What to do with Giant Bamboo? A - Z (wiki)

I grow several types of bamboo, but the two I use for projects most often are P dulcis and P nigra. The dulcis is the larger in height and diameter, but still no where near as large as the picture above! There are people in the area who claim to be growing "Japanese building bamboo" but I've never met anyone who actually knows its botanical name. Dulcis might grow as large as that pictured if it wasn't on the edge of its growing range - there are many factors that affect plant size. I certainly can't compete with some of the really huge building bamboos I've seen pictures of in places in South America.

As permies, however, we need to be *really* aware of how things are being produced:

Bamboo fabric is essentially a chemical-heavy industrial process similar to rayon except starting with a grass which can regenerate faster than a tree, although if people used coppiced trees to make rayon, even that difference might end up being negligible.  

Bamboo flooring or similar products that use industrial glues or resins may also be minimally different from other manufactured flooring/products.

In contrast, flooring or wall coverings can be made from split bamboo which is woven the way a basket would be (OK - more complicated, but conceptually similar) and this doesn't require industrial chemicals and can be done with fairly basic, if specialized tools. Bamboo lath covered with natural clay-based daub (wattle and daub building) doesn't require anything nasty.

I definitely use bamboo for all sorts of trellising in the garden. I've seen pictures of bamboo being bent into hoops, but it was actually a fairly skilled process and as intrigued as I am, I'm not comfortable  tackling it from just seeing videos. Many articles will talk about it "not lasting long", but I find that even in our "wet all winter" climate, it lasts longer than what was implied - certainly 5 years or more. Considering it's a renewable resource on my property, and that it will simply biodegrade into soil when it stops supporting plants, 5 years is fine with me.

Howdy,

I once saw a photo(Shelter book, Lloyd Kahn?, Whole Earth Catalog?) that was after an earthquake in Japan. Showed all these buildings demolished, leveled to the ground, and the only building still standing was one surrounded by  a scaffold system built with bamboo. The scaffold was all lashed/tied together and swayed, keeping the building being worked on intact and still standing.

Fly rods used to be made with bamboo. Bamboo was split into thin slats, reversed, glued and tied back together.

To my knowledge,I think bamboo is the strongest natural material?

The Forest Service compound in Glide Oregon is a old homestead and someone planted a small plot that was doing real well. Some 4" dia and 80+ ft. tall.

I'd love to have some like in those photos.

George Yacus wrote:Wow, look at this YUUUGE bamboo!  I'm so tempted to start a giant bamboo cut & delivery service!  This stuff is a palm-breadth wide and maybe 50' tall!

Ideas:

Water conduit

Natural rain gutters

Roof tiling

Structural scaffolding

Pedestrian bridges

Pathway railings, stair banisters and balusters

Junk pole fencing

Furniture

Char

Pelletized fuel

Candle holders / candle lanterns

Raised bed border

Sturdy trellising

Plant pots (deep and vertical for great taproot formation, or shallow and horizontal for "rain gutter" planters)

Animal pen framework and skids

Flagpole for jamboree

Amateur radio tower

Lookout tower, water tower, wind-mill support

Leverage

Crane, water lifting device, shadoof

Wind chimes (smaller end of poles)

Long, curved lip chicken feeder (Salatin-style design to reduce daily ration waste)

Floating raft

Measuring cups or scoops

Measuring rod (for polycultures, notch and label as a repeated linear planting guide)

Ring toss rings

Geodesic dome struts, hubs

Permies.com threads:

What to do with bamboo in an urban area ? Compost ?

Other websites:

Interesting Engineering: 15 Things you can do with bamboo

Biofuel Machines: Pelletizing bamboo

New Straits Times: Beauty of bamboo planters

https://permies.com/t/149915/Ways-bamboo-dumbed-skill-level  Lots of good ideas for use in the home and garden.

Pollinators: This page is wiki-able, so add your ideas and resources to the lists above!

Rope, clothes, nets, as a sound barrier, a natural screen, wind breaks, berm builder, floor mats, garden edges, bee homes,

Cool!

Most of the bamboo around here is about that size. It's useful for all sorts of things, many of which you posted.

I'm really looking forward to working with some, and I have plenty. Felling one large bamboo is enough to split for several baskets, carve spatulas, make garden trellises and arches, and many other tasks.

There's a cool but very unsanitary activity called nagashi-somen that's fun to do in the summer. You take half a bamboo pole, clear out the inner nodes, prop it up at an angle, run a hose down it and cool off somen noodles in the water while people try to pick them up with chopsticks as they flow down toward a bucket at the bottom. It's way fun, in a bobbing for apples kind of way.

Bamboo makes an awesome feedstock for Biochar.  In your case you could probably make several tons and still have bamboo left over.

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Bamboo makes an awesome feedstock for Biochar.  In your case you could probably make several tons and still have bamboo left over.

That would be a great use for the side "branches" which are really too small to use for much else.

@ George Yacus - thank you so much for alphabetizing the list. The size of it shows why it was called by many, "the gift from the gods".

You could make wattle fences, animal pens, etc. We have had this wattle fence up for 2 years so far, mostly just as privacy from the road side. But it is in a very windy spot and gets all day sunshine  so element exposure is very high and it still seems just as durable as when we first done it. It took about a year and half for all the green to fade away as we done it while it was freshly cut. But all in all this project forced me to get some bamboo to plant for myself for future projects like this. I got dug some of this variety out of the yard I cut this from and also ordered some of the japanese timber bamboo. I live in zone 6b around 800feet elevation so I'll see how well it does in my area but so far it has endured two winters and has spread from 3-4 shoots(12inch diameter) to about 12 shoots (5 foot diameter). I'm very excited to see it reach 50foot tall or at least get to 4inch diameter canes. We shall see what the future holds.....

I would do something awful.

I would burn it.

WAIT ! I'm not finished. If we're talking moso bamboo, it seems that their char is the best to make activated charcoal, which has a lot of uses.

I wanted to grow some in pots, but so far the seeds seem to have rotten. If you have an idea of the germination, soil requirement, that would be great.

Anyway, bamboo is a wonderful building material. Maybe make some wheels for hydro-electric power with it ?

This wiki was a lot of fun.  Forcing myself to hit every letter of the alphabet made it extra enjoyable.  (So much so, that I started a separate Homesteading A-Z list for a different resource material, too!)

There are so many ideas to explore here, just shy of 70 on that list... enough that someone could do a bamboo homestead project every weekend for a full year and still have more projects to go.  Perhaps in coming years, I'll grab a trailer or a van-load full of the stuff and document it all in a cBook or PDF here on permies?

We eat the shoots, feed the leaves to livestock, and biochar the rest.  We’ve used a bit for building and crafts, too.  Here is some of our Moso…

I’ve often wondered why bamboo hasn’t taken off in the west like it has in the east.  Best I can figure, while it is one of the most versatile plants in the world, it is rarely the economic best at anything (which we like in America). It also requires a lot of hand labor which is expensive here as well.

Gray Henon wrote:I’ve often wondered why bamboo hasn’t taken off in the west like it has in the east.  Best I can figure, while it is one of the most versatile plants in the world, it is rarely the economic best at anything (which we like in America). It also requires a lot of hand labor which is expensive here as well.

I saw a study once comparing an acre of land in bamboo and an acre in cash-crop-monoculture trees. The bamboo didn't win for absolute dollars, but the trees took 20 years to grow before the owner got a single cent. The bamboo started being harvested at 6-7 years and could be partially harvested every year until the 20 years were up and the land needed to grow something different. So for people who need a steadier income, the bamboo was the better deal.

That said, I also think people have simply not seen enough options for use. We also tend to focus on things lasting a long time, and depending on the conditions, bamboo may only last 5 years. The fence and gate I built ( https://permies.com/t/178097/permaculture-projects/experimenting-bamboo-fence-gate-discourage#1399252 ) was partly to teach myself some of the building techniques that could be used. There's sooo... much I don't know about using it. I want to try baskets next winter maybe.

Your bamboo is gorgeous!! Bamboo envy here! I'm too far north to grow most of the bigger varieties. I'm sure you will find more uses over time.

George Yacus wrote:This wiki was a lot of fun.  Forcing myself to hit every letter of the alphabet made it extra enjoyable.  (So much so, that I started a separate Homesteading A-Z list for a different resource material, too!)

There are so many ideas to explore here, just shy of 70 on that list... enough that someone could do a bamboo homestead project every weekend for a full year and still have more projects to go.  Perhaps in coming years, I'll grab a trailer or a van-load full of the stuff and document it all in a cBook or PDF here on permies?

Thank you so much for all your effort George. This is a great resource and will hopefully get more people appreciating and using this renewable, biodegradable, light but strong, environmentally-friendly material.

Howdy,
Gray, that photo is more than AMAZING!  I need to find some starts!