Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

i have a bamboo flute that hollowed out one
of the nodes to get the right length. very
nice sound.

Is it a transverse flute or a recorder type? Gives me ideas....
Just what I need: Another "hobby".

six holes, C scale, actually too long for my
hands to play comfortably (my pinkie finger is
too small to cover the hole reliably and my hands
cramp after a while) but i don't have the heart
to sell it.

it was smoked and shellacked.


haven't worked with bamboo when it is green
ever so can't say how easy splitting would be.

Splitting bamboo is super easy, even through the nodes. A pocket
knife will do for small diameter stuff. It splits easily enough, green
or not. Dead bamboo doesn't last very long. In those parts of the world
where it is used structurally, a process of "curing" is employed that
removes the organic matter and leaves only the cell walls.

ah, thus the smoking and shellacking...


to hollow out with a super long drill bit
would likely be a challenge, but possible as
the bit could at least self center using the
width of the shaft to guide the point. just
would need different long bits based upon size
of bamboo tube itself.

My thought had been to split the bamboo and remove each wall,
forming a trough.

likely would work somewhat other than the bounce
of the seeds, but if you keep the angle shallow
enough that would probably be controllable.


We have a slow-spreading stand of bamboo along a fenceline. It has
been there at least 40 years to my certain knowledge. However, although
the "reeds" get around 20' long, maximum diameter is, maybe, 1 inch. It
suffered a major die-off in 2011; don't know whether it was life cycle
or some other cause

if it flowered/fruited it was life cycle.
usually the entire stand will go at once.


but other "daughter" stands are thriving. We
obtained those by pegging down joints of living reeds a number of years
ago, pegging down joints of _their_ daughters and so on; it's slow
going.

you're the first person i've ever heard say
they are having a hard time getting it to
spread. usually i hear about it the other
way (that it's too invasive), but perhaps you
have one of the slower growing varieties that
are supposedly not so invasive...


snip
what is a steamboat? i've not heard this expression
before as applied to bamboo or anything to do with
gardening. just the usual river/lake chuffing along
kind...

Oh, my, but you've led a sheltered life. A "steamboat" is a
"carburetor" used to increase the perceived efficacy of marijuana smoke.
A tiny hole, into which the doobie is inserted, is drilled near the end
of a section of bamboo. The stoner stoppers the end of the joint (pun
unanticipated) with a finger, fills the chamber with smoke and then,
while inhaling strongly, unstoppers the end. Whammo! You didn't live
through the '60s, did you ;-)?

i just turned 50 this year, the 70s were
tough enough. i did my time in the stupidity
trenches. learned my lessons. got on with
life. being stoned is just fine, not for me
any more tho.


snip
glad to see you got out from under the truck.
Well, it's only temporary. I've lept from the frying pan directly
into the fire. It's so sad. More in email some day.

'k. take good care of yourself.


hope things are well for you down there?

Yes, "things" are going well, although, I'm still feeling guilty
about my fall-winter gardening hiatus. Finally got my old butt into gear
and have "hot weather:" stuff started. Already getting tomatoes, of
course,




and have some late mustard greens that, so far, are holding
their own against the heat — unseasonably cool overnight temps have
helped, I think — summer squashes are coming in and the beans, okra,
eggplant, cowpeas, etc are coming along.

what type of beans you plant this season?


No "English" peas, though, for
the first time in years. February is normal Spring planting time for
those and, by now, they'd be struggling against the heat and the mildew.
Got such a late start this year, though, that decided to pass but I do
miss the little cuties. Nothing better than a morningtime Samuel Adams
brewski and a handfull of from-the-vine Little Marvels....

i have some pics of seedlings that i have to
edit/post. decided i would do a sprout group
as they are very fun/cute/interesting, but i'm
not in that mood tonight so...

it's been rather cool here the past few nights.
we have plants to put out in the gardens, but with
it being too cool i don't want to plant for a bit
yet. we'll hold off a few more days and then see
what the forecast is like.

instead i've been weaving a trellis for climbing
beans. the old grape trellis gets a second life.
it's in an unfenced area so i have to come up with
some deterrents for critters and hope there is a
harvest. it's overflow area, not too hard to
enclose with a tall fence, so i will likely do that
at some point in the future, but i didn't want to
spend money on fencing if i can get away with
less expensive measures first. looks like a great
crop of strawberries this year even in that back
overflow patch. except the deer have been through
and we have woodchucks around too. i'm still
determined to give that back patch a try without
too many added measures. it is after all partly a
decoy area so that the critters can munch on that
and leave the rest of the yard alone...


No garlic, either, and an insignificant number of onions; long
story there, which primarily revolves around "sloth", if you get my
drift.

it is it's own reward. i shouldn't say anything.
i read a 30something book series this past winter
that was mostly useless fluff...


Have, however,already ordered some of next year's garlic: "Ajo
rojo", a delicious Creole variety purported to do well in Mexican Gulf
Coastal warm-winter climates. Also awaiting word from a Texas grower on
availability of a second variety, "Texas Rose", another Creole that came
up from Carribean islands via Mexico and which, I'm hoping, should also
thrive in Florida's humid warm winters and early-onset summers —
remember, "spring" is about ten days in late February or early March.

i hope they work out well for you. the onions
are all planted here for now. i have some seeds
i should scatter someplace and a few odds and
ends to plant, but the mass beds are in. some
already well up and growing strong (they like
worms/worm poo).

our springs seem to be about that the past few
years. the crocuses are up and gone rather quickly.

probably the best tulip year i've ever had in
terms of quality/disease pressures/weather/bloom
length. which seems rather strange in comparison
to how the crocuses did. you'd think that the
tulips would do better with a little cooler
weather too, but in the end it was the mostly
lack of rain and few frosts that helped them the
most.


Oh: I found a snapshot of the Tampa Bay area's only "real" snowfall
in my lifetime, so far: 1977. It wasn't much and the cover didn't last
for very long after sunrise.

you're sick. some day i'll have to put some of
my snow pics on-line just to keep you appreciative of
that heat.


songbird