Bamboo, a Wonder Plant
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
My fascination and interest in bamboo is a big part of my square watermelon heritage. When I moved to Vancouver, B.C. one of the sights that immediately grabbed my attention was a small bamboo grove growing outdoors.
Now, my interests in this plant (actually, a grass) was life long. In the tropics they can grow to over the height of a 10-storey building and up to a foot in diameter. They are used for local building materials, making rafts, etc. My fun memories of this wonderful plant are, as teenagers, we “burst” bamboo around the Christmas holidays.
“Bursting” bamboo is the name we gave to creating canons out of bamboo lengths (5-6 feet long). Booming sounds can be heard as the various neighborhood teens competed to create the loudest sounds. You may say that it’s the equivalent to today’s firecrackers and neighborhood fireworks – only ours was “organic.” ?
It is an extraordinary plant. Here are some facts:
• The strongest growing woody plant on earth. Its weight-to-strength ratio is compared to that of steel and graphite.
• It is the fastest growing plant – some species can grow up to 48 inches in 24 hours.
• Its shoots are used as vegetables in cooking in many Asian cultures.
• Modern uses involve making of flooring (that compete with hardwoods such as oak) in strength and appearance.
For more info, you may use a search engine - google or yahoo – and search using keywords as “bamboo uses”, “decorative bamboo” or “bamboo facts”.
For the more serious reader (yes, bamboo could be a serious sub-industry as well as it could create many fun-growing ventures) you may want to look at the American Bamboo Society web site (http://www.americanbamboo.org/ ) which is very comprehensive on this topic – its uses, ornamentation, as an indoor or outdoor plant, etc.
On another post, I would like to go a bit deeper into this subject because, really, it is a wonder plant. In my next post I’ll talk a little more about my experiences with bamboo in the west coast of Canada.
‘til then…
Maurice | Grow Your Own Square Watermelon
