The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) hosted a bamboo field day in July at Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery in Frostproof. Scientists at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) have initiated several projects to evaluate bamboo varieties and production practices.
Phillip Rucks has planted numerous bamboo varieties for evaluation and sells bamboo plants to growers from his nursery. During the field day, there was a good deal of conversation about the freeze this past winter and its impact on bamboo. Different varieties reacted differently to the freeze, but most got knocked back; the roots didn’t get killed.
“We saw most of them, the above-ground portion of the bamboo died completely back,” said Michael Rogers, CREC director. “The good news is when you look at the soil temperatures down to about 4 inches, the minimum temperatures that we recorded were about 45 degrees. In a lot of cases, much warmer than that.”
Soon after the freeze, new shoots and leaves began to grow again. So, plants were set back and will need time to recover. At Ruck’s nursery, the variation in cold tolerance from different varieties is reflected in the levels of stunting on plants.
The fledgling bamboo industry in Florida is still getting its infrastructure in place and learning best practices for growing the crop. That’s why the UF/IFAS program has been initiated. The goal is to establish an industry that is growing both bamboo shoots for food and larger culms for wood and timber products. Progress is being made on both fronts.
Kevin Barley, president of the Florida Bamboo Growers Association, spoke about the demand for bamboo shoots for food. The market is there, but growers, harvesters and packers have to figure out a formula to get the fresh shoots to market. That is being accomplished through a harvest company, warehouse facility for storage and a partnership with a jarring company to pack the fruit. Read more about the quest for bamboo profitability here.
By Frank Giles