anybody worked with bamboo?

[Fred Perreault]

It seems that this woman has experience besides using it for staging....

[Patrick Walsh]

I think I just fell in love.

A hard worker and highly capable craftsman, even artisan to boot.

Man that’s the trifecta...

[Kevin Jenness]

That's some nice green woodworking. Or grassworking...whatever.

There are a number of drawings of bamboo household containers and devices in Edward S. Morse's Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings.

Does anyone have a source for dry bamboo culms of the scale shown in the video?

[Patrick Walsh]

Kevin,

I have made contact with a woman on the south shore of Massachusetts in Plymouth mass. She is the head of the world wide Bamboo Orginazation. It sounds silly I guess or did to me at first but it’s a serious role as bamboo is a major resource for industry. I don’t know how but I did not connect the two when I was first trying to source and gain knowledge regarding bamboo when building my garden.

Anyway as you probably know bamboo is a highly invasive species. This woman has a yard of various varieties planted through her property. She literally has a bamboo forest. As is such in order to thrive it needs to be thinned from time to time. At one point I had her contact info and made a trip down to her home and spent some time chatting with her. I left with a pickup bed full of large stalks. I need to make another trip in the next year or two as I have a fair amount of bamboo fencing I need to make for my garden.

If it is of interest I can make contact with you when I get around to making my way back her way.

I have also found. Number of sources for various sizes of cut dried bamboo stalks. When I have looked into it it’s much like ordering a lift of lumber. It’s a freight delivery and mostly in large quantities. And it’s not inexpensive.

Hope that helps a little?

That's some nice green woodworking. Or grassworking...whatever.

There are a number of drawings of bamboo household containers and devices in Edward S. Morse's Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings.

Does anyone have a source for dry bamboo culms of the scale shown in the video?

[Kevin Jenness]

Patrick,

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will make some inquiries into thinning opportunities through the American Bamboo Society.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

My grandmother planted bamboo by her porch (in Vermont). I can confirm it is highly invasive. It grows very quickly, spreads like crazy, and is practically impossible to eradicate. If you cut it and pile it up in a brush pile, chances are good you will have bamboo growing out of your brush pile. I am sure it is a wonderful resource in its native land, but if you plant it yourself there is a good chance you (and if not you your children, and if not them your grandchildren, and if not them whoever you sell the property to) will regret your decision.

I did everything I could think of to eradicate the bunch she planted (short of sowing the ground with salt Punic war style), and it always came back. Since I had gotten it to the point where it was basically even with the surface around it, I just mowed it like I would any other grass. Most plants would give up and die, but after ten years it was undiscouraged. I moved. My parents kept mowing it and then sold the house. I have no doubt if the new owners have given it any breathing room it is probably growing in their living room by now.

[Patrick Walsh]

For real,

Her first name is Susan. I bet if you google American Bamboo society Susan followed by plywmouth Mass you find her. She and her husband also own a nursery on the south shore.

Connect those dots and you probably have free bamboo if you are friendly.

Patrick,

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will make some inquiries into thinning opportunities through the American Bamboo Society.

[Patrick Walsh]

Very very true,

Even with a proper rhyosime barrier it’s a huge risk. The bamboo I grow I grow all in containers and it’s a labor of love. The running bamboo or large stalk bamboo most of us associate with bamboo and love vrs the clumping thin stalkbamboo does not like to grow in containers for long. It quickly becomes toot bound and most of it likes a more tropical climate than the north east can provide.

I would never ever ever plant bamboo in the ground.

I actually have a neighbor three houses away. Since I have been in my house three people have owneded this house. Three owners back and almost thirty years ago the owners planted running bamboo. It sprouts up in my neighbors yard in the midddle of his lawn two houses away a and I say about 100ft from the original grove that has been cut down numerous times.

Bamboo is nothing to mess with unless you have tons of acreage and are happy to have a forest of it.

My grandmother planted bamboo by her porch (in Vermont). I can confirm it is highly invasive. It grows very quickly, spreads like crazy, and is practically impossible to eradicate. If you cut it and pile it up in a brush pile, chances are good you will have bamboo growing out of your brush pile. I am sure it is a wonderful resource in its native land, but if you plant it yourself there is a good chance you (and if not you your children, and if not them your grandchildren, and if not them whoever you sell the property to) will regret your decision.

I did everything I could think of to eradicate the bunch she planted (short of sowing the ground with salt Punic war style), and it always came back. Since I had gotten it to the point where it was basically even with the surface around it, I just mowed it like I would any other grass. Most plants would give up and die, but after ten years it was undiscouraged. I moved. My parents kept mowing it and then sold the house. I have no doubt if the new owners have given it any breathing room it is probably growing in their living room by now.

[Ted Calver]

There was a fairly large 2+ acre grove of large stalk bamboo growing on National Park Service land near me in Yorktown,VA. A couple of years ago the NPS contracted to remove the thicket, as it was encroaching on a historic grave yard. I don't know how they did it, didn't see any grubbing activity, only removal of the stalks and refuse, but the area has been bamboo free and the remaining hardwoods do not appear to have been damaged. Have often wished I had stopped and begged some of the stalks for garden structures.

[Al Launier]

That was a most interesting video indeed! What creative use of bamboo & the talent to make such good use of it. Impressive!