Bamboo

[GaryD]

Hi,

Recently, we've begun to explore planting bamboo on our place.

Our first planting (Gigantochloa wrayii) was across the front fence line - to screen traffic noise, dust and light spill.

Today, we visited a place called Bamboo Down Under - on the way to Mt Tamborine. We bought several Chinese Dwarf bamboo to screen morning sun and neighbours from the proposed farm kitchen section of our new pergola set up. Jan also bought a thing called Gigantochloa maxima......which eventually gets to be about 10m high.

A little googling reveals some very interesting things about bamboo.


Gary

[grassroots]

Hi Gary

I've noticed you put this post in fodder crops. Do you intend to feed it to any of your livestock?

[GaryD]

Hi Grassroots,

I read that some species of bamboo are good for cattle fodder but, other than that, my choice of forum was based on the fact that we don't have one for plants that look good and have dozens of uses......yet!

Gary

[Hofmann]

I remember thinking what a brilliant idea it was to plant bamboo in that ditch on the creek st blog. Whilst I've no doubt there are many other uses, as a building material it has no equal. Super strong, super light, super flexible and very attractive. Grows like crazy and you don't even have to mill it down. When I left school I was a scaffolder for a number of years and I always wanted to have a go at the bamboo scaffolds in asia but at $1 a day, there was going to be a pay dispute, possibly leading to union involvement.
Anyway, the only thing that's stopped me putting it to clients as a possible material is I don't really know how to make joins. It doesn't seem to like to be drilled or screwed as it splits easy which I gather is why they tie it. It seems like it would be perfect to make those domed green houses and pergolas would look great in it. Of course you have to be carefull of the variety. The running ones that take over your whole yard, and the neighbours yard, are what gave it a bad name in the first place. My parents spent thousands when I was a kid trying to get rid of some and never really won the battle. I shudder to think what they put in that yard. Agent orange probably would have been under consideration by the end.

[GaryD]

Hi Dan,

I remember thinking what a brilliant idea it was to plant bamboo in that ditch on the creek st blog. Whilst I've no doubt there are many other uses, as a building material it has no equal. Super strong, super light, super flexible and very attractive. Grows like crazy and you don't even have to mill it down.

We've only discovered bamboo relatively recently but we're already in love with it.

When I left school I was a scaffolder for a number of years and I always wanted to have a go at the bamboo scaffolds in asia but at $1 a day, there was going to be a pay dispute, possibly leading to union involvement.

About 10 years ago, Jan and I visited Hong Kong and Singapore. I remember looking out of our hotel window one afternoon and seeing a bunch of building workers on a vacant allotment alongside of the hotel......about ten stories below.

About 3.00am the next morning, I was awakened by a noise outside of the window and, as I swung the curtains back, I came face-to-face with a person erecting a bamboo scaffold......right outside the window. The second surprise was that the scaffolder was a woman.

She was part of a team of women that was building the scaffolding. I enquired the next day......they are very quick and the whole thing is tied together.....not a scaffold clamp in sight. Oh.....and no safety harness.....or OH&S representatives and no union disputes.

Anyway, the only thing that's stopped me putting it to clients as a possible material is I don't really know how to make joins. It doesn't seem to like to be drilled or screwed as it splits easy which I gather is why they tie it. It seems like it would be perfect to make those domed green houses and pergolas would look great in it.

I have yet to make anything from bamboo (other than tomato trellises) but I've seen photos of bamboo structures made by Japanese craftsmen that suggests that it is very versatile.

Of course you have to be carefull of the variety. The running ones that take over your whole yard, and the neighbours yard, are what gave it a bad name in the first place. My parents spent thousands when I was a kid trying to get rid of some and never really won the battle. I shudder to think what they put in that yard. Agent orange probably would have been under consideration by the end.

We bought clumping varieties.....and, so far, they are performing beautifully.

Gary

[Hofmann]

If you could get some of that giant stuff that ends up 100mm diam. or better you could do some amazing stuff. It looks like your projects are going to be fairly ongoing so a free versatile building material would come in very handy. Heres a video on the knot. By the way, bamboo could make for some attractive bracing on your pergola.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4807673_ti...ese-knots.html

[Hofmann]

way better knots here
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8749775/ba...s-and-lashings

[Hofmann]

Here's some full details on how to build a structure with it.
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/earthqua...boo/Bamboo.htm

[drewb]

if you are interested in different bamboo's I went and visited these guys and was blown away with the choices and colours.
http://www.bambooland.com.au

i have bought a ghost gray and a baby buddha. we have plans later to get one of the 100mm dia varieties latter on.

cheers Drew and Bec

[DaveOponic]

This is a geodesic dome I am making to cover my swimming pool to keep leaves out.... bamboo leaves mostly that border one end of the pool. The finished diameter will be about 4 metres, so this photo is the top one third of the dome.

The black ag pipe forms the dome structure. Pipe is not strong enough on its own to support the weight so I have attached bamboo with cable ties. I intend to cover it with either shade cloth or plastic sheet.

Dave