Bamboo shoots

[jonnyscot]

3 weeks ago we started taking shoots from our first lot of sweet bamboo approx 2 rai (maybe just under that) which was planted just over a year back, we appear to be getting between 30 and 50 kg of shoots per week, not much, although the wife says that will increase as the shoots increase in diameter as the bamboo matures,, we started with the bamboo mainly to give me something to occupy my time, she's also another couple rai that should be good for picking the shoots from next year, it's something that the wife enjoys doing, so primarily it's not something we planned to make money from more from getting satisfaction of doing something, (in saying that we don't want to lose money), so naturally we're looking to maximise any additional income the wife can get from it,, so just wondering what experiences in bamboo shoots any of you have and whether preserving the shoots or selling as fresh cut would be the way to go?

It seems that when preserving the bamboo, you lose somewhere around 45 - 50% in weight as opposed to fresh cut but benefit from a much better kg price,, I know i'm talking small scale here but any input or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[tingtong]

if the price difference fresh vs. preserved is good enough to justify the extra time spend with the process, then i would suggest to shoot (pun intended!) for that!

if not, then obviously selling fresh is the way to go.

[jonnyscot]

Cheers tingling, just found out today it's currently here around 20thb kg fresh shoots sold to co op, around 30thb kg fresh direct to the local resteraunts usually sold in 10kg packs

I would be interested to find whether anyone has experienced the fluctuations in the prices at various times throughout the year and what the high/low prices are,,

as far as I can gather we are in low season now due to Thais going picking them in the wilds during the rain season.

To be honest a bit tingtong of me not researching all the costs "Before" planting the bamboo really but as I said the priority is to keep me active and give her something that she enjoys doing before thinking of any profits since the bamboo is also providing us with a nice natural screen around the area where we're building the house,,, she's also currently a couple hundred sticks bagged that she's taking plants off from the year old plants, I think she's selling those at 50 thb each price seems to be ok as she's sold some sticks already

[kickstart]

We grow some bamoo, this year we have had very little rain, we watered , + some rain,back in June, got 20 bart /Kg ,local guy coming to the house to buy.

Price soon dropped to 15 bart /Kg

Now the the rain has increased,the price has droped,now ,10- 12 bart /Kg,about the same as last year, the misses is now peeling, chopping,and selling it in small plastic water bottle's,as "Nor-mie-dong", fermented /salted bamoo ,a long job, and teadeis,and she gets 10 bart / bottle,never done it before, hope she dose not do it again.

I agree with ting thong selling fresh is the way to go,but the misses say's she can make more with "nor-mai-dong" ,if it keeps her happy so be it,did sell some fresh bamoo last week,12 Bart /Kg. misses said 15 Bart guy said no way,lot's about.

We make a big tub of fermented bamboo,for our own use,it will keep us going untill about June next year.

[jonnyscot]

Thanks for that update kickstart, I wondered whether my wife would have managed to get a slightly better price for the fresh shoots, but on your feedback looks as though she's lucky to be getting sold at that price, maybe the fresh shoots will drop in price more as we've had considerably more rain the last 2 days, before that we hadn't had much in the way of rain with us, how much fermented bamboo does your wife put in each bottle at that price?,

I think I know where you're coming from regarding the peeling, salting and bottling, certainly sounds tedious work for so little benefits.

The wife doesn't have much land where we're building at, but makes for much more attractive surroundings I think having bamboo growing around us,

Thanks again

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[kickstart]

Thanks for that update kickstart, I wondered whether my wife would have managed to get a slightly better price for the fresh shoots, but on your feedback looks as though she's lucky to be getting sold at that price, maybe the fresh shoots will drop in price more as we've had considerably more rain the last 2 days, before that we hadn't had much in the way of rain with us, how much fermented bamboo does your wife put in each bottle at that price?,

I think I know where you're coming from regarding the peeling, salting and bottling, certainly sounds tedious work for so little benefits.

The wife doesn't have much land where we're building at, but makes for much more attractive surroundings I think having bamboo growing around us,

Thanks again

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The bottttle's are full up ,they have to be, any space for the air ,the top drys out ,trying to sell the bottle's that do not look good, ( mie-saway,in Thai) will not be easy.all so, she has run out of bottle's, would you adam and eve it,think I willhave to vist our local recycleing center,for some more.

The price we have got over the past 2 years has not droped below 12 bart/kg ,this year ,for us it has been so dry not so much bamboo about price holding up,,but still about,t 2 more months of the rainy season ,thing could soon change.

We have bamboo around our house it dose make the surroundings better, but all the leaves get in the house gutters ,allways haveing to clean out the gutters.

All the best.good luck.

KS

[Mai Pai]

Last week farmers were selling Pai Dtong for 5bht/kilo wholesale, although most of the shoots were 2 - 3 kilos each. Shooting season always drops the price. Other varieties (Pai wan and Pai ruak) probably get more as they are smaller and require more work/kilo.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Mai Pai

[jonnyscot]

Hi Mai pai,, that seems to be quite a low price although our shoots are still small, I'm not certain but I think it's the pai dtong variety that the wife has most of,, what province are you in?

The end of last week we cut another 40 odd kgs and sent them to my wife's aunt for curing,, aunt will then send them in the plastic bin box when it's full to the buyer,, no idea how much she'll get per kg, but I'll post when I find out

Thanks

[loong]

Hi Mai pai,, that seems to be quite a low price although our shoots are still small, I'm not certain but I think it's the pai dtong variety that the wife has most of,, what province are you in?

The end of last week we cut another 40 odd kgs and sent them to my wife's aunt for curing,, aunt will then send them in the plastic bin box when it's full to the buyer,, no idea how much she'll get per kg, but I'll post when I find out

Thanks

Is pai dtong a variety of bamboo?

I thought that pai dtong is a salted and fermented bamboo shoot.

[jonnyscot]

Hi Loong,,, appologies I was just relaying the wife's pronounciation, hehe,,

I've checked on google search here's a better spelling of the type we have " phai tong luem laeng" looks like I missed adding in the last couple words,, sorry for the confusion

The salted cured bamboo appears to be called "nor mai dong"

Is pai dtong  a variety of bamboo? I thought that pai dtong  is a salted and fermented bamboo shoot.

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[murrinman]

pai dtrong is a variety of bamboo dtrong meaning straight pai leum laeng is a type which is fairly drought tolerant which can handle the hot season with out much care or water

[somo]

First time I have heard of anyone cultivating bamboo.

In our village it is considered to be free. Just go up in the hills and help yourself.

When in season the BIL goes up and collects about 20 kilos in a couple of ours.

He exchanges some for a few shots whisky and gives the rest to us.

Others do take it a bit more seriously and sell to a buyer who sells on etc so it is free money for the villagers or so they think as the idea of costing in their time gathering it hasn't really taken of just yet.

[jonnyscot]

Hi Somo, 20 kgs from the hills,,, not bad going, sounds like its plentiful in your area,, there's some to be found around our area that have been left to get out of control by some of the landowners, although don't think I'd risk picking them myself and risk a bullet up my behind,,

Seriously though, I've mostly been an active type o person

(although a lazy so and so by my own admission these last 3 odd weeks since coming back from our hols in sunny Scotland),,

but at the same time i'm not looking for something to be occupied 24/7, but I think with bamboo the option is there to do as much or as little as you want from aerating the ground around the shoots a little watering during dry season, fertilising, brush cutting until the younger plants get bigger, taking cuttings , also if we decide to take a holiday back to my home country then the bamboo can take care of itself for a few weeks without having to rely on someone else to look after the plants for us,, for something that I'm enjoying and at the same time making our surroundings more attractive my time is free..

[somo]

Hi jonnyscot
Funny how things go. Since talking to you here I have fallen into the bamboo biz in a small way.
We weren't looking to do anything but a couple here who take care of our farming made us a proposal.
They normally harvest the wild growing shoots and sell them on to a buyer for about 10 Baht/kilo.
Most people also keep a lot for themselves boiling it up and hanging it up in plastic bags. WE were offered it in this form at 15Baht/bag ie kilo.
You can see these bags of parboiled bamboo are for sale in markets for 40 Baht each - a nice mark up.
We now have 1000 bags ready for sale in just a week with no effort. We will turn these over to family in Bangkok to sell at their leasure and just to test out the whole biz. Theoretically it looks good as the bamboo will keep for ages and gets more pricey in the dry season.
Assuming all goes well we will set things up to do it larger scale next year.
Wether we ever get to that point will depend on the family members in Bangkok putting in the effort on the sales side which is a big IF!!
However there is the required profit margin to support the idea at least.

[jonnyscot]

Hi Somo, good to hear about that, certainly a good mark up for you,,

I'm assuming you're buying and selling the bamboo that's boiled in the bag?

the wife's aunt is selling locally, last week she was getting 40 to 45 baht per kg for the salted bamboo, selling in 10kg bags 400-450 baht per bag (a correction to my previous post when I said aunt sold the bamboo in plastic box)

.

The other type of bamboo we are growing I think is called bong wan (the type that don't contain cyanide), I believe is fetching around 60 to 65 baht per kg here for the fresh shoots at local market but the downside is it appears to have much slower growing shoots.

just checked our plants this morning, as I think I mentioned previously we've just a few rai, we planted about 200 last year that have developed into nice clumps, planted another 250 to 300 at the back end of the land this year which should hopefully start producing next year.

Looking at our wee set up, I think at the moment it's best to salt them since there's not yet quite enough shoots to pick a substantial quantity for market on a near daily basis and by waiting to pick fresh every 5 or 6 days it means some shoots are too big for fresh and wasted, whereby if salting them we can get away with picking slightly bigger shoots if picking every 5-6 days.

[jonnyscot]

My bad Somo,, I reread your post and see now you already mentioned boiled

Sorry, disregard my first paragraph question to you,,,

well done anyway and keep us posted, hopefully they sell like hotcakes

[somo]

Quick update.

Bought 200 bags with us to Bangkok and dumped them with various family members who are selling them through word of mouth for between 40 an 50 Baht each. They are all excited about it. My wife has been chatting to small shops etc in our soi ( she knows everyone here) and been taking orders for next time at 50 Baht.

Small time but all the ingredients seem to be there for a successful biz. As long as it really does keep for a long time in the bags there seems to be no reason it can't be most of the year round as well.

[jonnyscot]

As long as the bags are sealed properly I'd imagine it would keep for a few months, you surely have plenty of the wild bamboo at hand where you're location is, around here where I am most of the bamboo grown is managed, some for shoots others for selling the plants and some do both,,, anyway good to hear things look to be going in the right direction for you