posted 8 years ago
We use sun hemp extensively on our farm. First of all, we eat it. The leaves are used as a green leafy vegetable. Not my favorite, but not bad once in awhile. Second of all, its a great nitro fixing cover crop, and it grows anywhere. The soil here was absolutely horrible (acidic clay) when I started 5 years ago, but the sun hemp grew, and I think it did a lot to help build my soil to what it is today. (Which is still not great, but its improving with every year.) I put it under my bananas and basically anywhere else there is bare soil with no plan. It does NOT look like marijuana at all. It makes beautiful flowers (which are also edible), and then big fat pods about the size of a thumb that turn black when they are ready to harvest for seed (and they rattle.). How big it grows depends on the soil. In crap soil the plants will be small, and the leaves will be small and narrow. As the soil improves, the leaves get bigger, longer and fatter, and the plants get taller. But they still don't resemble marijuana, even when they are very happy. I have some still in the ground if someone wants to see a picture, and an example of how it looks when its grown in poor dirt. Just planted a new batch down in the wetlands (aka the toilet bowl) for the dry season, but it hasn't germinated yet.
Maureen Atsali
Wrong Way Farm - Kenya