HOME FRONT TERRACES : Bamboos, said to be the worlds tallest grass and spot its many uses

The bamboo is a useful plant to the farmers and to mankind in many ways before the plastic hose flooded the market. It is used as a water pipe to farms, housing components, handicrafts and food. Before electricity came, it was used to frighten or drive astray animals and insects in farms powered by a hydro system channeled to bamboos from the streams. The bamboo tubes catch water and put in motion the scarecrows and empty cans with bamboos making loud banging sounds.

With more than a thousand species and countIess uses, bamboo is a plant with incredible economic potential. There are about 1,500 different species that are native to every continent except Europe. Bamboos can reach a mature height of 80 to100 feet. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on this planet and has been recorded growing remarkably at 47.6 inches in a 24 hour period or 3 centimeters a day. It lasts from 20 to50 years. It is the longest grass in the world and is tolerant to extreme conditions.

Bamboo is a great plant for our green environment and reforestation. 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. It is a viable substitute for wood. It can be harvested in 3 to 5 years versus 10 to 20 for most softwood. It can out yield pine tree from 6 to 1 in biomass production. It is also one of the strongest building materials with a tensile strength of 28,000 psi while mild steel measures 23,000 psi.

It is a great soil conservation tool. It greatly reduces erosion with a sum of stem flow rate and canopy intercept of 25%. This dramatically reduces rain run-off, preventing massive soil erosion and making it very earth friendly.

There are countless uses of the bamboo plant such as the following;

Construction- for housing components,

Furniture

Handicrafts

Jewelry-
necklace, brooch, bangles, fashion

Toys

Water pipes

Water Fountain

Musical Instrument, bamboo organ

For dancing, hunting and entertainment

Bamboo Car

Cooking Instrument

Bamboo Foot Bridge Food

Medicinal Properties- vinegar produced from distillation can be used in the treatment of allergies and sore throat as antiseptic; skin and hair conditioner and cleaner,

Bamboo Pools

In specialty boutiques and even in some national chains now offer bamboo based clothing and linens. Consumers like the fact that these products come from a renewable plant that thrives without many added chemicals. Bamboo can be eaten (new shoots), made into fiber for clothing, it can be used in concrete reinforcement, in can provide great livestock feed with the foliage being up to 22% protein, and can be machined into numerous forms of lumber, etc.

Bamboo has the potential to preserve the forests, contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, provide food, security and livelihood. It is useful in rehabilitating degraded land, conserving top-soil and in water management. It controls soil erosion and stabilize riverbanks.

Bamboo is the amazing alternative that meets our ecological, cultural, economic and social needs.

In the Philippines, there are 1,250 species of bamboo. There are 12 bamboo genera consisting of 49 species but only eight are extensively used: kawayantinik, kawayankiling, bayog, botong, giant bamboo, bolo, anos and buho.