Why dry bamboo?

[Mark Mortimer]

Current wisdom maintains that a harvested culm should be air dried to bring down the moisture level within the culm wall to more or less equilibrium with the surrounding environment. This may take weeks or months depending on temperature and humidity of the drying space.
My questions is why do we air dry bamboo which is going to be used outside anyway. Is there any point in drying culms which are going to be used in a fence, say, or an outdoor structure. Apart from a slight shrinkage in the culm diameter (more noticable in clumpers), what difference is there between a dry and green culm?
Any thoughts would be welcome.
Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Mark, with the good fortune to have my own grove, and other groves to harvest from, I have bamboo of every stage from green to dry to work with.

Lately I've been doing more arts and craft projects using green and partially dried bamboo, as it is much more maleable to work with and gives me greater control of the outcome of the material.

I like to use both green and dried bambo for structures in my garden.
In addition to being more flexible to work with, it provides pleasant contrast, aesthetic appeal.
A book I have on Japanese bamboo fences shows wonderful applications of using green and dried bamboo... infact I remember reading in the book for one design.." if possible use green bamboo for this fence, otherwise dry bamboo will have to do"
However there are many more instances when dry bamboo is preferred.

In the tropical areas of high humidity, if you stick a green bamboo pole in the ground, if it doesn't quickly rot, it might root, and grow into a living hedge!

Mark