This Hempwood product sounds interesting. I actually think that with a bit of tinkering and upscaling of the production, it could become cheap enough to be a viable material for large-scale construction. Definitely, it could replace for example wooden OSB plates for walling. And since the fibers run lengthwise, it could also definitively be used for making load-bearing beams.
Completely independently of this – this spring I was actually really thinking about growing Hemp in my garden for fuel, but although it is legal to grow technical hemp on a patch of land up to 100 sqm, the costs of seeds are prohibitive and there is a risk of cross-pollination with someone’s illegally grown weed so producing my own seeds for future poses risks of accidentally creating hybrids whose THC levels are above the legal limit. It is not worth the potential hassle of discussions with the police. My only hope there is that hemp gets finally legalized for personal use. Until then, I will try and grow hazels, poplars, and willows on my unused land to try and reduce my personal carbon footprint.
Edit: my PC glitched out and the article was initially published with nonsensical title.
I just discovered Carr about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I like her.
Seems to me that bamboo is better and it grows faster, too. Cool show though!
@Marcus, I have planted in my garden several allegedly winter hardy bamboo plants of a fast-growing variety of a species that is considered invasive in some parts of the USA -- and in five years, they grew barely taller than grass, most withered and died and they propagated at a rate that barely replaces what dies off. Possibly the soil is too heavy and acidic for this species, because the winters definitively were not particularly hard.
Bamboo is a lot pickier than hemp regarding soil and climate. Hemp can grow and thrive nearly anywhere.
Charly @ 3
I wonder if most bamboos are plants that cannot properly utilize the less intense sunlight and the long days of the higher latitudes? Sasa kurilensis could be an exception as it grows on Sakhalin, but I have no idea how far north; the southern end of Sakhalin is approximately on the same latitude as Milan and the northern end is about as north as Kiel or Gdańsk.
@ 2 Marcus Ranum
Seems to me that bamboo is better and it grows faster, too.
Have you tried growing it at home? I have a neighbour who has some in her back yard but it’s not taking over the neighbourhood. I’m in Eastern Ontario. Growing hemp is no problem.
@ Charly
We probably get a bit colder weather I think but we are at about the same latitude as Toulouse or Milan so sun for more of the year but not as much per day as Ice Swimmer suggests.
I have some hemp plants growing like weeds in my boyfriend’s garden. Three years ago one hemp plant showed up from nowhere. I have no clue how a seed got there. From compost maybe? People here eat hemp seeds as food and some might have ended up in the trash bin.
Then two years ago we had about six plants. They were growing in a shady part of the garden, under a large maple tree, so we just ignored them. I guess birds liked the seeds.
This summer we had dozens of hemp plants sprouting all over my strawberry and bean patches. I finally started pulling them out, because those things grow really tall. They look really decorative though, and I don’t mind growing bird food, so I left many plants. I just pulled out the ones which were growing to overshadow my strawberries. I assume that the next summer I will be pulling out even more hemp seedlings from my strawberry patch. They have become a permanent weed by now. I still sort of don’t mind, because many other weeds are much worse. I might try to harvest the seeds for food next year.
Here we can buy hemp seeds as food in grocery stores. I can only assume that said seeds would germinate. That first hemp seedling had to appear from somewhere.
Hemp is a common and native weed. It also grows like a weed, unlike bamboo. It only takes 90 days from seed to harvest.
She very briefly mentioned the hemp rope and hemp fabrics that last forever, and how they were made illegal when the DuPonts wanted a monopoly to sell their cheap plastic products instead. There is no danger in confusing hemp with the varieties grown for drugs. Hemp does not grow the sticky buds which are the THC crop, and the Indica varieties are generally seedless female plants. (Growers do not want seeds in their buds, they cull the male plants and isolate their crop to prevent pollination)
Birds love the nutritious seeds, and spread it widely.
Hemp also makes a strong fabric, I’ve got quite a lot of hemp/cotton mix T-shirts and heavier tops which keep their shape better than pure cotton, as well as wearing better.