How old should bamboo be at harvest?

[coco1159]

My father has giant bamboo in his yard in georgetown texas that has been growing for about three years. He has been cutting down the new shoots at about 8 feet tall this spring. When does one cut down giant bamboo to cure or dry out. How old or how long does it have to have been growing? Thanks

[Mark Meckes]

Hi, is this a clumping bamboo or a runner type, and what are you interested in using it for?
Generally speaking, optimum age is between 3 - 5/6 years, but this also depends on the intended use.
For example, a papermaker may want to use less then 1- 2 year old material, a basket weaver may choose 2-3 year old material for making fine splits, a wood carver may want 3-4 year old material, and for outdoor structural poles, 4-6 year old material will last longer.
I recently harvested some poles from our grove that had been growing for 8-9 years - they were tagged from when they first emerged, that's how I knew. Even though they could have grown on for another year or two, the problem was that they were choking out/ preventing new shoots from getting enough light - new surrounding shoots were weaker in stature.

So, if a bamboo culm gets to 5-7 years, it simply isn't going to get much stronger, and in most cases it's presence is detrimental to the health of the young 'uns.

Another perspective... I've made various craft items from one year old culms... just to show it can be done!
http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/data/3013/thumbs/1030627-097F.JPG
This vase (http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=279), was made from 9 month old Bambusa oldhamii (also called `Giant timber Bamboo')! A cold winter had killed back the canes of this not so hardy bamboo.

Here's another thread about... Age of bamboo culms at Harvest / Yield (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=554)

Mark

[coco1159]

Thanks so much for responding. I wanted to use it to make a screen in front of my wooden fence behind my rock garden, for aesthetic purposes. He said his grove is about 3-5 yrs but he has to cut the new culm every srping to stop it from taking over. The new ones are really tall but very green and there only about six weeks old... I guess I can't use those. I should ask him to wait then at least three years then huh? I will find out what kind exactly. He also has golden bamboo.
Thanks so much! Coco

[Mark Meckes]

> The new ones are really tall but very green and there only about six weeks old... I guess I can't use those.
Right, they will soon start to shrivel up within a few weeks of cutting down and break apart at the nodes.
I've saved some of these to make some bamboo paper from and will write about this experiment soon.

Culms that are at least a year old will last about a year or two for decorative garden purposes, providing they are secured to something substantially stronger.
(Where I used to live in a much colder climate, some of my bamboo would get killed to the ground annually, but `the harvest' was still very useful for making garden fences and trellis.)
One thing about harvesting 3+ year old bamboo from a new planting - because culms don't get any bigger then they are when they are at shooting, the first 3+ year harvest will be the smallest canes.
As each year progresses and the new culms become larger in diameter and height, by the 6th or seventh year from planting, larger canes will be ready for harvest.

Mark