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There's an old Chinese saying: "First bamboo sleeps, then it creeps, then it leaps."

All bamboos are fast-growing plants. In fact, they are among the fastest growing plants in the world.

In the period of just a few months - always during the warm days of late spring and summer - all bamboos send up new shoots that will grow from inch-high spears into canes that tower (depending on the variety and maturity of the bamboo) up to 70' above the ground. Bamboo is commonly used as cheap scaffolding in many parts of the east and Africa due to its length, durability and low cost.

Most of the year, bamboo grows silently underground. The root system - an essential element for fast growth - is developing during the cool weather months. The larger and more developed the root ball the quicker you will see more tall canes with bigger diameter. When the weather warms, new shoots emerge.

Depending on the variety, the shoots can be as thin as a pencil or as thick as your arm. Whatever diameter the cane is when it comes through the ground, that's the diameter it will be its entire life.

Unlike tree trunks, bamboo canes never increase girth as they age. Each year's new shoots are usually larger than those of previous years but old canes don't grow wider as time goes by.

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15y ago

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