Bamboo

[fruity]

Wondering if anyone has tried or is growing Bamboo, primarily for the Rhineoserous horn-like 'shoots' that are used as a vegetable?

I know there are specialist growers with special strains of Bamboo, but would like to know more. The cone-like shoots, sell locally for between 40-60 baht per kilo. I am led to believe that these special strains of Bamboo will produce large volumes of shoots year-round & that it is quite a profitable exercise, requiring little time?

There is of course the added bonus of the Bamboo wood to sell when mature?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, my wife is keen to buy the young trees & fill up a 'wet' area of our land (former rice paddy) as she says Bamboo thrives in wet conditions? She has located a specialist grower / supplier & is keen to make a start.

Advice please.

[brahmburgers]

regarding selling bamboo when it's mature: there's a local farm here in northernmost that I go to for giant bamboo. Very cheap at 25 baht per length (I cut and haul it out). lengths are 5 to 7 meters and diameters up to 6 inches. As you may know, nothing grows well under bamboo - so once its established, it's the only gig in town. good luck and let us know how it progresses.

[chownah]

I planted some bamboo and made sure to find a place that was not too wet. This was a couple of years ago so I've forgotten exactly where I read that bamboo doesn't like too much wet.....maybe if you googled around you could verify if this is correct or not before you invest time and money into your project.

Chownah

[Somtham]

Wondering if anyone has tried or is growing Bamboo, primarily for the Rhineoserous horn-like 'shoots' that are used as a vegetable?

I know there are specialist growers with special strains of Bamboo, but would like to know more. The cone-like shoots, sell locally for between 40-60 baht per kilo. I am led to believe that these special strains of Bamboo will produce large volumes of shoots year-round & that it is quite a profitable exercise, requiring little time?

There is of course the added bonus of the Bamboo wood to sell when mature?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, my wife is keen to buy the young trees & fill up a 'wet' area of our land (former rice paddy) as she says Bamboo thrives in wet conditions? She has located a specialist grower / supplier & is keen to make a start.

Advice please.

My wife's uncle planted 2 rai last year on wgat used to be rice paddy. I went and talked with him today and he says the ones that produce the shoots year round are called "mai pai wan". He says you should start getting shoots after about 8-9 months and after a year should be cutting 20kg/day/rai. Around here they sell for B30/kg.

I don't have any experience but if you need more info I will go ask him. Just let me know.

rgds and good luck.

[fruity]

Wondering if anyone has tried or is growing Bamboo, primarily for the Rhineoserous horn-like 'shoots' that are used as a vegetable?

I know there are specialist growers with special strains of Bamboo, but would like to know more. The cone-like shoots, sell locally for between 40-60 baht per kilo. I am led to believe that these special strains of Bamboo will produce large volumes of shoots year-round & that it is quite a profitable exercise, requiring little time?

There is of course the added bonus of the Bamboo wood to sell when mature?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, my wife is keen to buy the young trees & fill up a 'wet' area of our land (former rice paddy) as she says Bamboo thrives in wet conditions? She has located a specialist grower / supplier & is keen to make a start.

Advice please.

My wife's uncle planted 2 rai last year on wgat used to be rice paddy. I went and talked with him today and he says the ones that produce the shoots year round are called "mai pai wan". He says you should start getting shoots after about 8-9 months and after a year should be cutting 20kg/day/rai. Around here they sell for B30/kg.

I don't have any experience but if you need more info I will go ask him. Just let me know.

Thanks for the input guys. Somtham, any more info you could get from your wifes uncle would be very much appreciated, especially, regarding the type of land / soil that suits the Bamboo best, also where did he obtain his plants? We are in Buriram, the supplier my wife has located (via a magazine ad) is in Supanburi (I think?). Thanks again. :-)

rgds and good luck.

[thedi]

I would also suggest that you double check about bamboo in wet places.

Recently I went to a river where the water is now down about 15 meters. The banks are grown over with bush, but bamboo is only on the top.

I also remember many very dry hills full of bamboo forest, but never any bamboo in a swamp.

On the other hand, we have some bamboo in the rice fields of my wife. But they are on a higher place, where there is also a shelter to rest.

Regards

Thedi

[Maizefarmer]

You get lots of varities of bamboo im Thailand - some like wet soil and some types like dry soil.

As for commerical value - haven't a clue, but can;t see you making much out of it unless you grow it on a large scale.

[chownah]

I would also suggest that you double check about bamboo in wet places.

Recently I went to a river where the water is now down about 15 meters. The banks are grown over with bush, but bamboo is only on the top.

I also remember many very dry hills full of bamboo forest, but never any bamboo in a swamp.

On the other hand, we have some bamboo in the rice fields of my wife. But they are on a higher place, where there is also a shelter to rest.

Regards

Thedi

This is sort of my experience too. I actually planted my main bamboo stand in rice land but I planted it in a section where we had a difficult time getting enough water there....it was a real hassle trying to get water there and the soil there is very sandy too so its not especially good for rice so the yields weren't all that good anyway so I keep it blocked off from the irrigation water and dug channels through the dyke on the low side to give good drainage of rain water and planted each seed culm on a mound about 1 metre in diametre and about 30 cm high. This was two years ago and they are doing fine. The culms are still not full size but the second year culms are bigger than the first year culms and I'm hoping that this years culms will be full size.....we'll see.

Maizefarmer mentions that some kinds like wet soil...I'm wondering if anyone knows the names of some of these varieties.

Chownah

Edited April 30, 2007 by chownah

[Somtham]

You get lots of varities of bamboo im Thailand - some like wet soil and some types like dry soil.

As for commerical value - haven't a clue, but can;t see you making much out of it unless you grow it on a large scale.

MF - at 20kg per day per rai selling for B30/kg that's B18,000/month/rai. Not a bad income for 1 rai of land. Convert a 15 rai paddy and you're looking at B270,000/month.

Hey, maybe I should try this!! :-)

rgds

[Somtham]

Thanks for the input guys. Somtham, any more info you could get from your wifes uncle would be very much appreciated, especially, regarding the type of land / soil that suits the Bamboo best, also where did he obtain his plants? We are in Buriram, the supplier my wife has located (via a magazine ad) is in Supanburi (I think?). Thanks again. :-)

rgds and good luck.

Went back over to the house today but the uncle wasn't around. His daughter said he bought the plants locally for B25 each and they were less than a meter tall. Price has gone up B5 so they are now selling for B30. He just took part of his rice paddy and built up the soil. The mai pai wan does not like standing water so I wouldn't plant them where the drainage isn't good.

rgds

[Maizefarmer]

You get lots of varities of bamboo im Thailand - some like wet soil and some types like dry soil.

As for commerical value - haven't a clue, but can;t see you making much out of it unless you grow it on a large scale.

MF - at 20kg per day per rai selling for B30/kg that's B18,000/month/rai. Not a bad income for 1 rai of land. Convert a 15 rai paddy and you're looking at B270,000/month.

Hey, maybe I should try this!! :-)

rgds

I don't think the 20kg p/rai figure is an ongoing figure - and I do know that the Baht 30 p/kg is restricted to certain types at certain stages of growth (i.e. certain lengths and diameters) - the sort of stuff that is used in furniture construction - and that takes some time to grow. Those types of plantations also require maintanence which means labour. The figure you give is a gross figure - and takes into consideration no expenses (e.g. labour, maintanence, land cost ec ect ... ), after which your nett will be siginificantly lower. Also bamboo has a natural die off period, during which time it doesn;t grow at all.

Yer - by all means give it a try - I could be completly wrong

MF

[Somtham]

I don't think the 20kg p/rai figure is an ongoing figure - and I do know that the Baht 30 p/kg is restricted to certain types at certain stages of growth (i.e. certain lengths and diameters) - the sort of stuff that is used in furniture construction - and that takes some time to grow. Those types of plantations also require maintanence which means labour. The figure you give is a gross figure - and takes into consideration no expenses (e.g. labour, maintanence, land cost ec ect ... ), after which your nett will be siginificantly lower. Also bamboo has a natural die off period, during which time it doesn;t grow at all.

Yer - by all means give it a try - I could be completly wrong

MF

This is bamboo grown to sell the bamboo shoots, ngaw mai, not for sale of the bamboo wood. Unlike some species of bamboo that only sprout shoots once a year this mai pai wan is supposed to send up shoots all year round.

As for giving it a try I'll wait another 6 months to see if the 20kg/day is reality with the uncles plot. Most of the rice paddy around here is 15 rai plots so if B270k per month is real........why are people still growing rice?

An aunt harvested 12 rai of paddy last week and got 10 tons of rice that she sold for B5400/ton. She probably spent B25k-30k for rototilling, seed, someone to plant the seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and harvesting. So lets say she put 54k-25k = 29k in her pocket for 4 months work or B7,250/month. I have all the respect in the world for the Thai rice farmers. They work hard, long days and get paid a pitance. Why do they do it if they copuld plant some bamboo and wait a year? Maybe a subject for a new thread.

rgds

[Maizefarmer]

See told you I didn't know my arse from my elbow on this subject.

hel_l if thats the comparison with rice - bin the rice and grow bamboo - it's a no brainer that one.

MF

[Somtham]

hel_l if thats the comparison with rice - bin the rice and grow bamboo - it's a no brainer that one.

MF

yeh, so why aren't they binning the rice? I don't get it. Maybe the resident antagonist has some input on this subject.

rgds

PS - are you still in the states? Don't you sleep?

[Maizefarmer]

Neg - I'm back - I got back on Saturday morning - absolutely knackered - but will get back to routine today or tommorrow. Just don't have the energy I had before my fight with the combine.

Yer - why aren't they binning rice?

MF

[Khonwan]

I have 1 rai of bamboo (planted some 10 years ago; I don't know what type) - my wife tells me she can only harvest shoots for eating for 1-2 months per year. She says that Mai Pai Wan is similar. She believes, however, that Mai Pai Tong ("straight") can be harvested throughout the year, with the downside that it fetches a lower price than Mai Pai Wan.

Rgds

Khonwan

[Tim207]

Neg - I'm back - I got back on Saturday morning - absolutely knackered - but will get back to routine today or tommorrow. Just don't have the energy I had before my fight with the combine.

Yer - why aren't they binning rice?

MF

I am sure all the travel isn't helping much. It takes me several days to get over the US-Thailand flight.

[Somtham]

I have 1 rai of bamboo (planted some 10 years ago; I don't know what type) - my wife tells me she can only harvest shoots for eating for 1-2 months per year. She says that Mai Pai Wan is similar. She believes, however, that Mai Pai Tong ("straight") can be harvested throughout the year, with the downside that it fetches a lower price than Mai Pai Wan.

Rgds

Khonwan

Interesting. I'll have to have another talk with uncle and do a run over to his plot. How much does the mai pai trong shoots sell for?

rgds

[Khonwan]

I have 1 rai of bamboo (planted some 10 years ago; I don't know what type) - my wife tells me she can only harvest shoots for eating for 1-2 months per year. She says that Mai Pai Wan is similar. She believes, however, that Mai Pai Tong ("straight") can be harvested throughout the year, with the downside that it fetches a lower price than Mai Pai Wan.

Rgds

Khonwan

Interesting. I'll have to have another talk with uncle and do a run over to his plot. How much does the mai pai trong shoots sell for?

rgds

She mentioned around 20 baht per kg.

[Lickey]

We had some bamboo shoots at somkran family get together, 50bht 1 kilo, perhaps high price because of new year?? Mrs tells me these 1s are called Mai Pai Rueg, or a thai word that sounds like that,this is the small stemmed variety 2" max dia, and if you want to irrigate all year, they will shoot all year, in this area of Issan, they are usually on the sides of rice paddies, helping them produce all year.

Cheers, Lickey..

[Khonwan]

We had some bamboo shoots at somkran family get together, 50bht 1 kilo, perhaps high price because of new year?? Mrs tells me these 1s are called Mai Pai Rueg, or a thai word that sounds like that,this is the small stemmed variety 2" max dia, and if you want to irrigate all year, they will shoot all year, in this area of Issan, they are usually on the sides of rice paddies, helping them produce all year.

Cheers, Lickey..

That's what we grow, Lickey - I didn't know how to spell it either! Ours doesn't get any irrigation.

Rgds

Khonwan

[chownah]

I think this is the one you are referring to: Mai ruak -> Thyrsostachys siamensis Gamble. I've got some planted too...its hard to know for sure since sometimes local names mean different plants in different places. Anyway the one I've got planted has the edible shoots and has 2 or 3 inch diametre culms. It has very hard wood and is very strong for its size. The base of the culm which is often solid all the way through or with a very small diameter hole in the center is used for kabok handles...kabok being the same thing as job which is the standard heavy duty hoe used for digging....I planted mine to use for making gates in my fences and for tool handles...and of course to eat too....I'm also going to use some good stout culms for rafters on a shed roof spanning 2.5 metres....I might be able to up the span to 3 metres but I'll try 2.5 first.

Chownah

[fruity]

Thanks for all the interest guys & thanks to Somtham for the info. Yes, my wife has been 'harping on' for ages about getting a start with this. She already knew that 'mai pai wan' was the variety required; she tells me there is a never ending market for the shoots, price lower around 20-30 baht per kilo in the rainy season, up to she says 60 baht at certain times of the year. Unknown to me, she has done considerable homework on this & after discussing planting with a commercial grower, she tells me that we need to prepare the land so that we have raised mounds of soil where we plant the bamboo surrounded by furrows for water. Pardon the lack of correct terminology. This would suit our land very well. Weather permitting, we will most definately be preparing at least 1 rai as an experiment asap.

Regarding rice farming; I have always said that if these people were paid hourly for their back breaking work, they'd be hard pushed to get one baht per hour! Around here most people simply cannot stop, they have borrowed money in previous years of failed harvests & must keep slogging away each year to pay off a little of the debt, which never decreases. Rural Thai people are also very afraid of change, they have been planting rice for generations, staying dirt poor, but are content to do as Pa did before them.