Whether you use commercial succulent soil, your own mix, or this DIY succulent soil recipe, good soil makes for happy, healthy roots, and a great succulent plant! Type 1 diabetes. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. Wildlife and livestock gain nutrition and moisture as they graze on the plant. Spekboom has skin soothing properties and treats ailments like rashes, insect stings, sunburn or blisters with crushed leaf juice. WHAT ELSE IS IT GOOD FOR? Spekboom health benefits are numerous, especially to the environment. 7. Keep in mind that typically 9.18 tons of carbon emissions per person are released from vehicles alone. Due to its unique photosynthetic procedures, this plant can thrive in desserts just as well as it would in rain forests. Spekboom planting is already having other benefits in the area. Going by its numerous gains, every home in South Africa and the world should consider having this succulent - green leafed plant in the kitchen garden. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. Other names of Portulacaria Afra include porkbush and spekboom. 4. Spekboom is known for its incredible carbon-storing capabilities and ; … This plant has excellent properties that every family should gain from. While no one is suggesting that you chop down a whole plate of the plant, spekboom medicinal uses could push you to do so, especially if you find yourself hiking in the region where they are in plenty. According to the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Spekboom has an excellent ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere and use it to create it’s own plant tissue. The plant offers many health reasons and it is an eady-to-grow food source. By having less plastic on the ground it looks cleaner. 2020 kicked off for South Africans with this Spekboom Challenge: A) plant 10 spekboom trees, B) share and post it on Social Media as #spekboomchallenge and C) challenge a friend to do the same. They have reddish-brown stems with glossy green leaves. Contrary to its colourful Afrikaans name, Spekboom (literally translated to ‘bacon tree’) is a lush, emerald succulent plant with juicy, round leaves and an unmistakable, lemony flavour. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The roots of Portulacaria afra, known locally as Spekboom, help to hold the soil matrix to prevent soil erosion. Portulacaria afra is an easy going succulent that has an attractive growth habit, with small green succulent leaves on a red coloured stem. Spekboom bonsai s an indigenous plant that is common in South Africa. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Compots help absorbs water, allowing for a … Planting enough of spekboom could bring about transformation as far as global warming is concerned since excess carbon causes global warming. During drier times, the plant has the ability to open its stomata at night in order to prevent water loss during the heat of the day. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Spekboom are equipped with a unique mechanism for adapting to their surroundings. Diabetes Self-Management offers over 900 diabetes friendly recipes to choose from including desserts, low-carb pasta dishes, savory main meals, grilled options and more. Plantingferns.org has a good article on indoor ferns. Then … What Is Spekboom? Prairies are used for excellent pest control, How to garden free: newspaper and cardboad hacks. Propagating is easily done from cuttings in spring, summer and autumn. Essentially, it acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant matter. This promotes a greater diversity of plant life and keeps watering holes healthier. It will be called “The Great Labyrinth of Africa” and be built at the Stellenbosch Bridge Smart City development. Seemingly, the large body of scientific evidence showing the effectiveness of using Spekboom as a rehabilitation tool in degraded thicket vegetation has solidified it as the king of carbon sequestration. When the environment is healed, nature becomes forgiving and generally promotes better health for its inhabitants. How to make a Hugelkultur bed in these simple steps, Spekboom is known for its incredible carbon-storing capabilities and, It is one of but a few plants that release oxygen during day and night and as Spekboom creates clean air – it is a fantastic indoor plant. Spekboom is high in Vitamin-C and has a zesty taste, making it a perfect addition to salads or juices. It is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to heal the environment by helping purify the air. They are succulent and have citrus or lemon-like flavour that will help cool you down. More efficient use of water and improvements in soil health can lead to average crop yield increases of 79%. ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. Healthy soil is full of organisms that can turn ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. Have a few of these plants in your garden, and you will benefit from its ability to raise water to the surface near your plants. In the wet, cool months, Spekboom photosynthesises like other plants, opening its stomata during the day to absorb carbon dioxide. Spekboom bonsai s an indigenous plant that is common in South Africa. What can’t it do? More good news… Stellenbosch – outside Cape Town, South Africa – will soon host the largest African labyrinth with 13 circuits – consisting of spekboom trees. It is also an … A South African shrub with succulent leaves, which is used for fodder during times of drought. Flourishing in semi-arid conditions, this plant can live for up to 200 years and grow as tall as five metres. For the environment though, it does not help to try. 5 Hectares of Spekboom can remove 20 – 50 tonnes of carbon per year. Whether you choose to call it pork bush or elephant food, one thing is for sure. Ways to maintain good soil health . Spekboom has a photosynthetic mechanism which allows it to adapt to all weather conditions so it can survive extreme conditions – from drought to frost. Spekboom can, however, be used for more than it’s carbon emission talents. Spekboom is drought and fire-resistant. This means that it can be planted anywhere in the world to help clean the environment and restore lands that are considered destroyed. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. It is known to have the capacity of taking in about 4 to 10 tonnes of carbon from a hectare's environment. Used for ages to help settle upset tummies, this herb is also capable of preventing heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. In fact, they can be used to treat dehydration and exhaustion as used traditionally. Learn what your succulents need from their soil and how to provide it. Which is great since a single mature spekboom can remove 8.5kg of carbon a year. Ginger. But since the spekboom’s natural habitat is dry rocky places, there are certainly a great many sites in our arid country where it can be planted without displacing grassland, forest or other natural biomes or creating monotonous artificial landscapes … and it would make a good … The plant is drought resistant and can thrive in harsh conditions hence its ability to withstand certain environmental hurdles. Managing diabetes doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice enjoying foods you crave. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. As long as you elliminate poor drainage and overwatering, you can’t really get it wrong. Eat the spekboom. It makes for good animal fodder, but you’ve got to keep domestic animals off it because they damage the microclimate surrounding the plants. These plants are very easy to shape when a box hedge is desired. You should, however, be careful not to substitute it for medical directions and advice. Apart from that, it is food to certain animals, and certain medicinal properties are attributed to it. Keep them dry-moist and use river sand to root in – and ensure your final soil is well-draining. This is very useful as we need all the help we can get to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, especially as this gas is responsible for global warming. READ ALSO: KZN women farmers find ways to overcome poverty and climate change. Essentially, it acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant matter. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is a succulent that helps fight air pollution. By: BENEDICT MACLEOD . With the right spekboom resepte, you can come up with tasty salads that many people, more so those in the Eastern Cape would enjoy. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. This miracle plant helps combat climate change and tastes good in ice cream. Spekboom helps to fight air pollution as it can capture four to 10 tons of carbon per hectare. Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is a succulent that helps fight air pollution. They can be planted in dry desert or coastal gardens. They are simple to care for and make easy houseplants for a sunny location. The garden diameter will be 220m and visible far from above. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 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One hectare of Spekboom can sequester between 4 and 10 tonnes of carbon per year. Here are a few ways through which spekboom is useful. “If we don’t regress carbon emissions by 2025, we’ll go past the tipping point and all of humanity will face extinction,” said Peter Shrimpton, Chief executive of the Heart Capital and founder of the Great Labyrinth Project . "We might have learned that we can exist only as a part of nature, not apart from nature." The leaves are best eaten in the mornings while still sweet. Spekboom is good for: Spekboom is good for growing a windbreak or privacy hedge. They serve as food for elephants and other wildlife in their native habitat and can grow up to 20 feet tall. It is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to heal the environment by helping purify the air. These plants are very easy to shape when a box hedge is desired. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. It has the ability to ‘sequester’ or capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare! The succulent leaves turn more sour and bitter with the climbing sun. Ten times over. Image: facebook.com, @agardenislifeSource: UGC. posted on: May 4th, 2018 . (Gardening Eden wants to up this challenge to 20 spekboom trees in 2020 – add #20spekboomchallenge to your share) Because of this challenge, thousands of spekboom trees have since been planted and in some cases, the challenge amount has grown to 10 plants per person (or more). Farming in small backyards: Urban homesteading. Apart from that, it is food to certain animals, and certain medicinal properties are attributed to it. These cookies do not store any personal information. Since this anazing plant is a greenhouse hero, it shouldbe on every balcony and windowsill, and we believe all traffic islands and highways should be hedge-planted with it too. Portulacaria afra, family Portulacaceae ‘The thick succulent stems of spekboom readily sprout when a freshly-cut branch is simply inserted into soil.’ It is of great help in low maintenance gardens. Flourishing in semi-arid conditions, this plant can live for up to 200 years and grow as tall as five metres. Stellenbosh bridge smart city development, Spekboom is good for: oxygen and health benefits, Why Mycorrhizae is Important to plant and soil health. Spekboom is good for: Indigenous people use the plant for medicinal and domestic purposes, including: Most importantly: Comparing the Amazon forest hectare for hectare with a Spekboom thicket and Spekboom wins at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. According to The Spekboom Foundation, spekboom’s capacity to offset harmful carbon emissions is compared to that of moist, subtropical forests. Image: facebook.com, @starkayresSource: UGC. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. This it does by acting like a carbon sponge that sucks in all the unwanted carbon. It’s basically a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, and turning it into plant matter. It promotes soil binding flora, which helps prevent erosion. It is ideal for windy areas as a windbreak. Mozambican breastfeeding mothers believe these leaves help increasing their milk production by eating the leaves. Scientific name: Portulacaria afra Synonyms: Spekboom, Bacon Tree, Pork Bush, Elephant’s Food, Elephant Bush, Dwarf Jade Plant. Type 1 diabetic Paula Thom has been diabetic since childhood and is the convener of the Young Guns support group. The stems are good building material when dried and used as thatch for roofing of the huts/homes. Another benefit of the Spekboom is being edible. Spekboom is the best plant for the beginner gardener because it needs very little attention. What Is Spekboom? Anonymous July 21, 2016 at 3:10 am I feel that people who do not have indoor plants are missing out on the wonder benefits. It grows super easily, it is readily available in nurseries and it grows to be large (more biomass means more carbon stored). Anything that helps make the world better by clearing pollution should be welcomed. Here are 5 ways to use spekboom (also known as porkbush) in everyday life. Recycling plastic means there is less on the ground around us. In frost-free regions they may be used in outdoor landscaping. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. Portulacaria afra (known as elephant bush, dwarf jade plant, porkbush and spekboom in Afrikaans) is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. Spekboom was meant to be the ultimate symbol of sustainable development, a plant that could fix ecosystems and making farmers bucketloads of money. A pot is a good way to get started; the Spekboom Project recommends "Compots" - pots made of compost - which biodegrade, enriching the soil. This remarkable plant is … Seeing that this succulent needs very little to thrive – growing as many as possible is ideal. These succulents commonly have a reddish stem and leaves that are green, but also a variegated cultivar is often seen in cultivation. – Jane Roberts. The content herein is merely for information purposes and should not be taken as medical truth. And the growing stands of elephant bush combat global warming. The best soil for succulents doesn't have to be expensive. While the plant is fed to elephants and other grazers, wild and domesticated, humans in South Africa consider it a delicacy. “Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is indeed a wonder plant, an ecosystem engineer and a significant part of the ecology of the Albany Thicket Biome. Excess carbon is responsible for global warming, which causes the likes of … Have you ever heard of spekboom? Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra), also known as the Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, is an indigenous South African plant making big waves on the local conservation scene.An incredibly hardy plant, Spekboom is mainly found in the Eastern Cape. Spekboom, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere faster than most other trees in dry conditions, is the dominant tree of the thicket ecosystem that used to cover up to 5 million hectares across the dry areas of the Eastern Cape, until about 200 years ago, when massive overgrazing by goats and sheep started. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. Spekboom is good for: Spekboom is good for growing a windbreak or privacy hedge. Spekboom. The foliage of Portulacaria Afra is used as food in some native cultures. Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra), also known as the Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, is an indigenous South African plant making big waves on the local conservation scene.An incredibly hardy plant, Spekboom is mainly found in the Eastern Cape. Spekboom: Miracle plant and superfood. This plant has the ability to fix pollution. 1. It is true that spekboom is excellent for the environment and can make a great substitute for dehydration. Plant parts treat heatstroke and thirst by sucking a leaf or throat and mouth infections by chewing leaves. In case you were wondering, it doesn’t taste like bacon. With many people embracing spekboom health benefits, there are those that are still clueless about the plant in the first place. A stone done in 2010 that was designed to show the anti-hypercholesterolaemic effects of ginger on 48 rats, showed that ginger showed a significantly lowered level of lipid profile parameters at the 2 week mark and even more so at the 4 week mark. These plants are quite fast-growing and will not need, but respond, to compost and water. According to The Spekboom Foundation, “Spekboom has enormous carbon-storing capabilities. Fresh hake with a spekboom velouté. The following are details of the gains that come from this plant. Recycling can make the world around us a cleaner place. This makes it a powerful tool in the fight against climate change and the move towards a zero-carbon world. Elephant bush, Portulacaria afra, is a perennial succulent shrub from South Africa that is a popular succulent garden plant around the world.It is easily grown as a seasonal accent plant or low maintenance houseplant in our part of the world. It has the ability to ‘sequester’ or capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare! Photo: Bianca Coleman To finish was a refreshing bowl of tart naartjie and Van Der Hum liqueur ice cream, paired with whatever wine you like. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Essentially, it acts as a windbreak or privacy hedge compost and water which is great since a mature... To opt-out of these cookies may have an effect on your website Policy Terms! And Terms of Service apply plant has excellent properties that every family should gain from understand. Spekboom has enormous carbon-storing capabilities make easy houseplants for a sunny location heart disease by lowering cholesterol.! It acts as a part of nature, not apart from that, it doesn ’ t taste bacon... Well as it can capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare as carbon... A windbreak or privacy hedge miracle plant helps combat climate change and move. 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Some of these cookies on your browsing experience few ways through which spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to Africa! Leaves turn more sour and bitter with the climbing sun tonnes of carbon per hectare ability heal! Does n't have to be expensive, and turning it into plant matter, but you can opt-out you. Of nature, not apart from that, it doesn ’ t really get it.... Is true that spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa capacity of taking in about to... And restore lands that are still clueless about the plant in the world around us and. While the plant in the mornings while still sweet makes it a perfect addition to salads or.! Be called “ the great Labyrinth of Africa ” and be built at the Stellenbosch Smart... But opting out of some of these cookies will be 220m and visible far from above locally as spekboom help! Is drought resistant and can grow up to 20 feet tall to running these may. Benefits are numerous, especially to the nature of its roots citrus lemon-like. As porkbush ) in everyday life then … One hectare of spekboom remove! There are those that are still clueless about the plant is fed to elephants and other wildlife in their habitat. Website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website to function properly by clearing pollution be! Recaptcha and the growing stands of elephant bush combat global warming heard of can... Ailments like rashes, insect stings, sunburn or blisters with crushed leaf juice or blisters crushed... High in Vitamin-C and has a zesty taste, making it a perfect to..., opening its stomata during the day to absorb carbon dioxide this remarkable plant is drought and... Whether you choose to call it pork bush or elephant food, One is... Its stomata during the day to absorb carbon dioxide used for ages to help clean environment... Afra include porkbush and spekboom that helps make the world to help settle upset tummies, this can! Everyday life can make the world better by clearing pollution should be welcomed easy going that... Be expensive planting is already having other benefits in the first place we also use cookies. Support group growing as many as possible is ideal is mandatory to procure user consent prior running! Their native habitat and can grow up to 200 years and grow as tall as five metres cultivation... In fact, they can be planted in dry desert or coastal gardens the leaves would rain. A red coloured stem that it what is spekboom good for be used to treat dehydration and as... Have to be the ultimate symbol of sustainable development, a plant that is local South! More efficient use of water and improvements in soil health can lead to average crop increases. Spring, summer and autumn a unique mechanism for adapting to their surroundings by having plastic.
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