BIOLOGY AND CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS
BAMBOO GROWING IN ALABAMA
BIOLOGY AND CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS
Botany of Bamboo
Propagation and Culture
Setting Permanent Areas
EXPERIMENTS IN ALABAMA
Experiments at Auburn
Experiments at Camden
Place for Bamboo in Alabama
REFERENCES ON BAMBOO
(First Printed in December 1968)
BAMBOO GROWING IN ALABAMA
D. G. STURKIE, Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Soils*
V. L. Brown, Superintendent, Lower Coastal Plain Substation **
W. J. Watson, Assistant Superintendent, Lower Coastal Plain Substation**
BAMBOO IS AN IMPORTANT crop plant in the Orient. Fish poles, plant stakes, yard rakes, furniture, shades, and other articles manufactured from bamboo are imported from China, Japan, and other oriental countries. Oriental bamboo has been grown in small areas in Alabama for many years and used locally for stakes, poles, shades, and other purposes. Some varieties have been grown as ornamentals.
Increased interest in fishing, beginning in the 1930's, created an expanded market for bamboo fish poles and suggested bamboo as a possible new crop for Alabama. Prospective growers, however, had no source of information relative to adapted varieties nor cultural requirements. Consequently, experiments with bamboo were initiated at the Main Station at Auburn in 1933.
Two developments in the late 1950's and early 1960's further stimulated interest in bamboo. One was the search for new crops for industrial uses that might substitute for or complement crops then in surplus production. The other was the rapid development of the pulp and paper industry. These developments were responsible for the initiation of extensive experiments with bamboo at the Lower Coastal Plain Substation, Camden, in 1959.
In addition to formal results obtained from planned experiments, a body of valuable knowledge concerning the cultural requirements and biology of bamboo was acquired.
* Project leader for all bamboo experiments of Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station. Cooperation of W. B. DeVall and E. J. Hodgkins, Department of Forestry, in the bamboo-pine experiment is acknowledged. Also, cooperation of C.O. Erlanson, J. R. Haun, and W. O. Hawley, of U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Crops Research Division, New Crops Research Branch, Crop Development Section, in planning the tests and supplying planting stock of bamboo is gratefully acknowledged.
**Co-investigation with Sturkie in the Lower Coastal Plain Substation portion of the bamboo experiments.
Botany of Bamboo
Bamboos are true grasses, characterized by hollow or rarely solid stems closed at the joints, or nodes. They have been known and used since ancient times, but their botanical characteristics and relationships are not fully understood. This results in large measure from the fact that most bamboos are extremely slow in flowering and producing seed.
There are two types of bamboo grown in this country: (1) clump type and (2) running type.
The clump type spreads by short rhizomes that produce new canes near the base of the old ones. These are usually of tropical origin and do not thrive in Alabama except along the coast. This type of bamboo is often planted for hedges or singly for specimen plants. It spreads slowly and is easily kept within bounds. All of these bamboos tested at Auburn have been killed back to the ground many times and most of them have been completely killed. The only one surviving in 1968 is Bambusa multiplex var. stripe stem fernleaf PI No. 99289. It is defoliated nearly every winter, but new leaves put out the following spring. During several winters the stems were killed back to the ground, but new canes developed the following year from buds or rhizomes.
The running type is much hardier than the clump type. It produces rhizomes that grow in all directions and may extend for 15 feet or more each year. Thus, it is difficult to confine to a given area.
The running bamboos grow much farther north than the clump bamboos. Some of the species are suited to growth in all areas of Alabama. Most introduced (commonly called “Japan