Marking bamboo for age and selective harvesting

[tomas freile]

hi, i´m new at bamboo growing and harvesting, and i was wondering if you could help me with the marking (what kind of ink, when to mark, the system) of new culms to help identify the age and which to cut first.

tomas Freile (Ecuador)

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Tomas,
It's great to hear of your interest in bamboo and uses of bamboo in Ecuador! Thanks for writing !

Several methods of marking for age of bamboo are...

- applying a dab of paint /different colors for each year
(recommend applying at same height and side of bamboo for easy reference. Water based acrylic/latex paint works fine - easy brush clean-up )

- attaching a colored wire / different color each year

- stamping with a numbered metal die punch

Personally I have found that after becoming familiar with the bamboo, that marking isn't necessary (unless others who are not knowledgeable are doing the harvesting)
In our Texas climate, where algae and moss do not cover the bamboo, it is quite easy to tell the different ages by the color of the bamboo, as shown in this picture of our Phyllostachys aurea:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/1P_aurea_4_Austin_TX_USA.jpg see larger pic (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=792)

In humid tropical conditions where bamboo gets coated with moss, one can gauge by the extent of moss covering.
Also it's possible to gauge by old back-buds on branches where leaves have fallen off, because each year new leaves develop further along the branch.

I should point out that an important part of growing for highest quality bamboo poles is to selectively thin out the bamboo, to give each culm maximum potential for receiving light and nutrients.
Because bamboo has only a limited period of a few months that it produces all the culms for the next year, and because some shoots can be damaged or destroyed during this season, bamboo has a tendency to over-produce shoots as insurance.
Then, in nature, as the shoots progress, the strongest and earliest shoots to reach access to light continue to grow, and others will shrivel, collapse and die.
Selective thinning for optimum spacing can begin during the shooting season, as removing excessive new shoot growth is the easiest way to begin selective thinning. (If it's an edible variety, and harvested early during the season, these can be used for consumption)
Also by the nature of bamboo, (just like with people) some bamboo culms will want to live way past their prime while other culms will age and die prematurely in their youth.
Therefore part of the harvesting procedure will always involve grading of materials based not only the age of material, but also on the quality of the culms, determined by the growing condition of each culm, and environmental `events' that occured during the culms life.

~ Mark

[tomas freile]

thank you Mark for the information, it will be really useful until we become familiar with the characteristics of the plant at different ages. Also I was thinking probably you could recommend some bibliography about this part of the procedure, and also about the harvesting systems and techniques. Information about this type of plant specially about processing it is really difficult to find here, because we're just starting to see the potential uses for bamboo. So I would like to know where to look so I can order the right books or search for them. thank you again for the help, and feel free to correct my english, I'm not very confident about my writing accuracy, specially with specialized agriculture terms.

Tomas Freile

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Tomas, please don't worry about `correct english'.
You may also write in the language of your preference, and write English translation below. Editorial assistance can be provided with the English portion if needed.

Do you have a name of the bamboo, or pictures of the bamboo that you have?

The first step, if this hasn't been already done, is to thin out the older and weaker culms (poles). As culm spacing becomes more managed, it is easier in future years to remove mature culms.

The removed material may be of various quality or grades, and can be used to further evaluate the characteristics of the bamboo.
Even with tree harvesting, the lumber provided will be of various grades, and the challenge is to find a suitable use, product and market for each grade of material.
Bamboo that has been managed can provide a more uniform consistency in the grade of harvested poles, but there will always be some 2nd and 3rd grade materials.
Most bamboo will reach maximum strength in 5-6 years, which means that you can easily harvest 20% of the culms each year with no detrimental affects.
Some of the culms may be quite healthy, still producing lots of new leaf growth even at 7 years or older. The best determination whether to leave them for another year before harvest is to see if they are crowding out newer culms.
If there's adequate sunlight reaching newer culms, the older culms can stay for another year. If not, the older culms should be removed or they may affect the quality of the harvest a few years down the road .

~ Mark