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Comment by senectus1 | Hacker News Reader

I would love to know if there are any "hobby" communities for "doing things" with bamboo.

I'd love to pot some of the fast growing stuff at home and harvest it to muck around with.

This was our bummer of this year. We bought eighth small bamboo plants and expected to be busy on containing the natural explosive growth they should show. What happened was the opposite, small and no sign of growth. After some digging this retailer sells genetically modified versions which cannot grow.. Now we are looking for proper natural versions to plant these next year. So if you want to hear and see large patches of bamboo ask the retailer for unmodified plants. Naïve and uninformed I tried to find seeds but bamboo doesn't have them? If someone can share some light on how to how grow them please chime in.

> Naïve and uninformed I tried to find seeds but bamboo doesn't have them?

Bamboo certainly does have seeds. Bamboo blooms are big events.

Blooms are big events because bamboo will go several decades at a time without blooming. But it has seeds.

You get a piece of root (rhizome) from a living plant and transplant that.

In the places where bamboo grows natively, it is used extensively, but typically not for long-term structural applications as bamboo is susceptible to rot and insect infestation.

But it forms decorative elements: fencing, window blinds, or window framing[0]. Also tools like sumisashi (an ink pen) or poles for carrying things. Even scaffolding even on high rises![1]

[0] https://www.dreamstime.com/japanese-windows-bamboo-strips-ba...

[1] http://actuallyshop.blogspot.com/2013/01/hong-kong-bamboo-sc...

There must be for sure but one who has impressed me already with all the things he does with bamboo is this man https://youtube.com/c/%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E7%9A%84%E5%B0%8F%E...

like DIY bamboo bicycle frames?

https://bamboobicycleclub.org/

One thing to note is that bamboo is hilariously invasive. moreso than japanese knot weed.

Its has two modes of propagation: spreading its roots(rhsomes) or, at the end of it's life flowering and setting seeds.

So, you should be able to dig up a good chunk of root (dinner plate size) and propagate from that.

A good tool to have is a sharp billhook. its good for managing roots and branches.

The simplest thing (survival stuff) is you can cut a section leaving one node (I think it is called?) and use it as a cup / water heating vessel, or keep 2 nodes turn it 90 degrees and cut a hole in the top and you have something to cook in. Using a knife you can fashion a spoon for eating what you cooked.

You'd probably spend half your time mucking around with how to manufacture lumber. That might be fun on its own, just expect projects to take twice as long.

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