The Spekboom Challenge. Who thought this little African plant can help make such a difference to our planet .

by traceyrawoot, posted in Uncategorized

I’m sure you’ve heard about the Spekboom Challenge and if you didn’t at the end of this post you will.

This was the first post I saw and became very intrigued and decided to check out the hype.

What is a Spekboom

Spekboom is a proudly South African plant. Spekboom is indigenous to the Eastern Cape where South African elephants consider the plant a delicacy. Portulacaria afra (known as elephant bush, dwarf jade plant, porkbush and spekboom in  Afrikaans) is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. These succulents commonly have a reddish stem and leaves that are green. They are simple to care for and make easy houseplants for a sunny location. In frost-free regions they may be used in outdoor landscaping.

So what’s all the hype about? Well this little unassuming plant has amazing abilitities.

  • Hectare for hectare, A Spekboom thicket is ten times more effective than the Amazon rainforest at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One hectare of Spekboom can sequester between 4 and 10 tonnes of carbon per year. This makes it a powerful tool in the fight against climate change and the move towards a zero-carbon world.
  • According to The Spekboom Foundation, “Spekboom has enormous carbon-storing capabilities. Its capacity to offset harmful carbon emissions is compared to that of moist, subtropical forests. This remarkable plant is unique in that it stores solar energy to perform photosynthesis at night. This makes a spekboom thicket 10 times more effective per hectare at carbon fixing than any tropical rainforest.” 
  • It’a an incredible plant which is a marvellous drought tolerant, a phenomenal carbon sponge and an excellent soil binding flora that prevents soil erosion.
Are you in? I am!
This little light of mine…

I’ve started small because I don’t have a green thumb! I always say I can kill a cactus in record time! But since this is something I really want to get into, this little plant is my inspiration. From what I read it doesn’t need that much care after all! So watch this space as I grow a Spekboom patch on my patio! I hope you all follow suit and we can share pics of our progress!

Are you outside of South Africa? Check out http://www.samara.co.za for details on how you can get involved. Here is one really cool way! Get a plant planted in your name!

Get a plant planted in your name if you can’t do it yourself! Alternatively check how you can grow this plant outside of South Africa!



If you want more information on the Spekboom Challenge feel free to e-mail me @: Tracey.martinrawoot@gmail.com

Let’s get this year going with a bang … of massive amounts of Spekbooms! Also please share your gardens so I can showcase them on this blog! Let’s do this thing! I’m betting my friend Sumaya, who has 10 green fingers is going to beat us all! Her gardening skills are magical!

ONE LOVE! ✌