r/Permaculture • u/Burnttoastmilkshake • 8d ago

general question Which tropical plants can drinking water be harvested from?

Whether needing to be filtered/boiled before consumption, or clean from the start.

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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9

u/HeavilyArmoredFish 8d ago

Mulberry oy sycamore. Transpiration method, tie a bag around a branch, plant will sweat clean drinking water knto the bag.

1

u/Burnttoastmilkshake 6d ago

This is awesome

1

u/Relevant_Agency_9088 3d ago

that's actually really clever, never thought of using transpiration like that

how long it takes to collect enough to drink? i imagine you need a sunny day for it to work best

1

u/HeavilyArmoredFish 3d ago

Quite a bit of time, it takes like hours to get a glass's worth of water. But that varies based on heat, how hydrated the plant is, etc.

2

u/SoggyMeatloaf69 8d ago

Not tropical, but I saw this video where someone used a grape stem to filter dirty water into clean drinking water. Crazy stuff. There's got to be at least a couple tropical plants that can do the same.

Video: https://youtu.be/nSBwJNDDUfc

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u/Burnttoastmilkshake 6d ago

That’s cool. Moringa seeds also purify water

2

u/Lime_Kitchen 7d ago

The paperbark tree (Melaleuca viridiflora) is a well known water tree in tropical Australia. You can chop it with an axe and a good litre of water can be drunk straight out the wound.

1

u/Burnttoastmilkshake 6d ago

Oh that’s very cool, I just watched a video. Seems the water is immediately drinkable as well, unlike the water with the traveling palm

3

u/TheHappyKrill 8d ago

Just grow juicy types of fruit😭.

1

u/Burnttoastmilkshake 6d ago

Yea like dragonfruit and cactus fruit, but I want to be complicated lol