With a global market valued at nearly $67 billion, bamboo may offer an alternative crop for Florida citrus growers whose groves have been devastated by HLB.
“Bamboo is a good alternative crop to diversify beyond citrus,” said Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC). “The clumping bamboos grow well in Florida and can be grown on existing grove land. There is demand for the product.”
USES AND MARKET
Clumping bamboo has many uses. People eat bamboo shoots in Asian cuisine. Among many other things, the shoots are used for furniture, construction material and textiles.
“Being able to source raw bamboo from the United States will cut down on import costs and encourage the growth of bamboo markets here in the United States,” Rogers said. “There are already operations established for packing and processing of edible bamboo shoots in Florida, and facilities are setting up to be able to process bamboo poles for lumber and other uses. So, there is a market and demand, we just need to be able to supply the raw products to meet this demand.”
CREC scientists are studying bamboo as one of many possible alternatives to citrus. According to researchers, many varieties of running bamboo are invasive, but clumping bamboo is considered low risk for invasion.
MISTAKES MADE
Growers have planted more than 1,000 acres of clumping bamboo in Florida so far. But some of those plantings have failed because of unintentional errors made when trying to grow the crop, Rogers said.
Growers might inadvertently plant too many bamboo clumps per acre — which causes crowding and stunting of plants. Or they might plant the wrong species or variety or provide improper nutrient, irrigation and weed-control practices.
“We started studying bamboo so we could provide recommendations to growers if they choose to plant bamboo,” said Rogers, who spoke at the recent Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo about bamboo.
EASY TRANSITION
Bamboo offers plenty of advantages for citrus growers:
- It’s simple to transition from one crop to the other. Growers can easily return to citrus if bamboo doesn’t work for them, or when new citrus options become available.
- Row spacing is similar to commercial citrus groves.
- Once bamboo is established — four or five years after planting — there is a crop to harvest every year.
- There are few pests thus far, but scientists will monitor this.
CROP CONCERNS
The main concerns are weed management and proper fertilization and irrigation. Bamboo is also labor-intensive.
“UF/IFAS is working on mechanical harvesters for bamboo to make that practice more economical,” Rogers said.
RESEARCH UNDERWAY
Davie Kadyampakeni, associate professor, leads the CREC’s bamboo research.
“We are learning new things about planting densities, fertilization rates and irrigation rates for different ages of bamboo,” Kadyampakeni said. “We are also learning new things about potential production per acre and will finalize this information in a few years.”
Source: UF/IFAS