permaculture

[mIEKAL aND <QAZINGULAZA@gmail.com>]

Dieter, thanks for this.  I wonder if what you mean by the word "holm"  
which I've never seen before is the word "culm" which means stalk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culm_%28plant%29

What you say makes a lot of sense, the culms here in Wisconsin will  
hard freeze in a few weeks & next year will not be alive.  They will  
be dried stalks.  I'm thinking that if you are growing in Portugal,  
they probably never freeze & lose their leaves.

~mIEKAL



On Oct 6, 2010, at 4:55 PM, Dieter Brand wrote:

> I have different types of bamboo.  One type is edible.  I can  
> harvest almost half of all shoots (around 100) each year for  
> eating.  It’s a matter of experience to know when exactly to harvest  
> them.  If you let the shoots grow for too long they will get hard.   
> The non-edible types I use for poles and other things in the  
> garden.  They grow new holms each year between March and June.  I  
> always cut all the holms of the previous year when most of the new  
> holms have started to appear.  If I cut before the new holms start  
> to grow I would weaken the plant, if I cut after all the new holms  
> have grown the old holms would impede the growth of the new holms.   
> Under normal conditions bamboo holms are supposed to reach their  
> maximum size four years after planting, but I find that even after  
> 10 years they still get a bit taller each year.  If you just cut a  
> few holms, I guess you could cut anytime without weakening the plant  
> too much.  On the other hand, I don’t
> find there is any point in not cutting all the holms of the previous  
> year once the new once have started to appear because the new once  
> are always more numerous and taller than the previous once.
>
> Dieter Brand
> Portugal
>
> PS: I don’t use the clump-type bamboo.  I had one but gave it up.   
> Now I only have those that spread.
>
>
> --- On Wed, 10/6/10, mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
> > Subject: [permaculture] when to harvest bamboo
> > To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2010, 1:43 PM
> > A small clump of bamboo
> > (Phyllostachys aureosulcata) I planted on the
> > south side of one of our buildings more than 15 years ago
> > is finally
> > putting out usable wood.  The first 10 years it was
> > never more than 3
> > feet high & the thickness of a pencil, but gradually
> > spreading
> > everywhere in a small courtyard.  3 years ago we got a
> > stretch of 35
> > below & I assumed it completely died back but after 2
> > years with zero
> > above ground activity this year it grew 10 - 15 feet high
> > & a few
> > pieces are almost an inch thick.  Is it best to
> > harvest in the fall
> > while it is still green or should I wait until the
> > spring?  Also is
> > there any problem with harvest all the growth or should a
> > bit of it be
> > left behind.
> >
> > ~mIEKAL