How to Maintain Bamboo Stands?
- Clean the bamboo clumps to facilitate growth development of new shoots and the production of good quality poles. Two ways of cleaning bamboo clumps.
- Horse-shoe pattern – clean the clumps in such a way that the uncut culms will form a horse-shoe pattern.
- Cross pattern – remove all the culms within the cross pattern.
- Remove the spiny branches.
- If rats abound in the area, apply rodenticides at the base of the clumps. Distribute the bait around the plantation.
- Remove dry leaves and branches or anything that easily burns around the plantation to prevent fire
How to Harvest the Bamboo Poles?
- Cut only the 2 to 3 year old culms during the dry season.
- Cut culms near the ground about one-node above the ground to maximize the utilization of quality portions.
Two ways of harvesting:
- Selective culms harvesting – cut only the over mature, defective, and few mature culms to allow wider space for the development of shoots.
- Clear cut harvesting – cut all culms in a clump.
Reminders:
- When harvesting bamboo poles during the wet season, cut only the mature ones (2-3 years old). Do not remove the poles immediately from the clump.
- Prevent the cut portion from getting in contact with the soil to avoid moisture absorption.
- Leave the newly cut poles for 3-4 weeks until all leaves had wilted and had been detached from the twigs and branches. This will allow the poles to consume all the starch contents, thus preventing the attack of powder post beetles. If this will not be done, the beetles would feed on the starch content of the bamboo poles.
Source:
ILARRDEC Farm Primer No. 02/2008
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD)