The Bamboo Ranch

[adam]

The view

The Bamboo Ranch

Tucson, Arizona

Just like anyone who makes fly rods from bamboo, we all have more than a passing interest in it. Each time I see a little clump of bamboo here or there, I'm always thinking to myself, "Will this work?" and I look at the structure of the culm. Is it hollow? Can I get the proper length of number of strips? What are the nodes like? Are the branches out of the nodes too invasive? Is the inter-nodal length useful? How dense are the powerfibers? There are a lot of things to think about and each time I see any bamboo, those thoughts start to swirl around.

I enjoy goofing around with this web site and often I'll just place a link I found surfing around online here to share what I've found. I put in a search in google for Arundinaria amabilis and came up with quite a return. I started running down the results and came accross many bamboo enthusiasts and all the bamboo fly rod makers who have web sites and place the lovely reeds name in their content. I was reading a source page where I could find bamboo to grow and voila, there was a nursery in Arizona!

So I called and made an appointment to visit. You can find the content online yourself at this link, that's how I found out about it. Anyway, Tucson is a two hour drive South of Phoenix. I finally got a little time and made the drive this weekend. I was greeted by Matt and I told him my interest in bamboo and why I was there. Matt asked me if I had the book, I assumed he meant "Angler's Bamboo" of which I recieved my own copy from Mrs. Demerest. He said, "That's the one!" and we proceeded to talk about the attributes of Arundinaria Amabilis or otherwise known as Tonkin. One of the things I found interesting as we stood there in his bamboo grove was that I actually owned more Tonkin than he did. We laughed about it and I was thinking to myself, "Well, Shay has a lot more of it than I do..." I really hope to get Mike (you too MGJ) down to the Bamboo Ranch just to see the other types of bamboo.

We began the "tour" through the grounds on a little path that winded around the property. Each type of bamboo was identified by a little metal sign and I was free to take images at my will. He identified two major types of bamboo, running and clumping, it was a discription of how the bamboo spreads. As we walked through and talked about each type of bamboo, Matt would talk about how each plant was used and in it's indigenous country. We talked of bamboo scaffolding, poles for vaulting in the old days, scalpels and of a compression test of 40 - 50 thousand pounds on Bambusa tuldoides...

I asked him if there were other species of bamboo that would have the same characteristics of Tonkin and he spoke of Sinobambusa gigantea of which he had a young run. We took a look at some of the poles that he had stored as well. There are many species that will work for making bamboo fly rods, one must simply decide on which plant to start with and work from there.

One of the reasons why I was there was to grow my own bamboo back at home. Matt told me that bamboo grows easily in Arizona and that I should have no problem growing Tonkin. Bamboo likes warm weather and the major limiting factor in growing bamboo to full maturity is cold. Each of the species on the property were tagged with the coldest temperatures that they could survive. I was given the run down on how to take care of planting and caring for bamboo.

After the tour, I purchased a t-shirt made of 100% bamboo and Matt gave me a hat with their logo. It was a very enjoyable visit and I will go back next time to purchase my plant very soon after I decide which ones that I want to grow at home.

Matt, thank you very much for the enjoyable morning talking about one of my favorite subjects.


Bambusa malingensis - Bambusa Multplex - Bambusa ventricosa - Bambusa tuldoides - culm


Bambusa textilis - node - powerfibers - Phyllostachys nigra punctata - culm


Bambusa dolichomerithalla - Bambusa sp. aff. oldhamii - culm - Bambusa textilis gracilis - clump


Otatea aztecorum aztecorum - Bambusa oldhamii - Phyllostachys aurea - clump - Dendrocalamus strictus


Bambusa dissimulator - Bambusa chungii barbellata - Bambusa balcooa - Bambusa oldhamii - Sinobambusa gigantea


Bambusa boniopsis - Bambusa textilis glabra - Bambusa dolichoclada - Bambusa oldhamii - Bambusa malingensis



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[mems]

Howzit, at least green harvest goin leave em alone!

[adam]

Hey brah, I like looking for a good time, driving around your place for dis park an I found one kine little stream.

Hirose boo, eet come from beeg island, don't know eef dat de one, culm no same, leef no look like, maybe Blowpipe, no figgah, cool do.

Bet you know where eh?

[aguafria]

v. cool.
what's the hat look like?

[adam]

Bamboo t-shirts are really neat. You can't compare the material to t-shirt material, it just isn't the same. Bamboo is more silkier but silk does not stretch and the bamboo material does. The shirts have a "silky" feel to them, really neat.

I would consider growing a bit in your back yard if you are interested in such things. I would not grow the running kind of which Arundinaria is, I would stick with a clumper and there are many kinds of clumpers suitable for making a fly rod.

Matt at Bamboo Ranch knows a lot more about what we want now yet I would still suggest that you make the decisions, his expertise is in a different area than ours, we are intensly focused on the qualities of a fly rod where as his focus is more broad. That does not take away, in anyway his knowledge. We are looking at one specie through a microscope where as he has the Hubble pointed on the whole bamboo planet...

[aguafria]

I would like an 80' tall uniform walk through grove in my backyard.
I like the hat and the ranch. one day I'll check it out.

[canerodscom]

Adam,

Don't bother with the gigantea. It grows wild all over the place here, with some patches being dozens of acres in size. It doesn't make a decent rod. Ask me how I know that!! Hit it with heat, and the oil oozes out through the enamel. It's so oily I don't know how you'd ever keep your tools clean.

I actually have a large (2-3 acre) plot of tonkin bamboo growing nearby. For several years I have planned to harvest some and try to make a rod from it for fun, but have not done so. Harvesting and processing bamboo is hard work. First one cuts the bamboo a few inches above the ground, then trims the top at about 15-18 feet. Then one hauls it to the shop. Then you must immediately remove the waxy outer coating which takes rolls of Scotchbrite and many gallons of water. Next comes months of sunning to get it from green to straw colored. Then you store it a year or two to let it age. Too much work for me.

While I know buying a few bales of bamboo eats up a good chunk of change, after having harvested and processed some bamboo myself the price seems much more reasonable.

Harry

[Troutgetter]

Hi Harry...
I hope you're staying dry and ol Gustav isn't playing he*l with you!

You have to understand that AZ is like only a few places on earth. It's not like LA! I don't mean Los Angeles!LOL
Here we welcome ANYTHING that can grow and survive. If it appears green, all the better!

It WOULD be fun to grow something useable here but I don't think Adam is under any illusion that he can actually make a rod from it. When I first moved here I thought the same thing. Bamboo here is growable AND controllable because there is no water. It doesn't much matter what type of bamboo you plant, if it has no water it won't grow beyond those boundaries. So no need to dig trenches and line them and do all the things most have to do to keep it from encroaching on your neighbors property. Just don't give them a drink! It grows fast, provides shade, hides your neighbors junk, and looks just damn cool! At least I think so.
I checked into growing tonkin here when I first moved in. It would "probably" do OK most of the year but temps get down to intolerable in winter here so I never tried. Besides a proper plant was upwards of a 100 bucks shipped if and when it was available.
Apparently Bong quality bamboo does grow here but I really wouldn't know.
Also, as a side note, bamboo is one of the ONLY things that can grow here that doesn't have 2" thorns on it or poisonous. Just a bonus kind of thing!
I'm thinking he's doing it for fun more than anything else.

[adam]

No illusions at all, I'll leave that to Richard Bach.

Mike, what you just wrote is exactly, almost to the "T" what the bamboo guy said. Water is the barrier, if there is no water, there is no growth.

I've sourced Arundinaria amabilis for about $40 for a gallon size plug (delivered) and I'll start with that and probably Weavers or Punting Pole for fun. I'm glad you have steered me away from the gigantia because that is one of my choices, I still may plant it for aesthetics, it is so beautiful, all of it is.

Harry wrote his reply (I wanted the crowd knowledge) at Clarks forum and I asked him to tell the story here so that those of us who visit this place would know.

All good friends, take care.

[canerodscom]

Adam,

I expanded a little on what I had posted at Clark's. When this hurricane is over, I'll take some pictures of local bamboo and post 'em for you guys.

Harry