Travel Report March 2002 - 2

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ACIAR Project No. FST/2000/127

Improving and maintaining productivity of bamboo for quality timber and shoots in Australia and the Philippines

Travel Report

Julianne Hartmann

Philippines 23 February – 7 March 2002

Harvest and use of Bambusa blumeana in the Philippines

ACIAR is funding a 3-year joint Philippine - Australian bamboo   research project headed by David Midmore of the Queensland Central   University. There are commercial partners in both countries. As one of   the commercial partners, I was invited to attend the 1st year progress   meeting in the Philippines during late February and early March   2002.What a fantastic opportunity, 5 solid days of bamboo in another   country. It was a great trip made even better by the incredible   hospitality and humour of our hosts.

The main bamboo used in the Philippines is their native Bambusa   blumeana (Kawayan tinik). For those of you unfamiliar with this species,   it grows to about 20m, is about 10 to 12 cm in diameter and is a   thorny, spiky beast with branches coming right down to the base. Its   common name in English is Giant thorny bamboo. We saw forests of   blumeana rolling up and over the hills. To my eye it has a bizarre   growth habit, with most of the branches in the bottom 3 meters. The   scientists over there tell me that this is a response to the regular   typhoons. The branches and thorns at the base tie the clump together so   that it protects the younger culms in the typhoon season.

This of course makes clump management a nightmare because you can’t   de-branch without destabilizing the clump. To harvest the poles, the   technique is to use a bamboo mat and a ladder to climb above the thorns.   The poles are harvested at about 3m leaving the bases of the pole   untouched. These poles are used for just about everything. As a timber   bamboo it is really impressive. It is quite thin-walled, splits like a   dream, but can still be nailed without splitting. It seems to be   (naturally) fairly borer resistant. Whole culms are used for building   houses, rafts, shed etc while the splits are used for fencing,   furniture, wall, panels, baskets, mats and so on and on. The standard of   work is exceptional. Often in Asia you will see bamboo everything that   has obviously just been banged together, without much thought other than   its immediate function. Not so in the Philippines, even the simplest   fences have the nodes arranged in patterns. Lovely to see bamboo used   with such care and pride.

The pole bases are harvested separately. To harvest these, the clump   is de-branched and then almost completely clear-felled. This means that   the clump is out of action for a few years, so only a few clumps are   harvested for the bases. The base poles are used for furniture legs and   anything else that needs the extra strength.

As a total bamboo craft nut, the highlight of the trip for me was to   really explore the crafts. We visited bamboo manufacturers and saw   techniques that I’ve only ever read about. I had a weaving lesson and   learned to use a Bolo (the wicked looking machete-like tool that is used   for everything from harvest to fine splitting).

On one of the field trips we had a bush lunch that featured Jungle   Chook cooked in a bamboo culm. Here’s the recipe and technique.

1 piece of bamboo culm 3 to 5 years of age, cut about 5cm below the node and open at the other end. 30cm is a good length.
  1 banana leaf.
  A large handful of lemongrass.
  Several chunks of ginger.
  1 Jungle Chook chopped into chunks.

Get a good fire going with plenty of coals. Stuff the chook, lemon   grass and ginger into the bamboo and seal by stuffing the banana leaf in   the top. Scrape a pile of coals to one side of the fire and stand the   culm upright in the coals. The trick is to keep the coals glowing around   the bamboo without setting fire to it. The jungle chook was cooked for 3   hours but that was because they are tough, stringy beasts. The amazing   thing is that there is no moisture added but the bamboo gives off enough   juice (and flavour) to make the whole thing a soup.

For the vegetarians amongst us, this technique works really well with   any mix of veges. Curries are particularly good and they only take 45   minutes or so.

Happy bamboo feasting
  Julianne Hartmann from Mullumbimby Bamboo