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dandelion rubber - wow!

Jocelyn Campbell

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posted 5 years ago

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TIL that the latex in dandelions is similar to and can be used in the same way(s) as the latex from the rubber tree...to make rubber!

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/continental-launches-bike-tyre-made-dandelions-424634?

Now I want dandelion rubber for the soles of my shoes.

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Jocelyn Campbell

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Location: Everett, WA (Western Washington State / Cascadia / Pacific NW)

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posted 5 years ago

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We have loads upon loads of prickly lettuce, which also has a milky-looking latex.

I wonder if some day this could be a farm income strategy?

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Tereza Okava

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this is fabulous. so much effort has gone into finding new (cheaper) places to shift rubber production, and also to avoid disease, and it's always been precarious. Lots of human suffering involved in rubber, and the transport system we currently have is dependent on at least some quantities of natural rubber. If it could be produced sustainably, at different latitudes, in different parts of the world, wow.

Skandi Rogers

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This was pretty big in the second world war. I remember reading somewhere that the Russians? did a lot of breeding around then to get a higher latex content.

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Chris Kott

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Interesting. I also like the idea of deriving sealing rubber for jar lids from something that, in its natural state, is edible.

I mean, I think that making shoe soles on a homestead might be feasible, if part of your system includes as part of the business plan a cobbling business, or if you have or wish to acquire those skills as a hobby, but probably not tires. I think, however, deriving a liquid latex product that can be painted on the inside tops of jar lids for canning is definitely attainable on the homestead scale.

-CK

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