Common Bamboo (Vulgaris)

Plant Basics Category Growth Rate General Type Growth Period Growth Duration Lifespan Plant Nativity Commercial Availability Physical Characteristics Bloom Period Displays Fall Colors Shape/Growth Form Drought Tolerance Shade Tolerance Height When Mature Vegetative Spread Flower Color Flower Conspicuousness Fruit/Seed Abundance Fruit/Seed Seasonality Seed Spread Rate Gardening Characteristics Propagations (Ways to Grow) Moisture Requirements Cold Stratification Required Minimum Temperature Soil Depth for Roots Toxic to Nearby Plants Toxic to Livestock After-Harvest Resprout Ability Responds to Coppicing Growth Requirements pH Range Precipitation Range Planting Density Soil Textures Rapid Tree, Shrub, Subshrub Year Round Perennial Long Introduced to U.S. Routinely Available Indeterminate No Bunch Medium Intolerant 50 Slow Brown No Low Year Round Year Round Slow Bare Root, Container, Seed, Sprigs Medium No 17 24 No No No No 47 pH 6060 inches/yr 170300 indiv./acre Coarse, Fine, Medium

Soil Depth for Roots Minimum Frost-Free Days Salinity Tolerance CaCO3 Tolerance

24 365 day(s) Medium Medium

Bamboo Growth Rates The Life Cycle of this Fascinating Grass

Despite its woody exterior and pliable strength, bamboo is a member of the grass family. It is used for everything from building homes to brewing beer, but the most intriguing piece of the puzzle is how quickly it grows. This woody grass fascinates researchers around the world; it is even reported that some species can double their size in a single day! Bamboo is quickly becoming one of the most important elements to the burgeoning green market. The regenerative nature of bamboo makes it more of a renewable and sustainable raw material than trees.

While bamboo can grow in just about any soil or climate, its most impressive growth rates require certain conditions. If grown in a slightly acidic soil with a healthy amount of water, and partial shade (during the hottest part of the day), bamboo can grow at about 2 inches per hour. On the slower side, most estimates place bamboo at about 24 inches in a single day. Considering that its slow pace, and it takes oak trees about 100-150 years to reach full maturity, there is no question that bamboo is a very fast maturing plant. Bamboo only grows when sprouting, and will remain at the same height for the rest of the year. Large bamboo species are known to grow upwards of a foot a day, but the majority of standard bamboo species grow anywhere from half and inch to a few inches in a given day. The record for the fastest growth is 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period. Additionally, there are records of large tropical bamboo plants growing 100 feet in the span of merely three months!
Bamboo Growth Cycle

The first unique aspect of bamboo is that it can reach its full height and width in a single threefour month growing season. Trees and other woody materials cannot. The clumps of new shoots grow vertically in this first season, and do not branch out or flower. In the second year, the outside pulp-like wall of each stem or culm becomes dry and hard. The individual nodes begin to sprout small branches and leaves. In the third year, the culm fully hardens, and the bamboo shoot is not considered fully mature. In the standard life cycle of bamboo, fungus and mold begin to develop on the outer culm within the first five to seven years of its life. Within the decade, the fungus and mold will overtake the bamboo, causing it to collapse in on itself. For this reason, harvesting bamboo for construction, flooring, or furniture is best completed after full maturity at age 3, until about age 7, depending on the species.
Harvesting Bamboo

All new growth of bamboo occurs during the wet season, so it is important not to disturb the clump of shoots during this time. Harvesting is best at the end of the dry season when sap levels are at their lowest, and damage to shoots is less likely. Each individual culm goes through a 5-7 year life cycle, and is harvested from 2-3 years to 5-7 years of age. Daytime harvesting is generally recommended during dawn or dusk. Since photosynthesis is at its peak during the heat of the day, sap levels are highest, making harvesting more difficult. Some traditional bamboo growers watch the moon cycles and harvest during dawn or dusk on a waning moon.
Natural Death of Bamboo

The flowering of bamboo is a relatively rare occurrence, which results in the death of the bamboo plant shortly thereafter. The evolutionary reason and cause behind this is still unknown, but it seems that there comes a point when bamboo plants of the same stock flower and same age

seem to focus all of their remaining energy into flowering, regardless of climate conditions or geographic location. These plants then die around the same time.
Growth and development Bambusa vulgaris clumps expand rapidly during the first 56 years (from 0.5 m diameter in the first year to 4.5 m in the 6th year) and slower thereafter (to 7 m diameter after 10 years). Young shoots grow rapidly. In 2 weeks they can develop into stems 34 m tall, reaching 20 m in length in 3 months. Stems reach maximum diameters after 9 years. The number of young shoots per clump that develop into fullgrown stems increases on average from 1.6 in the first year to a maximum of 5.3 in the 4th year and decreases to 2.53.5 from the 9th year onward. On average, a mature clump produces 34 new stems per year and bears 3090 stems. In the Niari valley in Congo (average annual temperature 25.5C, average annual rainfall around 1000 mm), 4.5-year-old Bambusa vulgaris planted at a spacing of 6 m 6 m, with surviving density of 226 plants/ha, on average had 31 stems per clump and 7000 stems per ha. Flowering is uncommon in Bambusa vulgaris. When a stem flowers, it produces a large number of flowers, but no fruits. Low pollen viability due to irregular meiosis seems to be one of the reasons for the absence of fruiting. Eventually the stem dies, but the clump usually survives. Ecology Bambusa vulgaris grows best at lower altitudes; above 1000 m altitude stems become smaller in length and diameter. It thrives under a wide range of moisture and soil conditions, growing in almost permanently humid conditions along rivers and lakes, but also in areas with a severe dry season, where the plants may become completely defoliated. It is frost hardy down to 3C. Propagation and planting Bambusa vulgaris is easy to propagate vegetatively, by clump division, by rhizome, stem and branch cuttings, by layering and by tissue culture. Rhizome cuttings (offsets) give good results when taken from 12-year-old stems, but cutting damages the mother clump and rhizome cuttings are not convenient for large-scale plantations. The easiest and most practised propagation method is by stem or branch cuttings. In the Philippines best results have been obtained with one-node cuttings from the lower parts of 6-month-old stems, planted horizontally in moist soil at about 20 cm depth. Treating cuttings with a 100 ppm solution of the growth hormone indole butyric acid improved results. Planting is recommended during the late rainy season and at a spacing of 612 m 612 m. In Cte dIvoire 2-node cuttings are recommended, planted obliquely in the soil with the upper part emerging. The easy vegetative propagation of Bambusa vulgaris explains its often apparently wild occurrence: clumps may establish from pieces of stems used for poles, fences, props, stakes and posts set on river banks for mooring boats.

1, young shoot; 2, stem leaf; 3, leafy branch; 4, upper part of leaf sheath; 5, flowering branchlet; 6, spikelet.

culm sheath