harvesting Wild harvested bamboo stakes

[suchen]

There happens to be a nice thick stand of bamboo at the river's edge behind my apartment. I just cut a dozen sturdy poles to use as stakes for my potted plants. Are fresh green stakes too likely to attract fungus and insects? Are there any other considerations for using fresh cut bamboo?

 

[Sawyer]

One corner of my property is overrun with Golden Bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea.  I use it frequently for poles and trellises and find it very serviceable.  The one thing you want to be sure of is that you are using canes that are at least one year old.  Fresh canes, even if they're big/tall enough, haven't had time to lignify sufficiently to make good stakes.  I've never noticed any problems with fungus or insects and I've also never had trouble with them rooting (unlike a willow pole).  I assume you'll be trimming the leaves off of them so you'll be using bare poles?

 

[oldsalty]

I prefer my steaks from beef

Ohh you said stakes

My bad!

 

[suchen]

One corner of my property is overrun with Golden Bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea.  I use it frequently for poles and trellises and find it very serviceable.  The one thing you want to be sure of is that you are using canes that are at least one year old.  Fresh canes, even if they're big/tall enough, haven't had time to lignify sufficiently to make good stakes.  I've never noticed any problems with fungus or insects and I've also never had trouble with them rooting (unlike a willow pole).  I assume you'll be trimming the leaves off of them so you'll be using bare poles?

 
Thanks! I have indeed chopped off the leaves. The bumps left behind by the sprouting leaves are properly useful! Help keep the cable ties right where I want them. There are a mix of fresh green thicker poles and slender dry yellow poles. Will report back if anything strange happens.
 
 

I prefer my steaks from beef

93683.jpeg Ohh you said stakes

images-121.jpeg
My bad!

 
 
Moo.

 

[Justaguy]

I have access to several groves and harvest when needed. I use them fresh, but generally I only cut them 3 or 4 feet long.

 

[CAPCOM]

There happens to be a nice thick stand of bamboo at the river's edge behind my apartment. I just cut a dozen sturdy poles to use as stakes for my potted plants. Are fresh green stakes too likely to attract fungus and insects? Are there any other considerations for using fresh cut bamboo?

As far as I know, only alligators when cutting them.

 

[suchen]

As far as I know, only alligators when cutting them.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

I used to harvest them to make cane poles and fish ponds  

 

[Sawyer]

I prefer my steaks from beef

93683.jpeg Ohh you said stakes

images-121.jpeg
My bad!

 
There is a Vietnamese family around here somewhere who used to show up about this time every spring and ask to cut the new shoots.  Sometimes they'd give me $5 or $10, sometimes I'd say just take them.  They were doing me a favor.  One year the matriarch came back with a couple of containers of whatever dishes it was they made from them.  One had beef and one was vegetarian.  To this day I remember those as some of the best Asian food I've ever had.  One year a helper and I cut 60# of about foot-long shoots, cleaned and bagged them in 10# lots in Walmart bags.  Went to town and sold out by the third Asian restaurant at $1.50/lb.
 

Thanks! I have indeed chopped off the leaves. The bumps left behind by the sprouting leaves are properly useful! Help keep the cable ties right where I want them. There are a mix of fresh green thicker poles and slender dry yellow poles. Will report back if anything strange happens.

 
What did you cut them with?  If you use loppers you can really tell the difference between the year-old or older ones (hard to cut) and the new growth (cuts very easily).  I've found using fast-twitch muscles works better than trying to cut them with brute strength.
 
I'm still searching for the best way to lash them together to make a trellis.  Even with the bumps, cross pieces tend to slip for me.
 

I have access to several groves and harvest when needed. I use them fresh, but generally I only cut them 3 or 4 feet long.

 
Do you know what species you have?
 

As far as I know, only alligators when cutting them.

 
Fortunately mine are on higher ground.  It's still kind of creepy walking in amongst the grove.
 

I used to harvest them to make cane poles and fish ponds

 
I've thought of doing that commercially.  The poles, anyway; I'm not sure how you make a fish pond out of bamboo.

 

[CAPCOM]

 
Thanks! I have indeed chopped off the leaves. The bumps left behind by the sprouting leaves are properly useful! Help keep the cable ties right where I want them. There are a mix of fresh green thicker poles and slender dry yellow poles. Will report back if anything strange happens.
 
 
 
 
Moo.

what value of sun shade are you using?

 

[suchen]

I use a machete to knock them down. I like to let the heft of the blade do the work for me! However being inexperienced I definitely did take down a few younger ones. The walls were very thin on two or three poles. May have to replace those tomorrow evening.

 

[nzchili]

its no problem using them without letting them dry out.
I do it all the time.

 

[Sawyer]

I use a machete to knock them down. I like to let the heft of the blade do the work for me! However being inexperienced I definitely did take down a few younger ones. The walls were very thin on two or three poles. May have to replace those tomorrow evening.

 
If you're chopping them at an angle above ground, one thing to consider is that you're basically leaving behind punji sticks (minus the pit).  If they are in an area where kids play, consider chopping them below ground level.  Maybe you're already doing that.  The reason I use loppers is so I can cut them flat, flush with the ground.

 

[suchen]

No worries on that score Sawyer. This stand is right up against the fenceline of the property. One side is the river, the other side is a major roadway. No foot traffic.
 
 

what value of sun shade are you using?

 
It's a 30% cloth, but I have it doubled-over from the patio side toward the fence. Not sure if it truly doubles to 60%, but it does a great job! It protects the peppers from the sun after about 1 or 2 pm, and the tomatoes even earlier. The last few years all of the plants have been really distressed in the afternoon sun and brutal heat. The shade cloth has lowered the UV of course very nicely, and the temperature is around 3-5 degrees cooler. Haven't measured light levels or temperatures directly.