factorily in studies in Alabama. It is not known how much wider widths might be used. How frequently these strips should be harvested to produce the maximum pulp per acre per year needs to be determined. Studies comparing productivity under clean cutting and strip cutting are needed.
- Pulp mills will have to convert to a processing method that will work with bamboo.
- The bamboo grower will have to be assured of a market before he can take the risk of investments in planting.
- Industry must be assured of sufficient bamboo supplies before converting entire plants to bamboo processing.
- Certain chemical problems, particularly that of excess plant silica which is common to bamboo and most other grasses, must be dealt with.
CONFINING BAMBOO TO A DEFINITE AREA. Three methods of confining running type bamboo have worked at Auburn:
- Cutting off the rhizomes twice each year by running a subsoil plow about 15 inches deep around the bamboo in the spring and again in the fall. On a small scale this may be done by digging a trench around the bamboo and refilling it.
- Putting a metal barrier around the bamboo. The metal should extend about 2 feet into the soil.
- Cutting off the new shoots or treating them with a herbicide as soon as they start up in the spring. This must be done every few days for about 6 weeks since all the new shoots do not come up at one time. A herbicide that has worked satisfactorily is a mixture of 9 parts kerosene or diesel oil and 1 part creosote, with 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls applied to the top of the shoot as soon as it emerges from the ground. This will kill it back to the mother rhizome.
ERADICATING BAMBOO. Bamboo can be eradicated by several methods:
- Graze it with cattle during the summer. If the plants are so large that cattle cannot bend them over to graze the leaves, they should be cut and the cattle allowed to graze the new plants as they emerge.
- Cut the old plants in winter or early spring and the new shoots as they emerge in the spring and summer. This will require cutting several times.
- Spray the area with a herbicide. Of the several tested at Auburn, Sodium TCA (sodium salt of trichloroaecetic acid) gave best success. This should be sprayed on the soil over the areas in which the bamboo is growing at a rate of 50 pounds active ingredient in at least 100 gallons of water per acre. It is preferable to apply it in late winter or early spring before new growth starts. Rain will carry the chemical down to the root system and it will be absorbed. This will sterilize the soil for about 90 days, so nothing should be planted on the area until about June.
Caution: TCA is caustic and will burn the eyes and skin. Care must be taken not to get it on animals or persons. It is corrosive to metals and a sprayer must be cleaned immediately after applying.
Small areas of bamboo are found in nearly all sections of Alabama. The running type bamboo is better suited to Alabama. The clump type is winter hardy only in the immediate Gulf Coast area.
Experiments have been conducted at Auburn since 1933 and at Camden since 1959. The findings are summarized:
- The most winter hardy species were Phyllostachys rubromarginata, P. virids, and semi-arundinaria fastuosa. The next most hardy were P. aureosulcata, P. aureosulcata, P. nigra var. henon, followed by P. bambusoides, P. meyeri, and P. aurea.
- When all canes were cut, the yield of poles 15 feet or longer varied from 1l,000 to 39,000 per acre.
- When canes were selectively cut, yields were 2,000 to 10,000 per acre per year, depending on species.
- The yield of large poles from the large-growing species was about 1,000 per acre per year.
- The yield of dry wood varied from 17 to 54 tons per acre, depending on the species.
- Bamboo cut in 10-foot strips recovered much faster than when all canes were cut.
- Cutting in 10-foot strips every 5 years produced a yield of 18 to 45 tons of dry wood per acre. The 4-year average yield was 28 tons per acre.
- Bamboo plants averaged the following by weight: green leaves, 14%; branches (dry weight), 16%; and dry matter, 63%.
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