Zero Budget Broom From Coconut Tree Leaves

A broom made from coconut tree leaves on a zero-budget...

All parts of the coconut tree are useful in some way or other to humans. The yellowing coconut tree leaves can be used to make baskets, woven into mats to form roof thatching, used as mulching for plants and also for making brooms.

You need leaflets from three to four fronds from a coconut tree. It will take less than two hours to make a broom from the leaflets.

You need a machete or any such tool to trim the leaflets from the fronds, and a knife to separate the broom sticks from the leaflets. A garden shear will also come in handy to trim the end of the broom, otherwise you can also use the machete for this.

If you have a coconut tree in your backyard, you can collect the fronds from the tree. The bottom-most branches which are turning a little yellow may be trimmed from the tree. To make a broom of suitable size, leaflets from about three fronds are required

Using a machete, trim the leaflets from the fronds. Collect these leaflets and store in a place where it will be comfortable to work

• Take a leaflet and insert the knife between the mid-rib and the greens
• Shear with the knife along the mid-rib to separate the greens
• The remaining greens can be pulled down with hands
• There may be a thin layer of greens attached to the mid-rib. Using the knife remove these strands also from the sticks.

The last photograph shows few of the broom sticks separated from the leaflets

Now we got enough sticks to make a broom.

• Take all sticks together and level the bottom of the broom against a hard surface
• Tie the broom with a piece of coir rope and trim extra rope

Once the bottom of the broom is leveled and tied together, you can trim the sweeping end to make it uniform.

• Hold the sweeping end tightly with your hand
• Using a garden shear, trim away the unwanted portion of broom. You can also place this end over a piece of wood and trim using a machete

Now your Broom made with coconut tree leaves is ready.

The remaining material after removing the broom sticks are biodegradable. In rural areas, people use them as fuel for cooking and heating water. You can use them to make vermi-compost combining with cow dung. These material also serve as mulch provided around plants and trees to keep the soil moist