Bamboo is a renewable resource but that implies that the bamboo harvested is being replaced either through natural growth and seeding or replanting.  The popularity of bamboo products has severely threatened bamboo populations worldwide.

Many bamboo species are already extinct from over harvesting and loss of habitat.  Other species are close to extinction.  Nature can’t adequately replenish bamboo forests.

There are two major types of bamboo, clumping and running.  Clumping bamboo can easily be planted in a planter or garden.  This type of bamboo spreads more slowly than running bamboo, only a few inches a year.  Clumping bamboo will grow in colder climates as well as milder climates.

Running bamboo grows faster and requires more room.  These plants can range in height from two feet to 100 feet depending on the species.  These plants usually require a temperate climate in which to grow.  Running bamboo spreads out and is more aggressive in its growth.

Although bamboo is a fast growing plant, many species don’t flower for 120 years.  Once it flowers, some species die off at the same time worldwide making planting from seeds highly impractical.

Boo-Shoot Gardens, a biotechnology company located in Mount Vernon, Washington, has developed a method of rapidly multiplying bamboo plants.  The company uses a special “tissue-culture science”.  That allows them to provide over one million plants annually to wholesalers. 

The technology is difficult to perfect since the wrong combination of salts, plant sugars, hormones, vitamins and other ingredients will kill rather than grow the tissue culture.  Boo-Shoot Gardens worked for seven years to get the formula right.

Bamboo is used for everything from flooring to clothing.  It’s popularity has soared in the past several years because it is seen as a “green” resource.  Unfortunately, as with many green resources, bamboo can be harvested out of existence if not properly monitored. 

A sustainable, renewable resource can cease to be both if the resource is used up quicker than it can be replenished.  Luckily, there is a method that will allow bamboo to be grown without having to rely solely on nature since man is depleting it quicker than nature can restore it.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm under Green Technology, Science and technology.

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