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At the heart of the Vetiver System is the plant - Chrysopogon zizanioides - formerly Vetiveria zizanioides. This plant, commonly known as vetiver grass, is a clump grass originating in south India. There are many cultivars of vetiver grass but those originating in south India are sterile and non invasive. It is these cultivars with names such as Sunshine and Monto that TVNI promotes for use for the Vetiver System.

Learn "In-Depth" About Vetiver

Vetiver Grass Technical Specifications provide more detail on the range of climate and soil that the plant can be grown in. The two links below provide very good information about the plant and its propagation.

Is vetiver grass invasive? NO!!!
Vetiver Grass: New Risk Factor Assessment:

A recent Wall Street Journal article published on August 22nd 2007 by Susan Warren. "Found in the Weeds: Bug Scientist Touts Cure for Levee Leaks" once again raises the issue as to whether Vetiver grass might be invasive. Recently the Pacific Island Ecosystem at Risk (PIER) carried out a new risk assessment of non fertile Vetiver grass cultivars from south India that are typified by Sunshine (US) and Monto (Australia) genotypes. Vetiver grass, Chrysopogon zizanioides, a.k.a. Vetiveria zizanioides is rated minus eight (-8). This rating is based on Australian/New Zealand weed risk assessment protocol, modified for Hawaii. It is a very strict and thorough protocol. You can find the details of the PIER vetiver assessment here.

	TECHNICAL HANDBOOK This handbook extracted from "The Vetiver System - A Technical Reference Manual by Paul Truong, Tran Tan Van and Ellise Pinners. Quick download and in full color. Vetiver System - Vetiver Grass - Plant Propagation (html with images). Read more
	NET POTS Here is a neat idea from Paulraj Vincent who lives in Coimbatore,Tamilnadu, India. "When planting Vetiver we normally use slips or poly bags. If we use slips, it takes 15-20 days to get root establishment with less than 100% survival. Of course cost wise cheap and easy to carry.With polybags we get good rooting and almost nil mortality. But you have to spend more money and labor to carry from one place to another. With NETPOTS the plant grows immediate, they are very light to carry, cheaper than poly bags a little high than bare rooted slips. Using NETPOTS method Just we have to dig a small hole of 5 inches deep and keep the netpot inside. Why not we try this method for propagation so that we can get quick growth in the field and little space to grow more plants in the Nursery". More images Please send in more innovative Vetiver Systems ideas.
	Mechanical planter for vetiver. The Australians modified a vegetable planter for the planting of vetiver: See more
	Vetiver System and Fire. Vetiver will survive very hot fires and will recover quickly to continue being an effective erosion barrier and slope stabilizer. The images include pictures from Austalia, Malaysia, Vanuatu, and the most recent fires in California.

If the technology does not work we find that 99% of failed applications are because plant and application guidelines were not followed. Read and learn from the handbooks and papers available on this site.

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