 if they are pruned correctly. Pruning can be avoided by using a smaller species. One of the best for a hedge 4 to 6 feet high is Shibataea kumasaca. Another good species is switch cane (Arundinaria tecta). For a hedge 8 to 12 feet tall, Arundinaria simonii (small type) or Arundinaria gigantea are excellent if pruned occasionally.
ORNAMENTAL AND SHRUBS. A few of the bamboos are small and make excellent plants for use around the home as ornamentals. Arundinaria viridi-striata grows 2-3 feet tall and has a yellowish striped leaf. It grows well in the shade. Sasa palmara, with a broad long leaf that is bright green in color, makes an excellent appearance. It grows 4 to 6 feet in height, but can be kept smaller by pruning.
BAMBOO FOR WOOD PULP. Bamboo is better suited than pine for certain paper products, such as facial tissues and fine writing paper. This is because the bamboo fiber has a much greater length-to-width ratio than pine fiber. This property gives added flexibility to bamboo-made paper, imparting softness and smoothness to the final product. The yields reported, Tables 3,4, 6, and 7, show that bamboo would produce well in certain areas of Alabama. It would be limited to areas not too cold, probably where temperatures do not drop below 5?F. Many soils of the State are suited to bamboo.
Bamboo spreads by rhizomes and is a perennial. Thus, it will grow continuously after cutting without having to be replanted. If a rotational system of cutting is used, a portion of the stand may be harvested each year after the plant is established. To lessen the risk of loss when a species produces flowers, several species should be grown.
Before bamboo can be successfully grown as a crop for pulp production, several problems need to be solved:
- Large-scale methods of propagation will have to be developed to get large acreages under production.
- Harvesting and handling of the cane must be mechanized. Studies are needed to determine the maximum width of cut that will maintain the stand. A width of 10 feet has worked satisfactorily 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 ti