(Becoming OT) Has anyone turned bamboo?
 

"JimR" wrote

snip snip snip

Giant timber bamboo is Bambusa oldhamii and is a semi-tropical variety. I
cut some today to thin out the clump and the ones I cut were about 40'
tall. The grove is 8 years old. Side note - I cut the first ones on
Saturday and noticed some new shoots coming out of the ground. I finished
the work today, and the new shoots are already about 4' tall and about 6"
in diameter.

What is the internode distance of your bamboo and the wall thickness of
the culm at mid height?

What do you do with the culms that you have cut?

Now that many of my culms have reached a "decent" diameter (1.25 inch do
not laugh!) I plan to use some of them for a kind of simple decorative mini-
fence which I have seen described in a book about japanese gardens and
similar things.

It has proved to be a great source of shade, keeping that part of the
house much cooler. It's also thick enought to be protective bird habitat
and I've got cardinals, jays, etc. that stay there. It also is,
unfortunately, a great source of leaf litter . . .

I have noticed that birds like to take refuge in my little groves but they
do not nest there... I have also noticed the leaf litter (!) but I rake it
and use it as mulch.

I believe in your area you can probably grow Phyllostachis nigra, black
bamboo, which is a beautiful plant, but needs to be controlled. I've got
several extra root-culm sections to dig up if anyone within reach of
central Florida is interested -- if no takers I'll plant them in a couple
of large pots at our front door, where the golden goddess bamboo has
outgrown the pots.

Thank you for your suggestion,

(Becoming OT) Has anyone turned bamboo?
 

"Pierre Lanuéjols" wrote in message
. ..

"JimR" wrote

snip snip snip

Giant timber bamboo is Bambusa oldhamii and is a semi-tropical variety.
I
cut some today to thin out the clump and the ones I cut were about 40'
tall. The grove is 8 years old. Side note - I cut the first ones on
Saturday and noticed some new shoots coming out of the ground. I
finished
the work today, and the new shoots are already about 4' tall and about 6"
in diameter.

What is the internode distance of your bamboo and the wall thickness of
the culm at mid height?

What do you do with the culms that you have cut?

Now that many of my culms have reached a "decent" diameter (1.25 inch do
not laugh!) I plan to use some of them for a kind of simple decorative
mini-
fence which I have seen described in a book about japanese gardens and
similar things.

It has proved to be a great source of shade, keeping that part of the
house much cooler. It's also thick enought to be protective bird habitat
and I've got cardinals, jays, etc. that stay there. It also is,
unfortunately, a great source of leaf litter . . .

I have noticed that birds like to take refuge in my little groves but they
do not nest there... I have also noticed the leaf litter (!) but I rake it
and use it as mulch.

I believe in your area you can probably grow Phyllostachis nigra, black
bamboo, which is a beautiful plant, but needs to be controlled. I've got
several extra root-culm sections to dig up if anyone within reach of
central Florida is interested -- if no takers I'll plant them in a couple
of large pots at our front door, where the golden goddess bamboo has
outgrown the pots.

Thank you for your suggestion,


Mostly I've just cut to keep the grove under control, trimmed off the side
growth, and stored the lengths temporarily until I have time to do something
with them. I've got plans to put a bamboo fence around the well area,
perhaps use some of the material to make a low fence along the driveway, and
perhaps figure out some way to make a hammock stand. I've also thought
about making salt / pepper holders, decorating the mailbox post at street
side, wind chimes, and bird feeders. That's after we finish the current
spring housecleaning and clean-up, which we schedule for once a year. (The
current work is the one scheduled for the spring of 2004. . .)

Of course I also plan on winning the lottery, and with my track record of
to-do items I'll probably get started on the bamboo work at about the same
time the lottery comes in --

(Becoming OT) Has anyone turned bamboo?
 

"JimR" wrote in message
m...

[snip]

I just came across an interesting web page, http://www.bambus.de/1000; click
on the "1000 things" link at the top to page through a series of photos of
items made of bamboo -- everything from a bicycle to a set of drums!

i know panda love bamboo