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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Heating up bamboos with grass clippings and roofing rubber to accelerate rhizome growth

I may have already started this thread on the forums however this project has had better results than I expected. The idea is that grass clippings will gradually decompose and produce heat which can escape easily however when there are pieces of roofing plastic placed over it, a lot of the heat will be trapped. Since it is well known that bamboo as well as other plants will grow faster at higher temperatures, an addition of several degrees should increase the spread of rhizomes especially because the moisture is also held in a lot better.

I started this project with phyllostachys edulis (moso bicolor) since I want it to become a grove as soon as possible and here are the pictures to show the progress.After the first week the temperature differential was around 5-6F however after around 3 weeks once the air temperature dropped, there was a 16F temperature differential as it was 62F for the air temperature, 66F regular soil temperature, and the temperature in the heated area is up past 82F as it looks like the warmth never escaped. I use a needle thermometer to take my readings.
Before

Adding grass clippings
Adding tiles

 Early temperature results. The differential was only a few degrees towards the beginning, but with a little bit of success, I doubled the amount of grass clippings and tiles so have better results.

 Outside soil temperature.

 Inside soil temperature.


Adding more grass clippings and tiles.

Here are a few rhizome pictures. They are results from after a week so they should be much longer by now. They were at most 14 inches, but I'm hoping for them to reach around the 5ft mark so this can become an instant grove by next year.

Now obviously when I find that this set up works, I'll set it up with a few of my other boos.
phyllostachys aureosulcata spectabilis.
phyllostachys kwangsiensis.

3 comments:

  1. The heating effect has risen to 10-20F differences now that the set up has many more roofing tiles, and a lot more grass clippings which are added regularly. Rhizomes are definitely running nice and far on moso bicolor.

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  2. Just to update on this blog, the rhizome growth has been exceptional. The moso bicolor is now putting out whip shoots 4ft away from the main clump which is pretty crazy for being in the far north, especially on a bamboo that is known for being a slow spreader.

    Another way to upgrade this system even further is to use a sheet of plastic mulch on top of the entire set up so that the heat energy of the sun gets trapped even more.

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  3. You must utilize any heat proof sealant for holes or harm to apply on RV rooftop to be spared from sudden flame spread. To save roof from heating and breaking edges to avoid only EPDM Rubber Roofing is workable in every season and temperature.

    ReplyDelete