DENDROCALAMUS ASPER

 

Probable height in Southern California within 3 years = 20'

Probable ultimate height in Southern California = 60'

Height in habitat = 100'

Loses leaves around 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Loses canes around 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dies around 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

If growing in the ground it prefers to grow in full sun.

A clumping bamboo - rhizomes will not run sideways.

Minimum soil depth required for a healthy plant = 2'

Unrestrained rhizome depth in moist soil = 3'

Sweet Bamboo, pai tong, Bambusa aspera, Gigantochloa aspera, Dendrocalamus flagellifer, Bambusa macroculmis, Dendrocalamus macroculmis, Rebon, Buloh beting, Buloh betong.

 

        Plants in Florida during the 1979 100-year low of 23 degrees had all their leaves burned brown & lost their new shoots but then recovered completely during the next growing season.  Claude Rifat reports plants taking 25 degrees in France for a few nights with no problem. Jean Harrington in St Pete Fl had an 18 month-old plant 25' tall that was hit with 27 degrees in 1955, lost its leaves but then sprouted back about half-way up the full height of the plant. All the dendrocalamus seem to do very well throughout Florida. It is did well for Gary Stinson in Menifee, California which regularly gets down to freezing in the winter.

 

        Terrific ornamental, structural & edible Bamboo. In our Tustin garden each plant tended to produce one or two 8" maximum diameter culms every August-September.  One of the largest diameter bamboos grown in the U.S., the largest specimen in the U.S. being at the USDA in Puerto Rico, the second largest at the USDA in Miami (70-80' tall) & the third largest (30' tall) at the Huntington Gardens north of LA, planted in 1971. 

 

        In it's native home (Burma & Java) it is grown primarily for large edible shoots.  In Thailand it is grown both for construction & edible shoots.  An article appeared in the Bangkok Post in February of '88 which said the plant is valuable in Thailand for eating, making rafts, musical instruments & homes.  It was said to be the most delicious Bamboo, command a better price than rice, produce more profit for farmers & require little care.  Thai farmers also use it along riverbanks to prevent erosion.  The largest Thai grower stated that it can be grown in any soil but the ideal is slightly sandy & rather acidic.

 

        The plant was said to have been brought into Thailand from China around the turn of the century.  In the 1980's Thailand was exporting 3-400 tons of bamboo per year for $1-2,000 per ton while their average per capita income was only $800.  3-4 year-old green culms or 220 dried culms weigh about a ton.  It takes 550 culms to produce a ton of pulp.

 

        A 15 gallon pot sold at the '86 ABS auction for $140.  A 5 gallon pot sold at the '88 ABS auction for $400.  In March of '90 we successfully divided a pot into 4 parts.  At the fall '91 SOCAL sale a 5 gal pot sold for $100.  At the Sept '91 NWABS sale two 3 gallon pots sold for $70 each.  At the fall '95 SOCAL sale an 8" pot 3' tall of the Green Asper 'Pai Keaw' sold for $70.