Vetiver grass: your experiences / where to buy

I had tried to piggyback this into my swale  thread but have gotten no replies. I was wanting to plant this behind some brush dams so that at some point I could smash or remove the brush and it look way better.

Has anyone had good experience or bad with this grass? I’m having problems finding where to order it due to saying they won’t ship to Texas or absurd price such as $50 per tiny slip.

Anyone have any advice?

Thank you

Vetiver was super easy from my experience.  I was growing it both in Taiwan and in Hawaii - subtropical climates.  In Taiwan I went from getting a few small clumps one year, to selling starts by the hundreds a couple of years later.

$50/slip is unbelievable!

On a positive note that could mean there is some opportunity for you.  if this is really the only source you are able to get it from in order to get started then even the $50 can be returned very quickly in just a year or two.  Be the person that doesn't rip people off, and you'll get more of the support.  

I was selling mine for less than $10 per 5 bare root starts, and if people ordered more they would get a better price.  

I did bring a couple of starts to my new home here in a much different climate, and they are sitting in a bucket overwintering on a windowsill. They haven't grown at all, but are still hanging on.  Will see what happens in the next couple of months as the temperature starts to rise and there is more sunlight available.  Vetiver seems to really need a lot of sunshine.  Otherwise it can handle very extreme conditions, such as droughts  or extended flooding.  

Maybe try reaching out to the community in the TVNI group:  https://www.vetiver.org  Theres gotta be someone in there that can help you find starts closer to you for a more reasonable offering.  

UPDATE: At this site there is a supplier listed from Texas.

USA Warren Sullivan
Mosquito Hawk Farms LLC
Anahuac, Texas
Tel: 785-550-8297
warrenskully@gmail.com

A quick search brought me this result from Florida: https://www.greendreamsfl.com/online-store/search%3Fkeyword%3Dvetiver

$15 for a 1 gal pot that you can separate out into a bunch of starts is way better than $50 for a single slip...

I can't help you sourcing it, as I am in the UK. Having said that, while $50/slip is crazy expensive, vetiver does propagate readily and even a small number of plants can be divided and divided again to a reasonable supply of slips for your own projects.

Some people set up small nursery areas where they can propagate their own slips conveniently. You can always plant directly where the vetiver is needed, but if that might not be a spot that is then convenient to harvest slips from in future (steep ground, rocky terrain, gullys etc..).

If your nursery area is close to home then you can also give your starter plants some extra TLC to get them through their initial vulnerable first year - a bit of extra water while they get their deep root systems established, and a bit of extra shelter if you get extreme cold. Vetiver can cope with droughts, floods, and subzero temperatures - although with the latter it tends to kill the top growth, and resprout from the roots. Your climate should be suitable, if it gets through the first year.

Update

I got in contact with “the herb cottage”. They are based in Texas and ended up getting 25 slips for $115. I can’t remember the exact date but mid April is when they start cutting and shipping out. This seemed a fair deal to me. Also looked back through an old post of someone here and confirmed this was a reputable place to order.

My initial plan is to put them in 1gal pots. I want to make sure spring rains are done before I put them in place so they won’t wash away before roots get established.