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Why Bamboo?
Go Green
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Planting bamboo is one of the best ways to help our environment.
Bamboo is a crucial element in the balance of
oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A grove of bamboo
release 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. Because of
this, planting bamboo is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and
help fight global warming. A perfect selection for Going Green.
Bamboo is a great 'Green Soultion'.
Bamboo is a
wonderful replacement plants for trees with its
short growth cycle and a high carbon dioxide exchange rate. Bamboo is a grass with 80 genera and
over 1200 documented species. A mature grove of bamboo sends up new shoots every
year. These new shoots reach their full
size in just a couple months. Some grow 47 inches in 24 hours and can
reach over 100 feet in height within 60 days. This short growth cycle makes it a
great replacement for our slow growing forest that are being steadily cut back. It can provide erosion
control when other plants wash away. It can screen out unsightly areas
and provide a noise barrier in the process. It will not take over the
world and I cannot tell you how many discussions we have had over the
years with that one. As it has been dated back several thousand years
it should have already choked out everything by now if that was true.
As you may
have read on our Moso page,
there are thousand of acres of bamboo in
China. Throughout the world in areas such as China, Japan, and Asia,
bamboo has been and is one of the most important plants in history.
There are thousands of ways bamboo is used, falling under categories
such as
housing, food, medicine, landscaping, and furniture. The use of bamboo
dates back to over 3000 years by the Chinese. Thomas Edison used bamboo
in the development of the light bulb. The carbonized filament he used
still works. It is on display at the Smithosionan in Washington D.C.
There
are many reasons to
choose bamboo and us as your source. We are dedicated to
customer service and
committed
to helping you find the perfect bamboo
for your situation. We are a specialized nursery dealing with over 150
species of bamboo only. That alone says a lot about our feelings and
dedication to bamboo. There are just a handful of
nurseries
specializing in bamboo. Your bamboo source should be
from a certified nursery that has a well informed staff
and
has bamboo as its primary plant.
Our
bamboo divisions are taken from
groves
of bamboo. They are not grown in a
greenhouse or grown from tissue culture plugs. While greenhouse and
tissue culture
plants may look good, they are not harden off and usually suffer or die
when planted in the elements.
For example,
when a greenhouse raised
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'yellow groove' is placed in its new site in
full sun, it better be ready. It will be robbed of its controlled
lighting and watering conditions. The four to twelve hours of natural
sunlight that it is exposed to greatly increases evaporation of water
that
a greenhouse plant has not been
accustomed to. This same species is cold hardy to - 15 degrees F.
and needs a well established root system to withstand its first winter.
A young greenhouse grown bamboo may not have an extensive network of
roots supporting the top growth. Our field division bamboo will already
have a great network of feeder roots with top growth of one to four
canes depending on the species.
We take great
pride in our field divisions
being ready to handle the conditions that the new site and climate zone
will present them. Bamboo is an extremely tough grass, but from
experiences long past, we do not deal in greenhouse grown bamboo. We
ship bamboo from field dug divisions that have met our strict plant
criteria
developed with over 20 years of bamboo growing experience. We have
been collecting and growing bamboo on our current property since 1985.
We begin
our mail order business in 1995 and it has been a total success. Since
1999, we have been averaging well over 2000 bamboo divisions going out
yearly via UPS. From 2005 on, we have been shipping more than 5000
plants a year. Take a few minutes to look at the locations we
shipped to over the past years and see if
we have shipped to your city.
Our
primary groves and homes are
in Oakman,
Alabama which is 45 miles outside Birmingham. They are planted on
60 acres of rich fertile river soil. Top soil and silt
were key reasons for establishing our gardens here. The Warrior River
Blackbelt soil and pure
creek watering source are keys to our beautiful bamboo growth.
Once we have dug our divisions from the groves, they are placed in
holding areas for 4 to 8 weeks. After this each division is
checked for viable rhizomes. This procedure is to ensure that there
will be buds to establish a new grove. The size field division will
determine the number and size of the rhizomes attached to it. Naturally
the larger the division, the larger the rhizomes will be and therefore
speed up the process of establishing a new grove.
Divisions without viable rhizomes and buds are discarded. Most
divisions are held from 6 month to 1 year period to insure excellent
root growth.
Lewis Bamboo also uses recycled bags for shipping and cardboard boxes made of
recycled material. We use organic means to produce our product when possible.
If you decide to
grow bamboo choose a professional
bamboo nursery that can provide the correct species for your needs. All
your questions can be answered by a bamboo professional and there will
be no surprises with Lewis Bamboo. We have thousands of repeat customers and
the reasons are
simple. Great plants and wonderful service.
