Bamboo’s reputation refuted at society’s meeting
Members of the New Zealand Bamboo Society which met in Hamama last Sunday. Photo: Ina Holst.
If you ever thought of bamboo as just another noxious weed, a chat with a member of the New Zealand Bamboo Society can be true eye-opener.
Bamboo aficionados met at a Hamama property for the society’s AGM last Sunday. The nationwide society has over 60 members with various interests in the versatile plant, and who alternate their meetings around the country.
Member Nicki Higgie from Wanganui said that bamboo’s bad reputation was unjustified and was mainly due to the planting of the wrong species in the wrong place.
“There are two main groups: the bamboo that grows in clusters, and the running one, which can be weedy but can also be quite easily managed by digging a ditch around it to contain its spread,” Nicki said. “To me bamboo is a wonderful sustainable resource that can be used for building, paper, fibre and crafts. Clothing from bamboo is really taking off in New Zealand. In comparison, cotton is a very demanding crop, and bamboo is so much kinder on the environment.”
Taxonomists estimate the number of different bamboo species at approximately 1,300. All of these have different growing habits, requirements and uses.
The clumpers have been described as well behaved, and generally spread slowly in circles around the original plant. The running types, however, can be extremely invasive. Their rhizomes can travel long distances underground, coming up metres away from the original plant, and can give rise to many more spreading rhizomes along their length. These running types should only be planted in areas where they are restricted by mechanical means, such as dense plastic barriers, corrugated iron or even running water.
Helen Bracefield has been a passionate grower of many varieties of bamboo on her property for over 25 years, saying “Bamboo has been used throughout Asia for 5000 years. It is a sustainable timber source, and is used for sewerage pipes in Java or for scaffolding. It’s lovely for cattle, not only for providing shelter and shade, but it is very high in protein.”
Scott Hall from Oregon, an expert on the removal of bamboo, said that University of Oregon studies had shown confirmed bamboo’s protein levels at 20 to 25 per cent. “Normal animal feed only has 6 per cent.”
Bamboo has other eco-credentials. It is fast growing and can be harvested continually. Bamboo is also effective at sequestering carbon, absorbing as much as 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year and, depending on species, has a large biomass production, varying between 50 and 100 tons per ha per year. It is also used effectively in erosion control as the rhizomes and roots bind the topsoil.
Bamboo furniture and screen-maker Mark Mortimer gave the plant’s main uses in New Zealand as predominantly shelter and shelter belts, erosion control and reforestation, landscaping (ornamental planting, screening, ground cover, hedging, dramatic tropical effects), animal fodder, waste-water treatment, timber substitute, flagpoles, timber, structural members, furniture and crafts. His informative website can be found at <www.bambusero.co.nz>.
Ina Holst
