Author Topic: Soap Berries  (Read 196 times)

Atash Hagmahani

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Soap Berries
« on: November 16, 2011, 10:05:57 PM »
Soap nuts, who knew?

I call them "soap berries" though I don't think they're berries any more than they are "nuts". Should probably be called "Soap fruits".

It's one of the few hardy members of Sapindus, the Soapberries.

ForestFarm Nursery has one from China that is semi-evergreen, but it seems to me probably better to have the hardier and fully deciduous American version, the "Western Soapberry". It's native to the drier regions of the Sunbelt and is not ironclad hardy, but it's hardier than its tropical cousins and hardy enough for my purposes.
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Lady Lilya

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2011, 08:21:53 AM »
Unfortunately, they don't work very well.
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spacecase0

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2011, 12:20:32 PM »
soap root is another one that does not work very well,
but if you can grow it, it sure is easier than extracting hydroxide from wood ashes and reacting it to a fat...

silverseeds

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2011, 05:26:37 PM »
 oikos tree crops has a selection of these hardy to -20.... Not sure if that is exceptional or average for this species but they often take time to find the hardiest selections of many things they have.

Atash Hagmahani

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2011, 07:03:20 PM »
Well, if it survives in Michigan that is pretty darn hardy for a plant with tropical affinities. I ordered seeds from someone in Oklahoma. I dunno if Oklahoma gets down to 20 below but it might even though it is so far south, as a result of the flat terrain that does not stop cold fronts. "Nothing between you and the north pole but a barbed wire fence" (old saying).

Lilya, have you tried them?

Soapberries could be the secret weapon in my war on phthalates. Should make tolerably good shampoo.
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Lady Lilya

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2011, 07:01:39 PM »
No, I haven't tried them myself, but a lot of my close friends have.  They didn't find them very useful.
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The Future

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Re: Soap Berries
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2012, 01:24:08 PM »
I have tried to grow 2 or 3 different soap plants.  Failed to germinate but likely my fault.
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