The Vetiver Network International

Building Sites

Application of VS

Vetiver grass has been used since the 1990s for stabilizing new and existing residential and industrial sites. A classic example of this is the industrial park at Mahogany located in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. At the time of planting, 1996 there was not a building on the site but just leveled land that was eroding fast. Tony Tantam an early user of vetiver in South Africa was contracted to stabilize this with vetiver. Today if one looks at the Google Earth imagery you can see virtually no sign of vetiver there now – most has being taken over by native plants and is totally stable.

Photo 1 Mahogany Ridge at time of planting vetiver in 1996
Photo 2 Mahogany Ridge at time of planting vetiver in 2021. Vetiver still visible at green droppers. Using Google Earth “Street View” the vetiver is easy to see.
Photo 3 A new residential “resort” in Costa Rica in a steep and hilly area extensively stabilized with vetiver (Yorleny Cruz)
Photo 4 A new residential “resort” in Costa Rica – before and after vetiver application
Photo 5 Extreme slope stabilization of industrial area in Costa Rica (Yorleny Cruz)
Photo 6 Stabilizing slope next to residential house. There are numerous instances of slope failure in urban and residential areas particularly as a result of extreme rainfall. Vetiver is an excellent remedy (Guatemala)
Photo 7 Stabilizing slope below a residential house. There are numerous instances of slope failure in urban and residential areas particularly as a result of extreme rainfall. Vetiver is an excellent remedy (Costa Rica). The use of vetiver is the least cost solution and very effective when applied correctly as in this case