Given the long exchange concerning hemp on this list that was short on
facts, I thought it might be refreshing to share a summary of comments
and sources posted on the ecolog list concerning Kenaf, another annual
with excellent prospects as a fiber source. My apologies to those
receiving this twice.
Andrew Gray
graya@fsl.orst.edu
Hi:
About a week ago, I posted a message on ECOLOG-L about information on the plant
Kenaf. Enough people
indicated an interest in a summary, that I have put this together. I thank
everyone who responded.
Bryan Hargrave
Regional Forestry Specialist
Minnesota DNR-Forestry
brhargra@dnr.state.mn.us
218-828-2616
SUMMARY:
Greetings
Andre Lauchli.at UC Davis has been growing kenaf as a test pulp plant for
some
time. My friend
Peter Curtis at Ohio State was heavily involved as a student, and probably
remembers a lot about the
plant. . Lauchli is probably still at (9167523607). Peter's address is
curtis.7@osu.edu.
George Robinson
SUNY Albany
I don't have the exact address, but a Charleston, MS elementary school teacher
wrote to me of Mississippi's
only kenaf operation,located in Charleston, Mississippi. The Soil Conserv.
Service is experimenting with
"Kenafmats" as a substrate for wildflower seeding. The J.L.Whitten Plant
Materials Center, Coffeeville, MS (an
SCS production/research facility) 6016752424 referred to the Charleston
facility as having lots of expertise. The
SCS Charleston facility phone no. is 6016475867.
If you summarize Kenaf postings, I'd appreciate your sending a copy to Glenna
H. Callender, Charleston Public
Schools, P.O.Box 529, Charleston, MS 38921, and emailing a copy to me
(vrudis@ra.msstate.edu). Thanks.
Dempsey, James M. 1975. Fiber Crops. The University Presses of Florida,
Gainesville, FL. 457 pp.
has a chapter (pp 203304) on kenaf. It includes a reference section of about
400 citations. Your library
call number may be SB241.D42 633.5
When I was doing coalmined land reclamation research, I gave some
consideration
to this as a
potential soil builder, site stabilizer, nutrient sequestration species. But
I
considered the possible
problems with another exotic species added to the flora of Appalachia and gave
up the idea. The
potential for becoming an exotic pest is the only topic I can think of which
is
not covered in the
above reference.
There is a publication in the USDA Quick Bibliography series which should give
you references to
more literature on Kenaf than you could ever read.Its
Rafats,J. (1988).Potential New Crop:Kenaf,Commercial Fiber and Pulp Source
19701987. USDA:Beltsville,Md.
I have some scattered notes about Kenaf that say it is botanically called
Hibiscus cannabinus, originated in EastCentral Africa, and produces more
fiber/hectare year than
wood. Dry weight yields up to 45 metric tons per hectare per year. It is grown
with irrigation in the
southeast US, and can be grown as far north as Indiana and Iowa with good
yield.
Hope that helps.
Max Taub
Dept of Ecology and Evolution
Stony Brook University
Kenaf is Hibiscus cannabinus (Malvaceae). It is grown in Florida for bean poles
and generally between 45 N and
30 S latitudes. It is an erect her baceous annual, 4 to 22 feet tall. For
additional info see S. E. Mcgregor
Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crop Plants (USDAARS 1976), or J. W.
Purseglove, Tropical Crops: Dicotyledons I, II. 1968. John Wiley.
Vince Tepedino USDA ARS andrena@cc.usu.edu
re kenaf:
Some people who have done a lot of research on this are;
EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE
email earthisland@igc.apc.org
dmck
Don McKenzie 206.543.5774
College of Forest Resources AR10 dmck@silvae.cfr.washington.edu
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
_______________________________________________________________________
Bryan, with regards to the questions you asked on ecolog about kenaf:
Get in contact with the USDA extension service offices associated with Texas
A&M University. The university is
in College Station, Texas. The extension laboratory in Weslaco, Texas has done
some work with this plant,
and it is being grown in South Texas, particularly in Willacy County.
Good luck in finding more information.
Dave McNeely, Biology Department, University of Texas at Brownsville, 80 Fort
Brown, Brownsville, TX 78520; mcneely@utb.edu
The magazine published by the Earth Island Institute (EI Journal) is in
transition to being printed on
?strictly? kenaf paper. There is usually a blurb in each issue on the supplier
of the kenaf, and one of
the recent issues gave more detail on the material and the supplier. HTH
-- ruxton@agcrr.bio.ns.ca
_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_-=-_
Paragraph from The Forest Products Conservation & Recycling Review, Vol. 6,
Number 9, Oct. 1994
Kenaf paper mill to be built - As part of a cooperative funding effort of the
Alternative Agricultural Research
and Commercialization (AARC) Center of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, a pulp
mill using kenaf feedstock will be
built. The $50 million mill will be built by Kenaf International of McAllen,
Texas. It is designed to produce 30,000
tons of newsprint per year. According to the USDA Global Change Program
Newsletter for Sept. 1994, in a
comparison with wood-pulp aper, kenaf paper is stronger, whiter, less
yellowing,
capable of sharper photo
reproduction, and has greater ink adherence than tree-based paper. Production
of
this tree-free paper requires
relatively minimal chemical inputs and requires 15-25% less energy consumption.
To supply this new newsprint
plant, the 25 Texas farmers now growing 3,000 acres of kenaf for research
purposes would have a steady
market for far larger acreages of kenaf.
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