Hi everyone, Hopefully I'm gonna get a small alllotment in Brisbane (about 4.5 x 1.5m) and amongst other plants I'm quite keen to plant some stinging nettles. My main motivation for this is to turn them into cordage, as it seems most of the twine available in Australia is from China or Bangladesh. I still want to be able to weave nets in the future! Does anybody have any experience of deliberately culitvating nettles? Would they possibly spread and impact other plants and thus be better suited to a container? Are there any other plants that can be grown (or found growing locally) that can also be used for cordage? Any help would be great. Russell
What about jute (Corchorus olitorius)? Would do well in Brisbane. Seeds are readily available - look for molokhia or Jew's mallow or Egyptian spinach (plus a number of other names).
Raymondo, Thanks for the reply. As it happens, I have ordered some jute seeds, and may give them a go, but I can't find much info about how to process the jute into cordage. For stinging nettles I've found a detailed tutorial from Jonathan Ridgeon and there's a nice Ray Mears video on YouTube. Do you know where I might find some instructions for processing jute? Cheers
I grow nettles in 3 places on my property and after recent experiments with medicinal plants I am going to be increasing that amount. It works well in a container, especially if you wish to harvest seeds for later use. After cutting back / cutting the seed heads off the plant dies back a little bit and then starts to regrow for continued harvest in the summer.
I think processing jute is similar to processing flax for linen - soak plant stalks to rot away non-fibrous plant material, strip away the rotten plant muck, wash the fibres and so on.
Pakanohida, Interesting, have you tried making cordage from the stems of the nettles? I've sown my nettle seeds and am looking forward to harvesting the stems later on. Apparently the nettles also have many postive effects on a garden environment such as keeping aphids away (I got that from "How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons). Raymondo, My jute seeds just arrived, I'm hoping to find somewhere to plant a few to see how they go. If I get an allotment at Northey Street City Farm (I'm on the waiting list), I'll maybe put a row in. I may also see if they have a spare patch of earth at the farm where I could sow them.
I haven't grown enough yet to make cordage, I currently eat them and use them in the garden to increase oils (terepenoids?) in various plants.