Bamboo harvesting and etiquette

[ThunderIdeal]

-the most important thing is that you scrape away the thick layer of mulch and cut the bamboo down low, preferably as a flat surface. otherwise you are creating deadly spears which will be hidden by mulch. you really need a saw because bamboo is too tough for machetes, so there is no reason not to cut in this way. you want to avoid anything with lots of borer holes in it.

-unless it is on your property, remember that it may be a community resource so don't go crazy

-bamboo lasts about two years. it can last about ten years if you place a freshly cut piece into a barrel of water mixed with some copper fungicide. the fresh bamboo draws it in, making it resistant to decay.

-bamboo isn't as weedy as people think. some of it is exceptionally weed-like, and MUST be avoided. most species aren't like this.

-somebody travelled the world noting the uses of bamboo. he gave up when he reached 5000.

[Rev]

I find long handled loppers more effective

ive been clearing out a 1/4 acre stand of a phyllostachys sp (aureus?)

it spreads fast and quite weedily , but once it has a hold over competition it gradually thickens up

so im in the centre chopping out all the junk and either using it or felling it and chopping up with loppers to smaller bits to rot faster

ive thought about giving it a feed

i get so much use from it i wouldnt be shy to spread a good amount of ammonium sulphate about. that should kickstart the N cycle

if i can clearit out enough id think of some understorey legume to put in there - maybe even a native desmodium or glycine if itll take

and also id like to in time innoculate some fungi in there

they should love the litter

itd be even better in a wetter climate. Azures like grass wastes

and ive seen a cyanescens woodchip bed in a bamboo grove. im sure they d adjust

with the edibles theres alsway bamboo mushroom - dictyophora

and i once grew H ulmarius on pasteuised bamboo leaves and twigs

I think ideally one would manage it like Asparagus, both having similarities in mode of growth from a monopodal culm

trying to manage energy reserves in the rhizomes and encourage fewer but larger stems

to make best use of the water and nutrient resource

im getting in some see dof buddha belly bamboo off ebay. seems to be a bit of it available.

Moso bamboo too

[paradox]

bamboo is so damn useful!

problem with i think is not so much it spreading everywhere as a weed but is when it takes over a creek bank, the whole bank becomes a mass of roots and if you do eventually get rid of it, the roots are so dense nothing else can grow in it's place and as the roots decompose the creek bank just erodes along with them.

i must say though, that i get so much use out of the bamboo round my way that i don't mind it toooo much

edit: oh yeah, and i find a pruning saw to be the go and a machete for the branches. that or a chainsaw

Edited April 19, 2007 by paradox604

[Rev]

cuts like butter through bamboo

i love my Bahco pruning saw

but ill never love anyone ore than my hoe

[paradox]

what a beast!

looks like a pretty handy ol peice of equipment there rev.

they hard to come by?

i havn't seen one b4.

[Rev]

666 = Bunnings

bout $50-60

weigh it up against the savings in time and 'free' bamboo stakes

[Anodyne]

bamboo isn't as weedy as people think. some of it is exceptionally weed-like, and MUST be avoided. most species aren't like this.

There are "running" bamboos, which are exceptionally weedy & I think will pretty much continue to spread as long as there is space & nutrients for them. Then there are "clumping" bamboos, which grow into a clump of a limited size & don't spread beyond that. You sometimes see these out in cow paddcoks and the like - all the room in the world to spread, and they just stay in a 5-metre circle. I think they do keep spreading, but it's pretty slow & easy to control. Nurseries should be able to tell you what kind they are, or if you're taking cuttings, just look at the growth pattern. The running type should only really be grown in enclosed spaces, like as a screen in the front yard of a city block, or in pots - I wouldn't plant it anywhere that it can spread, because it will, and it's a bitch to get out as it send runners everywhere.

m getting in some see dof buddha belly bamboo off ebay.

What? I've never seen bamboos flower - I was told that they only do so about once or twice a century, then die off afterwards. Have I been misinformed, or has the flowering started?

[Rev]

youve been kinda misinformed

hmm like'

truth version 2.0

when u need an upgrade to truth 8.0

its not hard to get stuck on V 2.0 though as almost all boooks and most websites parrot it

most species have a tendency to flower periodically. the timescale varies hugely between generations and between species

when they flower they channel most of their energy into it and most but not all die afterwards. like annual grasses do

likewise around teh world most but not all bamboos of that species will respond to the same cue - which is unknown so far

the seed lasts like any grass seed, well in human hands, less well in contact with soil

when bamboos flower , like when agaves flower huge amounst of seed are avaulable, these are stored for years afterwards by seedsmen - so this is how i get my seed

our knowledge of biology is expanding at a rapid rate now, as is access to germplasm

by the time i hit complete edit here there may be a truth version 8.1 ready to find somewhere out there :D

Edited April 20, 2007 by Rev

[Rev]

likewise beware the truth V 2.0 that says clumpers arent cold hardy

most are to 0C or -2C which makes them ideal in most of coastal southern australia

and fair selection take it to -6 and a few degrees below that even

theres not many places in australia that need runners but if you do theres nowhere too cold for a useful species of those

Australia has native species too, up north in the NT

[Anodyne]

Thanks for the upgrade Rev. Think I must've copped what Terry Pratchett calls the "lies to children" - facts that are simplified to the point of being wrong.

likewise beware the truth V 2.0 that says clumpers arent cold hardy

most are to 0C or -2C which makes them ideal in most of coastal southern australia

and fair selection take it to -6 and a few degrees below that even

One thick-stemmed (roughly 3" diameter) clumper - don't know what species (the same one is in the Camperdown cemetery) - I've seen survive regular frosts, even down to -8 or -9C.