Pandas and Craftsmen Keep Bamboo Station Booming

The agricultural research station near here doesn’t just test alternative crops for farmers and help urban gardeners grow fatter tomatoes.

It also is home to Chinese Goddess, Tonkin and dozens of other species of bamboo, the towering plant in demand for everything from flutes to panda food.

“There’s tremendous interest in bamboo,” said Charles Bruce, superintendent of the University of Georgia’s Coastal Area Extension Research Center.

The 50-acre center, commonly called the bamboo station, has groves containing 85 to 100 species of the tree-like grass that thrives in tropical regions.

During a recent tour of the facility, Frank Linton, a research assistant, pointed out a few varieties.

“When I first came here, I just thought bamboo was bamboo,” he said while strolling past dense groves of giant timber bamboo and arrow bamboo.

The giant timber bamboo, used in the Orient for scaffolding and buildings, can grow to heights of 60 to 70 feet with diameters in excess of 4 1/2 inches, he said.

Favored by Pandas

Arrow bamboo is the favorite of pandas, but they will eat other types, he said. Tonkin is used to make flutes and split-bamboo fly rods.

The bamboo growing at the research center was planted by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists in the early 1900s. They obtained varieties found in China, Japan and South America and placed them in the sandy white soil that is common along Georgia’s coast.

When the university acquired the station in 1984, some farm specialists viewed the bamboo as a nuisance.

“All they talked about was bulldozing it. But this is an internationally known collection. We have people from all over the United States come to see the bamboo,” said Bruce, a horticulturist.

Bruce said the bamboo, some of which can grow as much as 18 inches in 24 hours, has helped generate extra funds that are used to help defray research costs.

Between January and March, people pay a fee to dig bamboo rhizomes, an underground stem with roots and bud, for replanting in their yards. Certain varieties of potted bamboo, also suitable for replanting, are available at the center year-round.

300 Pounds of Shoots

When two giant pandas were on exhibit in Tampa, Fla., the center shipped 300 pounds of bamboo shoots a week to feed them. The female has been sent back to China for artificial insemination.

The center also ships bamboo shoots to at least four zoos to feed lesser pandas, the catlike cousins of the rare giants.

Bruce and Linton have made the revitalization of some bamboo groves a top priority. Some groves have been cut to allow new plants to grow and others have been thinned out to provide more sunlight to the remaining plants.

An unexpected source of bamboo demand has come from craftsmen who produce handmade shepherd’s pipes, flutes and wind chimes, Linton noted.

“It’s probably unlimited as to what people can do with it,” he added. “It’s become an asset to the station.”

Besides the bamboo, the center has 150 types of day lilies, 78 varieties of roses, 45 types of hibiscus, 75 types of turf grass, 100 types of perennial flowers and 300 varieties of vegetables, including tomatoes, to help home gardeners.

The center also has one of the largest assortments of herbs grown anywhere in Georgia, including chives, Japanese onions and elephant garlic, Bruce said.

In addition, farm specialists have planted Christmas trees, Vidalia onions, watermelons, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli to learn more about crops with a high profit potential.

“We’re trying to show the farmer he can grow other money crops besides corn, tobacco and soybeans,” Linton said.