permaculture

[John Schinnerer <JohnS@STLabs.com>]

Aloha,

> -----Original Message-----
        >I'm interested in any
> > experience with bamboo and termites.
> 
        (The following comes primarily from my notes from the First
International Hawai'i Bamboo conference about three years ago)

        "Immature" or "green" bamboo will be readily demolished by
termites (or other bugs, or fungus and rot - there is a pest called the
powder-post beetle that is a bamboo-lover) - three years is the minimum
age for a "mature" construction culm and five  is recommended.  Once
mature, some bamboos fare better than others (don't have a
species-specific list, but Guadua Angustifolia is a preferred timber
bamboo in some tropical areas - Colombian bamboo researcher/author Oscar
Hidalgo's favorite, I gather).  

        I've seen various schemes for treating bamboo for bug- and
rot-resistance.  Some involve those same nasty chemicals we'd rather
avoid.  The most benign I've heard of are 1) boric acid solution
(soaking, sometimes in hot solution, or pressure treatments of various
kinds) and 2) saltwater soaking (as is also done with wood).

        Colombian architect Simon Velez related how termites attacked
his first commissioned bamboo structure - and it survived:  he had
designed a very large horse stable for a client, basically an open-sided
bamboo structure supporting a massive tile roof.  Several months after
completion, he said he could *hear* the (millions of) termites chewing
away when he stood near or inside it.  He figured it was a goner...but
eventually the termites were gone and the structure was as solid as
ever.  It turned out, on closer inspection, that they had eaten only the
soft (non-structural!) inner portions of the bamboo culms, and had not
eaten the outer, harder structural portions (the culms used were
appropriately mature for construction).  

        The American Bamboo Society ( http://www.bamboo.org/abs/ ) is a
good place to hunt down further information.  They have a bibliography,
species lists, etc. etc.

        John Schinnerer