in Mali, it is still not without risks. If farmers come to see it as more valuable than food crops, they could cripple the countryÂs food production.

These kinds of worries led a recent United Nations report on biofuels to conclude that "the benefits to farmers are not assured, and may come with increased costs," the report said. "At their worst, biofuel programs can also result in a concentration of ownership that could drive the worldÂs poorest farmers off their land and into deeper poverty."

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Interesting article unautre. Nice to know such a pretty plant could have some good environmental qualities. I love my compact plant. So far this year I've gotten 1 whole seed!

Hi all,
have been following this thread on Jatropha and looked it up to see what all the hoopla was about.

Gorgeous plant and the flowers are a wonderful red color.
As I said I did a search and have not been able to find the seeds for this beauty. Wondered if anyone here knew where to get them??

I'm down in Corpus and should be able to grow this beauty.
Appreciate any info on where to get this plant or at least the seeds.
Patris

Check Home Depot or Lowe's; they carry them at ours.

http://search.ebay.com/jatropha-seeds_W0QQfnuZ1QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ3

Thanks so much
Patris

OK, I thought maybe I was missing something, I've never been that impressed with this bush. So I walked the dogs down the alley where they have 6 planted along the back fence. He cut them to about 3' in the spring, they are now well over 10' tall. Not a really heavy bloomer, the blooms are kind of small. I have one in the yard, just because I can't resist a plant I don't already have (or for that matter one I have 100 of), but I'm just not that impressed. Looks like a plain 'ole green bush walking down the alley.
Tally Ho!

I don't know about the standard Jatropha - my comments were on the compact spicy jatropha (3-4') I have in a container, which makes a lovely container plant in the garden or patio. The flowers are small, but borne in clusters, and the red is a very pretty shade of red. It is not a riotous bloomer, no, but they really stand out. I like subtle bloomers that don't scream too loud, so for me it's a perfect container plant for a small yard.

Tally:

I saw pictures of the standard jatropha and it didn't look like the compact spicy.

Here is a link to the picture of the plant we're talking about.

I bought mine at my local nursery. There were only 3 left.

I just bought the compact spicy Jatropha and planted it outside only to read that everyone is putting them into pots. I hope it makes it as everyone is right - the blooms are so bright and I really like it.

The duranta I had I literally had to kill it with round up. It grew massive and was planted in my yard. Those giant bumble bees swarmed it all day every day and the plant got very bushy and not very attractive. It might have looked better had I planted it away from a building where it could grow to its hearts content!!! It came back every year. I tried cutting it down to the ground and it still came back. I just didn't think the blooms were worth what the plant looked like overall.

Same thing, just a little shorter. I have a lot of other plants I like much better. But that's just me. Good luck with them!
Tally HO!

I bought one earlier in the summer and put it in the ground. Sounds like I'll have to dig it up for winter.
Saw big drifts of them at the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park last week, and they were gorgeous - all in bloom and covered with butterflies. They must dig them up and store them in their greenhouse over the winter.

Carol

I left my jatropha in the pot, because I bought mine in Sept. However, I planted duranta last November. (They were in 4 inch pots-LOL) I just kept them well mulched and I covered them up during frost. They were fine.

I'll put my jatropha in the ground next spring.

Just give it some extra protection this winter, and your jatropha should be fine.