Bamboo is a grass which belongs to that same family as our staple cereal crops and whilst bamboo is an equally valuable and generous source of vegetable foodstuff, it is the growing shoot and not the ripened seed grain that is eaten.

Table of CONTENTS

1. What is Bamboo?
2. How does it grow?
3. Why grow Bamboo?
4. What is a Runner?
5. What is a Clumper?
6. What is a Bamboo Shoot?
7. Are all Bamboo shoots edible?
8. What is a Bamboo pole?
9. What species do I choose?
10. Where can I grow multiple species?
11. Where can I buy quality plant stock?

1. What is Bamboo?

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2. How Does it Grow?

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 Bamboo grows in a fashion that is quite different from the way that a tree develops. A tree has a layer of living tissue around the outside of it's trunk just beneath the bark. Left alone this layer of tissue adds an ever increasing circle of wood around the central mass which you can recognise as the concentric annual rings in cut timber.

 Not so bamboo. The bamboo stems emerge from the ground as buds with the same diameter as the final stem. All they do is grow longer in much the same way as a telescope, extending at a very rapid rate that can be in excess of a metre a day in a mature stand. When the culm is around three quarters to two thirds tall the elongation will tend to taper. However, they will remain the same diameter and possibly only grow another 10% taller as they mature over the next twelve months.

 When the culm has reached full height branches will start to appear and depending on species a new shoot can be fully developed within three months.

 During the shooting stage the new culm will be at least 85% water and it is imperative that sufficient water is supplied to fill these vertical liquid columns. If timber is to be harvested, there will be at least a three year wait for the water content to diminish, thus allowing the tensile strength to increase.

3. Why Grow Bamboo?

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 As a natural and renewable resource bamboo offers Australia an opportunity to turn away from the destruction of our native forests towards managed commercial plantations that can be selectively harvested annually without the destruction of the grove or stand. Tree plantations obviously have to be chopped down and their nutrient arrest terminated at harvest. Bamboo keeps on keeping on, with edible shoots capable of extraction after less than five years. Timber is available after seven years, then just continuing on for decades or centuries into the future with minimum soil disturbance.

 The ability of bamboo to rapidly accumulate a high volume of tissue, or bio mass, has gained the attention of industrial and municipal engineers seeking to establish environmentally safe and reliable ways of taking up excess nutrients contained in waste waters from manufacturing, intensive livestock farming and sewerage plants.

 Trial plantations are expected to secure an advantage over other cropping systems. This is because of bamboo's inherently faster growth rate, massive size, and ever green all year round cover and the very important fact that bamboo can be harvested without the destruction of the grove or stand.

4. What is a Runner?

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 A running bamboo is botanically classed as a "monopodial" species. It is usually a temperate zone originator characterised by the development of an open network of horizontal underground stems called rhizomes, from which the new culms grow.

 This invasive habit has earned this group the name of "running" bamboo. The picture below displays the rhizome form which gives the bamboos belonging to the monopodial group it’s fantastic yield in commercial farming, and it’s mythical lack of controllability.

5. What is a Clumper?

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 A clumping bamboo is botanically classed as a "sympodial" species. The larger of the species, usually originate in the tropics and the smaller clumpers prefer the cooler alpine regions. The new growth springs up from near the base of the mother plant to form, typically, isolated culms radiating from a centre and growing outward in all directions to form a circular mass of vegetation.

6. What is a Bamboo Shoot?

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 It is the sliced and crunchy creamy white vegetable often found prepared in Asian food. It's surprising how many people have eaten bamboo shoots without even knowing. Once having tasted freshly grown and cooked bamboo shoot, you will never forget the unique taste and will be delighted with the sumptuous flavour that will vary from species to species.

The emerging bamboo shoot is a stack of nodes that rapidly telescope, forming internodes with a separating membrane at each joint. Each new shoot is attached to the parent rhizome at the screw neck.

The quantity of new shoots and their size varies within a particular species, depending on soil and air temperature, the availability of water and especially upon the age of the plant itself.

Tremendous heat is generated at the apex and when harvested the new shoots must be rapidly cooled to avoid overheating and deterioration.

7. Are all Bamboo Shoots Edible?

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 Bamboo shoots are mostly edible and are very nutrient rich although the flavours vary widely; many not suiting the tastes of people from some cultures.

8. What is a Bamboo Pole?

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 The timber pole is called a culm or bamboo pole. It is the telescopic extension of the emerging shoot and grows to full height at a rapid rate that can in mature stands or groves exceed a metre a day.

 Perhaps the most noticeable characteristic of bamboo is the segmentation of the culm into distinct nodes or joints with intermediate smooth sectors called internodes.

 In the great majority of cases the culm internodes are hollow but in all cases the nodal junction is solid allowing for the transverse distribution of nutrients and water.

 The external surface is polished and extremely hard being coated with a protective screen of wax and silica.

 Peripheral culm tissue is a dense matrix of elongated cellulose plant fibres cemented together by a substance called lignin to provide a strong and very flexible pole.

 Poles have multitudes of uses but must be left in the grove or stand for at least 3 years before they are harvested for the timber. When harvested they are preferably stored vertically in the shade to dry. Young culms harvested and exposed to the sun will shrink and/or crack and are susceptible to borer attack.

9. What Species Do I Choose?

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 This is where we open the can of worms on probably one of the most debated questions relating to bamboo. Australian bamboo nurseries now have a large range of sufficient quantities of running and clumping species to suit all buyers, whether they be collectors, landscapers, farmers, environmentalists or permaculture practitioners.

At the outset you must determine your reason for wanting to grow bamboo and then run through a process of elimination to select a species that is adaptable to your climate, your pocket and give you the result you desire.

Before a species is selected, the end use of the product must be determined. If a grower wants to grow primarily for timber, it is wise to select a species that has minimal branches. The cost of branch removal is a significant post harvest expense and is best avoided.

When the primary crop is shoot production, it pays to grow the species that will produce shoots that will meet the buyer criteria. It is financially prudent to grow a wide variety of species that can supply a continual shoot harvest over an extended period. Unfortunately this is not always possible due to regional climatic conditions.

Now, following 10 years of buying , trading & collecting from within Australia & many adventurous collecting and educational trips into South East Asia, Europe & America, we can offer our expertise on most of the species and genera of bamboo particularly the 145 species of clumping bamboos and 110 species of running bamboo of some 40 genera we have planted at Belli Bamboo Parkland.

During these years a lot of myths and fallacies have evolved regarding the much maligned running species. Even a lot of the popular garden show hosts and propagators rubbish the runners. These myths are propounded, completely oblivious to the fact that the very species they are denigrating can yield huge volumes of timber poles and edible shoots when professionally managed in the rural environment.

People creating such misinformation seem to forget that the world does not end at the paling boundary fence or at the last clump as they drive out of the front gate.

10. Where can I grow multiple species?

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 Bamboo will grow from the snow line to the equator and all points in between. The running temperate species such as the Indocalamus tessallatus with its large leaves designed to trap what little sun that shines, grows as far north as Hokkaido in Northern Japan. imported into Europe, the Fargesias thrive in the cold climates of the United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, Germany & France. The native species of the Chusquea genus are located in the cold montane regions of the Americas.

In the colder regions of China, the clumping species of Fargesia are the staple diet of the giant Pandas in their natural habitat. Progressively moving south the larger temperate species such as Phyllostachys pubescens (Moso) and Ph. bambusoides (Medake) together with most others of the same Genus will be encountered. They will tolerate occasional snowfall although heavy blanketing will cause considerable damage when the tops of the tall culms are not removed.

Climate is the ultimate factor in determining the selection of species able to be grown! Runners will grow in the tropics although they rarely achieve sufficient size to become the spectacular grove achieved in the cooler climates.
The same applies to the big clumpers of the equatorial Gigantochloa & Dendrocalamus genus. These plants are great in the wet tropics fair in the chilled sub tropics and not much good in the temperate zones.

There is nearly always an exception to every generalisation. Often a micro climate tucked away somewhere will grow species radically different from everything else in the region. The best bet in this case, is to observe the other types of plants in that microclimate, then select a bamboo with similar climatic prerequisites.

In Australia remnant wet rain forests are found from the far North Eastern seaboard, to as far south as Tasmania. For those fortunate enough to have land adjoining any of these forests there is a good chance of spectacular results.

For those lucky enough to live in the sub tropics, virtually any species of bamboo will grow with the exception of the really frigid zone species. In colder climatic zones the temperate species should grow comfortably.

11. Where can I buy quality plant stock?

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The most important point to remember is to check the credibility of the vendor. Whenever buying bamboo, ensure that the seller knows exactly what they are selling. On numerous occasions, I have seen nurseries and market vendors selling pots of Ph. nigra as clumping bamboo. It might look like a clump in the pot, but put it in the urban back yard and soon there will be a problem if it is not contained. These are the very mistakes that perpetuate the myth that all bamboos are rampant runners.

Generally, the nursery trade knows virtually nothing about bamboo. At the moment for example, there are nurseries promoting "panda bamboo". It's isn't even a bamboo! Another common mistake leaves us receiving requests for "Bamboo Palms" which are naturally not bamboo, but palms!

It is really only the bamboo specialists who have experience, and the expertise to provide a fair idea of the growth habits of what they sell. The best rule of thumb is to only purchase bamboo from someone who can positively provide the botanical name of the species sought and also, make sure the plant has an ID tag attached.

Another point to remember is the quality of the rootstock. I always make a point of choosing plants that have their roots protruding from the pot. This is a good indication that there is sufficient root mass to support the plant. Discreet enquiries should be made to ascertain whether the plant may be reliant on chemical fertilisers.

It is the policy of Bamboo Australia to use only natural fertilisers in the nursery and on the clumping species in the groves. I try to buy nursery stock that has been raised on natural fertilisers such as the old favourites, blood & bone or any of the variants of dynamic lifter (pelletised chicken manure).

If a grower is opting for a chemical fertiliser, often the slow release types are more acceptable to the plant than the high nitrogen types that can "pump" it up.

When bulk buying bamboo root stock, it is imperative that the plants supplied are the correct species for the growers specific purpose . Failure to obtain the correct species will put a property management schedule back many years.
When I first started out, I decided to fence the property with Giant Thorny Bamboo (B. arundinacea or B. blumeana). I purchased what I was led to believe was Giant Thorny bamboo. Sadly, several years down the track I found them to be B. burmanica (no thorns).

To add insult to injury, it turned out that the neighbours cows love them! Consequently, instead of a natural thorny fence line, my supplier created a delicious, high protein dietary cow magnet! Fortunately there was only a 100 metres or so planted and subsequently it is now a matter of maintaining the barbed wire fence.

Always be cautious of seed vendors. A few years back a consignment of "Dendrocalamus giganteus" seed was distributed world wide. As the plants matured it was evident that they were not the D. giganteus, but according to general consensus D. strictus. Now, some two years later they do not look like D. strictus and still remain unclassified.

It is easy to accept these incidents now, but imagine planting out acreages only to find out later that it is a non productive species which is going to have to be ripped out and replanted. The time loss would be horrific. Bamboo Australia has a catalogue available, as do most other bamboo specialist nurseries who are usually listed in the telephone directory.

Remember the golden rule. Buy only from a specialist.