Chickens enjoying the first decent rain in a while. Usually, they are all soaked but Prince Charming figured out how to stay dry. Afro Dan is the other black one with a tragic afro that prevents it from seeing well so usually is quite the chilled out bird.
Yours is a very beautiful looking spot S.O.P Haha silkies are looking good. I haven't seen the black ones before.
Love the chooks :y: Glad I read your thread before planting bamboo SOP. Has made me really rethink were Im going to plant it, didn't realise it was so high maintenance
And don't put it anywhere near where you are trying to grow something else. It will suck the area dry of water and nutrients. Depending on the bamboo to tens of metres away. Use that, though, to absolutely destroy any other grass or weeds, or secure slips or erosion, or hold together banks and walls. It's low maintenance in that regards as you never need to worry about mowing or weeds ever again, plus you get poles out of it and mulch. Poles only need heavy maintenance once a year, and your foot can control any new growth from growing the wrong way. Don't ignore it though, that's when it gets exponentially harder to the point where the bamboo is untouchable because it's too much effort. Really, a great plant when planted in the right spot. Gift of the Gods to quote the book on it.
I totally agree, bamboo is such a versatile plant. Ive used it for so many things. Cant wait to have some more on the go.. My only concern now, is where I'm thinking of planting it is very close to a creek. Bit worried it will take off faster then i can maintain it due to the ideal conditions. Also concerned that having poor access that mulching it will be a nightmare. You mentioned the high silica content which can blunten mulchers, how do you get around this SOP?
You don't without it costing you. Near our place is a big bamboo farm that makes a little money and not enough to run machinery. All they do is burn it in massive piles, and if they have the manpower, quench it and then rake up the char. A lot of the time it's just burnt. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DnSk8CQO5k Bazman (member here) has some ideas for small-scale charring of bamboo poles in 44 gal drums that would probably suit a small operation. You live there, right? On the property in Samford? It won't get away on you if you write it in to your calendar and don't ignore it. You will work out the time of the year it shoots and you can kick the new shoots off that are growing in the wrong spot (species dependent for the shooting time). And then, during the dry, 4-5 years from planting, you can start removing the older poles, maintaining about 7 per year at a minimum. So, 7 first year, 7 second year, 7 third year, 7 fourth year shoots and that's borderline unhealthy for the bamboo but easy to control. More poles per year means more work means a healthier larger plant. The waste will rot quite quickly, and without seeing your creek (though I know what they look like in Samford as I have been in them many times), you could make little bamboo fascines in amongst the undergrowth to catch flood silt and improve your creek area in the long term. They will rot down in 2 years or so with high moisture/humidity levels. Just remember too, I had a 2 hour talk with a bamboo grower and most of this information is gleaned from that and from what I observe. Consult the experts through one of the many bamboo nurseries in Aus, even online. What bamboo are you going to choose? Here is some black I harvested the other day with a handsaw:
Thats great SOP, I think kicking of new shoots and harvesting a few poles every year is very doable. Intersting idea about the fascines, just have to figure out what will stay put during the floods. Curious to find out more about bazmans ideas, would be much better then mulching the stuff and could use the char but hopefully I can use most of it, it's such a great material to use around the place. The Nigra is definatley my fav SOP, looks fantastic and Ive heard its a great building material so keen to try it out. The other one I like was the 'ghost' bamboo.
Nigra is a runner. Stay away. (from a quick google). These are the 2 I have: https://www.bambooland.com.au/bamboo/gigantochloa-atroviolacea https://www.bambooland.com.au/bamboo/bambusa-lako The simple general one that is recommended, that is also edible is https://www.bambooland.com.au/bamboo/bambusa-oldhamii Poles aren't great outside (don't last as long as some) but it's not a super tight clumper and is the easiest to work with on our block.
Thanks SOP thats really helpful, will stay away from the nigra. I was after something that's clumping, edible and can be used as for building but didn't find too much out there, although I haven't done too much research into it at this stage. The bambusa sounds like a good one, I'm curious to see if you could somehow 'season' it to be stronger for use outside but anyhow it looks like a good one. How do you find the java black poles to use as a building material?
I don't. Though when I went to the "Green School" in Bali, they had a fair bit built out of black poles. Not sure on the variety. https://imgur.com/a/LaHhU
So jealous that you have been to visit…. It's on my 'bucket' list. Out of interest - how do you split bamboo to use for weaving in fences / walls? Is it hard to do?
I could explain but Youtube is by far the better method. Watched one the other day with a Thai woman who was absolutely amazing with a machete.
Don't know why I didn't think of that! It's off to youtube for me…. Still need a few more years of growth for my black bamboo to be big enough.
No photos but planted 6 Tithonia and 60 inoculated Pinto Peanut into a trial bed yesterday. Will be going back to plant 2 lines of Inga along each side to slow the grass down and have biomass for later. This is the beginning of an attempt at alley cropping, or the idea of it. Top row will most likely be Inga, then grass, then the trial bed with 2 rows of Inga and Tithonia in the centre, then grass, then coppiced Albizia and Morus alba on the bottom row. Planted 20 Vetiver into my new propagation bed which is below (old photo). Will plant approx 30 more so hopefully, come 4 months 50x15 will equal 700-750 (in my wildest dreams). Nut grass not dead under the newspaper yet and the comfrey had just grown straight up through it somehow. My theory is as the Vetiver roots are washed during the propagation process, the nutgrass will be confined to the bed only and not spread. Moral of the story, don't ship in dirty fill to fill in a pond: Also tore up some Vetiver here for further propagation. Note the difference of the top 3 next to the humus pile and the lower 3: And the latest invention, shamefully stolen from somewhere on the internet. The Comfrey Tractor. Holes in the base will seed comfrey roots into the soil whilst killing grass. Plan is to water it often and tractor it around the drip zones of trees that may require some grass incursion prevention. Let's see if it works:
That's the plan. Seeds Comfrey into the ground as you move it along, and kills the grass in the process.
