Jute is cultivated as a crop in its home continent of Africa and select areas of Asia.
In isolated regions around the world (including Australia, and the northern African nation of Egypt) jute is deemed a weed.
But with so many desirable attributes of jute leaves, it’s no wonder many people are keen to give it a go in their backyard, which leads us to considering,
What Can You Expect? This guide to growing jute will cover why this plant is a beneficial life form and the steps you can take to ensure success.
What Is Jute?
Jute is a term used to classify a set of plants within the corchorus genus.
There are over 100 species within this family of plants.
However, when considering jute for commercial growth, farmers typically grow the tossa jute or white jute.
The leaves of this plant are very popular for a multitude of reasons. I will go into detail about the benefits of jute in a moment.
For now, know that jute is both nutritionally beneficial and used for natural fiber.
Jute is native to Africa but is highly cultivated across Asia these days.
In fact – Bangladesh is one of the largest jute suppliers in the world, closely following India. China is also one of the biggest jute producing countries.
Jute is also sometimes grown as an ornamental plant, and so is also an interest to home gardeners wanting to try a unique plant.
The good news is that jute will grow very well in warm climates, and once established requires very little maintenance.
Why Is Jute Valuable?
As we noted, jute is an incredibly important fiber crop.
It is typically used for items such as bags and sacks and packaging, especially related to agriculture.
However, jute is also used as a food crop. The growing tips of the plant, as well as the leaves, are consumed as a vegetable.
In areas where jute is cultivated, it is a valuable source of nutrition during the rain season, since leafy greens like kale and cabbage do not grow as well during this time.
You can shred the leaves and make it into a paste, but there are many other methods of consuming jute.
Some people dry out the jute leaves, and then grind it into a powder.
It is also common to make jute soup from the leaves by boiling them. Either way, the leaves can be eaten without cooking them, or cooked and eaten as is.
Did You Know? The best part of jute is that it is full of nutrition! Many people add it to a starch-heavy diet, so you get a lot of vitamin C and high protein from jute.
There is speculation that jute has healing properties (anti inflammatory.) For this reason you will often see it in alternative medicine.
What Type Of Soil Does Jute Need?
In the commercially viable sector, farmers grow jute in heavy clay and sand loamy soils.
However, if the soil is too heavy, it will be unsuitable for jute.
You will need to check that the soil has a high pH. If the soil is low in pH, the yield will not be the best yield.
Generally speaking, you want to have the soil at at least 6.4.
Jute grows best commercially on higher ground. This is because there is no point of flood water collecting on the ground affecting the plant.
While jute needs to be frequently watered, over watering must be avoided.
If the plant has poor drainage when it is in its seedling stage, it will have a hard time thriving and will probably die.
For this reason – use well draining soil.
You can also add a number of organic matter materials to the soil to promote the growth of jute.
Some of the best organic material options may be wood ashes and cow dung or rotten water hyacinth. All of these organic materials will add nutrients.
What Are The Best Growing Conditions For Jute?
Jute plants generally prefer warm, semi-humid conditions.
If you are planning on growing this plant in the United States, it is important to say that it will do better in warmer climate zone 10 or higher.
The temperature recurrent for jute would be between 75ºF and 98ºF, if there is a good proportion of humidity.
Keep in mind that jute is not freezing tolerant, so if you grow it in a lower zone of cooler levels it could be troublesome for you.
You could grow jute in a greenhouse however, you are probably not going to do as well as you could otherwise .
In addition, it should be said jute will not do well in very wet soils, but they do require a reasonable amount of rain to continuously grow and produce a good crop.
In general terms, you expect jute to do better when it grows in areas that receive between 250mm and 270mm of rainfall.
When Is The Best Time To Plant Jute?
The timing for the best time to plant jute seeds really is dependent on the species of jute you are growing.
As noted previously, the two most commonly grown species by both commercial and domestic growers are white jute and tossa jute.
For white jute, we recommend you do not plant the seeds any earlier than February and no later than April.
In the case of tossa, you must wait until March to plant the seeds and not later than April to ensure optimal growing conditions.
How Do You Grow Jute?
In the USA, acquiring grown jute is not easily done.
So, you would likely find that an adult plant is unavailable and that you will need to grow your jute leaves from seed.
Before you get started growing seeds:
- It’s necessary to soak them in hot water for a duration of ten seconds or so. This will assure the seeds germinate; otherwise they may not sprout. This process is especially for when you are getting ready to plant the seeds.
- Next you’ll need to provide a place to grow them. While seeds can be directly sown in the ground for commercial or agricultural growing, it is almost always best to plant seeds in pots and then either transplant or directly to the ground when you choose to grow jute at home.
- Fill your pot with a quality soil and18 if you need to change the soil pH then soil mix should be added to it.
- When your soil is ready, you can plant your seeds on top of the potting soil but do not place them next to each other – you must allow for at least an inch (or a little more) of space between seeds. Once you have all your seeds to the point of sowing, gently cover them with the potting mix ( folded, not layered).
Finding The Right Location For Your Jute Plant
After you’ve planted your jute seeds, you’re going to need to find a suitable site for them.
If you’re keeping the container indoors, then a south-facing window is the best spot you could find.
If you are placing the pot outdoors, find a sunny and warm location.
Watering Your Jute Plant
While you don’t want to over-water your jute plant, you need to be disciplined about watering it enough.
In general you should water your jute plant once a week as long as the top two inches of soil are moist.
Replanting Your Jute Plant
Once the seeds have sprouted and your jute plants have started to grow, you’ll want to begin thinning, which means you will have to pull some of the seedlings out of the original patch.
Once they get about six or eight inches apart from the tallest, simply take them all out.
Generally speaking – This takes about a month, but will likely still need about three months for the plant to mature fully.
To really do well in your plant, and if you are growing indoors, be sure to take it outside whenever the temperature is above indoor temperature.
Harvesting Jute
Young jute leaves will be superior to older jute leaves.
For this reason, you would usually prune the plant as soon as it starts putting out leaves.
However, beyond this, the plant will continue to grow and provide you with an ongoing supply of fresh jute leaves. You can even cut the plant down entirely to access the leaves, if you prefer that to pruning the leaves.
Jute will also produce fruit but you will need to wait until it is tender.
This would generally be while the fruit is still quite immature so just make sure to keep checking it until you get the sweet spot.
The fruit is great when it is dried out and you can dry it on the plant as well. From flowering, this would usually take about six weeks.
Does Jute Suffer With Pests And Disease?
Commercial growers typically experience pest issues when growing jute in large quantities. Possible pest infestations include:
- nematodes
- beetles
- caterpillars
You might also experience pest infestations while growing jute at home. However, usually, rainfall keeps these pests at bay.
Of course, you may use an insecticide to combat any serious pest problems.
Also, you may find that using manure or other additives to soil may also decrease the level of insect interest.
Luckily, you most likely will not have any disease to contend with in jute plants.
Conclusion
Jute is a very beneficial and useful plant, even edible, with a variety of nutrients.
Most commercials sell jute as a fiber crop for making sacks and baggies for packaging.
If you want to grow jute at home, it is not difficult because it is a low-maintenance plant.
However, the only thing you really need to make sure of is that you provide the plant the proper growing condition, or the plant will not grow.