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Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae.
  Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world,due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. 
 

How fast does bamboo grow?

Bamboo produces new canes (culms) in the Spring. These shoots emerge out of the ground and grow in height and diameter for around 60 days. During this 60 day period, it will produce limbs and leaves.

After the 60 day period of growth, the bamboo cane never grows in height or diameter again. Bamboo doesn’t experience secondary growth like trees or most flora. It will put on new foliage every year, and a cane typically lives for 10 years.

Bamboo is a member of the grass family. It is a colony plant, so it uses energy from this existing plant to produce more plants and expand the root structure. The new plants will grow in the same manner. New shoots emerge to turn into a cane with limbs and leaves within a 60 day period.

Bamboo takes about three years to get established. Once established the new shoots that emerge in the Spring (they will still only grow for 60 days) will continue to get bigger and more numerous from year to year as the colony grows towards maturity. It takes a varying number of years (4-15) for different species to reach their maximum size. This is dependent on species selection, soil, sunlight, climate and watering conditions.

Bamboo Growth Cycle

  This rapid growth and tolerance for marginal land, make bamboo a good candidate for afforestation, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.

     

          Some facts about the sustainability of bamboo

1. It requires no pesticides or chemical fertilisers

2. It grows rapidly and can be harvested in 3-5 years

3. It rarely needs replanting

4. It produces more oxygen than trees

5. It plays an important role in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

6. It sequesters carbon dioxide and is carbon neutral

7. It requires no irrigation

8. It is excellent for inhibiting soil erosion

9. It grows in a wide range of environments

10. Its production into fibres has lower environmental impact than other forms of fibre, especially synthetic ones.