If selling bamboo - what to sell and how?

[littlebamboozdo]

Greetings all!
We have just aquired a home that has 15 acres of which 3 of them are a HUGE bamboo forest (Bambusa oldhamii I believe).

Basicly it looks like an established 'cash crop' but we don't want to just jump in and start waisting time and $ without a little 'education'.

So...here are some questions:
1. Is this type edible? If so, what parts?

2. If we want to sell bamboo for the person to grow - what part do we sell?
When (in NC) and how do you harvest that for them?

3. Does the drying/treating time differ with the size/age of the 'trunk' ? We have some in there that are over 12inches in diameter!!!

4. What tools are best to cut the larger stalks for craft/building purposes? An electric jig saw maybe??

Wow...I am LOADED with questions and don't mean to be ignorant, but as we search we get some conflicting info on how to transplant and use this resource that is easily so availbe to us!

Blessings - and thank you in advance!
Joe and Donna

[ghmerrill]

is there any way you can post photos? if you do indeed have B. oldhamii, and I am not sure on your climate, so that would say if it is or not, they would have a different structure than a running bamboo. It sounds like there are some HUGE culms, so some form of tropical clumper may be correct. Apparently oldhamii is fairly easy to propagate via culm cuttings from young culms, so you may be able to make some cuttings, let them grow out for a couple years, then sell them-providing it is oldhamii. if you have a species like Moso, which I think is more likely given your description, then it is a species with edible shoots, you would have to take rhizome sections with culms to propagate, etc.

hopefully we can see some pics, sounds great!

Gene

[Mrs. Lee]

I am in the process of buying a house that sits on about a large lot. This lot is almost all bamboo. We need to clear it, but I hate to see all this bamboo go to waste. Some of the trunks are about as large as a child's leg around and are nearly two stories high. If someone knows where I can sell this stuff to, it would help offset the cost of having it removed. Thanks.

[GNiessen]

I am in the process of buying a house that sits on about a large lot. This lot is almost all bamboo. We need to clear it, but I hate to see all this bamboo go to waste. Some of the trunks are about as large as a child's leg around and are nearly two stories high. If someone knows where I can sell this stuff to, it would help offset the cost of having it removed. Thanks.

Have you found homes for any of the bamboo? I may be able to help take some of it.