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Maintaing and Harvesting a Bamboo Grove by Joe Crookston July, 1998 footnotes by Daphne Lewis In January of 1997, I moved to Seattle, Washington, from my home in the Midwest. I moved into a house with Daphne Lewis and immediately the word "bamboo" became a regular part of my vocabulary. Daphne's excitement and passion for researching and understanding bamboo was clear and seemed to be contagious to those around her. In March of 1997, she asked me to help her take care of and harvest shoots from two bamboo groves in Kirkland, Washington. This article is a brief description of the work I've done, things I've noticed, and methods I've used in harvesting and maintaining the groves. The two henon groves are located on three acres half an hour east of Seattle. For the past 54 years, the owner and gardener has nurtured this land into a beautiful botanical oasis amidst the surrounding suburban development. The henon (Phyllostachys nigra v. henon) groves were planted in the mid 1960's. Since then they have increased in area to approximately 2,000 square feet with canes ranging between 2 and 3 inches in diameter. For research purposes, they have been named the "Driveway Grove" and the "North Grove". At 30 to 35 feet tall, these bright green canes with lush shimmering folliage lean gracefully and mysteriously into the surrounding gardens. When I first began working with Daphne in March of 1997, I did some weeding and minor clearing of the North Grove in preparation for the spring shoots soon to be emerging. I spent approximately two days a week from May 15 to June 15 harvesting shoots and recording data based on the yield. After the spring harvest in June of 1997, I spent significant time weeding and thinning the grove which was then partially overgrown with horsetails, morning glory, laurel trees (prunus laurocerasus), and many dense clusters of thin canes. In my work with Daphne and these groves, my main focus has been to clean up and maintain the North Grove in order to make it healthier, to make it more accessible, to produce larger quantities of edible shoots, and then to collect data regarding the yields of both groves. Maintenance of the North Grove has required thinning and clearing based on: 1) distance between canes, 2) cane diameter, 3) age of cane, and, 4) aesthetics of growth patterns within the grove. Our aim has been to create an average distance of 1.5 to 2 feet between canes(1) to maximize shoot production in the spring, and to ensure easy accessibility for maintenance and harvesting. It is easier to maneuver in and to harvest from a grove when canes are spaced sufficiently. While thinning the North Grove, I cut down many smaller densely clustered canes while leaving the larger ones uncut, thus increasing the average diameter of the remaining canes. (Take the small ones; leave the big ones!) I spent numerous days in Kirkland with a sharp pruning saw (folding style) and a small chain saw cutting out thin, densely clustered canes and dying laurels in order to open up space within the grove. Based on the data Daphne and I collected, even from the last year and a half, I have seen that thinning is essential to increasing harvest. I also spent time cutting lower branches(2) off the canes which made walking through and maintaining the grove much easier. Another aspect of maintenance was to increase moisture in the grove. I dug a ditch which collects water run-off from the slope and street surface surrounding the grove, and diverts it directly to the grove floor. This natural irrigation is an effective way to utilize this valuable water resource while decreasing the need for mechanical methods of irrigation. I also noticed that this one and a half foot deep ditch has provided an informal root barrier for the upper portion of the North Grove. It partially prevents rhizomes from spreading into the surrounding yard and garden. From a distance, the North Grove now has light to dark green foliage(3) perched upon a forest of ten foot branchless canes creating a shady but uncluttered look. Harvesting Bamboo Shoots If you are harvesting for personal, at-home consumption, a very sharp knife will suffice. Simply cut the shoot where it emerges from the ground, or just below if possible, and place it in a bucket containing fresh water...take them to the kitchen and make a feast! If you are harvesting shoots to be sold as fresh produce, as Daphne and I did, you will want to take a bit more time and care with harvesting. To maximize the edible portion of the shoot and to maintain the overall aesthetics of the shoot, I harvested with a 15 pound steel rock bar with a 3 inch blade at one end. With an electric grinder, I sharpened the blade of the rock bar until it was tapered and somewhat sharp to the touch. With the rock bar shaped and sharpened, I harvested by holding the bar vertical and slightly tapping the blade into the ground surrounding the desired shoot. I found that through this subtle tapping, I was able to locate the direction of the rhizome to which it was attached. When the rock bar hits the rhizome, the shoot bounces slightly. Once the direction of the rhizome was identified, I thrust the rock bar at a slight angle to the shoot, severing the shoot from the rhizome at the point where they attach. By doing this several times, it is usually possible to sever the shoot from the rhizome and pull it from the earth with primordial roots, bits of rhizome and dirt intact. This seems to me to be the ideal result. The entire shoot is completely intact and ready to be prepped. I placed the harvested shoots in a medium sized trash can with a bit of water to keep them fresh and out of the sun.(5) Sometimes the shoot will get sliced further up from the root system and although not ideal because some weight is lost, chances are it is still fine for prepping and market sale. After filling the trash can with varying sizes of tasty bamboo, I brought it to a work table containing: 1) the scale for weighing each shoot individually for data and then collectively for packing the produce box, 2) a clean cutting board, 3) a very sharp chef's knife, 4) a hose for cleaning shoots, and, 5) a bucket for waste.(6) I harvested all the shoots in one grove and prepared them at a work table before beginning the other grove. This allowed me to keep accurate data without confusion. I found preparing the shoots to be exciting and aesthetically pleasing. At the base of the shoot where it meets the roots and rhizomes, there are several rings of small red primordial roots. I think the roots look like pomegranite seeds. These emerging red roots form a necklace around the base of the shoot. Aesthetically speaking, I think it is ideal to cut the shoot just below, and parallel to the lowest ring of these primordial roots. I have observed that the bottom base of the prepared shoot is too tough for consumption if cut this low, but it seems to be a good way to keep the tender edible portion, just above it, from drying out during transport and while on the store shelf. I prepped the shoots aboult one half an inch below the edible region, so drying out during shipping would not affect the edible portion.(7)I think the ideal texture of the edible portion has the consistency of the inside of an unripe avocado: firm and green but not woody. Then I typically peeled the bottom two or three sheaths off the base to create a clean looking, nicely cut, marketable bamboo shoot. After washing, weighing and documenting the weight and quantity of the yield, I placed the shoots into a waxed produce box with waxed paper between layers and crushed ice covering every shoot. I generally put between ten and fifteen pounds of shoots in a box with the tips pointing towards the middle. After prepping, icing and labeling the boxes, I delivered them to the produce warehouse. I called our broker twice a week to give her my harvesting schedule as it developed and my estimated poundage. This information enabled her to make the calls necessary to sell the shoots. From mid-May to mid-June, on average I harvested twice a week.(8)If the weather was hot, humid and mostly sunny, the henon produced new shoots very quickly and growth was quite rapid.(9) Chilly weather slowed growth down considerably. I found it quite a bit more difficult to harvest shoots in the Driveway Grove because it is located on a relatively steep slope. If choosing a site for growing and harvesting, I recommend a somewhat flat topography. My favorite part of the process was eating the shoots! After each harvest, I experimented with cooking and preparing them in various ways. It became clear to me that blanching the shoots for a minute or two was not long enough to extract the bitterness from the shoot.(10) I eventually found that boiling them for 10-15 minutes was ideal. They remained firm but were not bitter. I added them to the rest of the stir fry after boiling, simmered and ate. Yum Yum... Footnotes 2 Cutting lower branches reduces habitat for the bamboo mite (Schizotetranychus celarius) which seems to be attracted to lower, more crowded and therefore drier leaves. These groomed branches are a delicious treat for livestock from chickens to rabbits to cattle and horses. 3 Before we started thinning the groves, the canes had a high proportion of old and crowded canes. These old canes have leaves that are more yellow than green. As we removed them, the young ones with healthy green leaves remained. The color of the groves was greatly improved. 4 Because our groves are managed for research and not for income, we sell to a produce broker for $2.50 a pound. We keep some shoots to cook with. Selling to a broker earns us less money per pound but saves us time. It mimics what a farmer might choose to do. It allows the professionals in the food business to get used to bamboo shoots as a marketable food, that is available and sellable. 5 Sunshine causes bamboo shoots to become bitter. This is why the most expensive shoots in China and Japan are the moso shoots that are picked in late winter after they have swelled but before they have grown out of the ground. 6 Wastage from prepping the shoots includes the fibrous butts of the shoots, any roots that have elongated, bits of rhizome, and peeled culm sheaths. If the shoot was damaged in the harvest process, good tender parts of the shoots are also wasted as the prepper cuts back in a straigt line to an undamaged part. The wastage from prepping bamboo shoots if washed of dirt would be highly palatable to livestock, even pigs. Certainly it would be a hot (nitrogen rich or green) ingredient in compost if there are no animals to enjoy it. 7 The shoots are packed in waxed boxes and covered with crushed ice. They will not dry out while in the boxes. Of course the warehouse storage is only slightly over 32 ¹F so the ice melts very slowly. 8 I believe that if the grove were irrigated during harvest season, there would be more shoots. I intend to research this possibility. 9 Don' t let many days go by without harvesting
when weather is warm. Shoots become too old very fast.
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