VERSATILITY & INGENUITY

            There is no race on earth that loves the bamboo more than Asians and most especially the Chinese and the Filipinos have grown tied with bamboos from crib to grave.

           

            Filipinos use them as baby cribs, as walking guide for babies, as the skeleton that strengthens the ideal national house which is the “bahay kubo”, as trellises for training edible vines and fruits to use as support, as skewers of food and other uses; The outriggers of the common Philippine boats even the vinta boats of Zamboanga are made of bamboos.  It is even used as the poles for one of the most authentic Philippine dances, the “tinikling”.  Perhaps the highest artistic form and the highest expression of bamboo usage is the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ that is now more than two or three centuries and still produces its immaculate music.  In its honour, Las Piñas City annually holds a Bamboo Organ Festival and is well-attended not only by Flipinos but by the international community!

            The people of Rizal Province, especially those from Binangonan where we have a 40-year old summer vacation house, are very peculiar with the bamboo they will be using for construction purposes.  Whether as scaffolding for constructing buildings, making small huts, or repairing house parts, Binangonan folks will always ask first if the bamboos being sold by lumber hardware stores are grown in the shores of Laguna Lake or from the bamboo forests of the mountains.  The former are preferred because there is a folk belief in Rizal Province that bamboos grown in water are better and stronger when worked upon than those grown in the mountains.  But this does not have any proven basis or any scientific proof.

            Perhaps the latest ingenious way of using the bamboo is as planters.

            Yes, bamboo “wood” or more appropriately called culms are so easy to work with and their resilience makes them ideal to be used as planters or growing basins/containers for plants!

            Mr. Danilo A. Tiu, an agriculturist and horticulturist by profession, co-author of the classic and still unsurpassed orchid bible, “Orchidiana Philippiniana” together with the “mother” of Philippine orchidology Dr. Helen L. Valmayor; author of “Deciphering the Scriptures on Philippine Grammatophyllum”; article contributor to the Philippine Orchid Review (the official magazine of the Philippine Orchid Society), the Philippine Gardener, and other plant-related publications; and also the CEO of the Sanga at Dahon Garden, is the main exponent of the bamboo planter.

            Sir Danny had just revealed to me this latest gardening technique of his this August of 2012.  He had experimented and thoroughly studied from experience the advantages and disadvantages of using bamboo as planters or plant rafts.

            He told me that he thought of bamboo as a planter because he grew tired of using plastic pots as they get brittle over the passing of time; and of using clay pots because they just litter or get broken when they are empty.  According to him, bamboo, being a plant itself, is organic and naturally decomposes and thus, adds to the fertility of the soil once it decomposes.  Now, whenever his bamboo planters break due to wear and tear, he gets happier because it is still valuable as an additional enrichment for the soil.

            “One just needs some chisel, a coping saw or a small woodworking saw, and a lot of artistic imagination to create a thousand forms of bamboo planters,” as he explained to me.

            Sir Danny also told me that older or more matured bamboos are better because they have been strengthened by time and are more resilient to insect pests.  But this ingenious man also uses newly harvested bamboo whichever is available because these could be cured.

            Curing newly harvested or even pest-infected matured bamboo culms just requires a day or so of being soaked in water.  Through this way pests are drowned and killed by suffocation in the water and the bamboo is cleaned and ready for eventual use.

            Stout bamboos around a foot high is used for bigger plants and small “bunkaka”-like (the native Igorot percussion instrument) bamboo planters for smaller and lighter plants.  The tie or binding material to hold the bamboo in place is also a matter of aesthetic preference.  Those at Sanga at Dahon Garden use excess garment swathes.  They don’t also use varnish or paint to beautify the bamboos since these could be toxic to the plants.  Perhaps if one wants to beautify the bamboo planters he/she could use non-toxic paints or pens.  Nevertheless, the real thing that enhances the beauty of the planters is the flowering of the plant that it plays host to or the robust growth of the plant themselves.

            Coconut husk, fibre, and chips are used as medium for the plants being planted in the bamboo planters.  Almost all plants could be planted in these planters but for the epiphytic ones like Bromeliads, Orchids, Hoyas, and Ferns coconut-derived materials are perfect.  For Araceae (Aglaonemas, Philodendrons, Anthuriums, etc.), garden soil could be used.

            There are two ways the planters could be used: in the horizontal position called “bangka” (boat) by Sir Danny, and the vertical position that can be named “nakatayo” (standing).  Plants multiplying vegetatively as runners or suckering are better in “bangka” bamboo planters while monopodial, pendulous, and semi-pendulous plants will do well in “nakatayo” bamboo planters.

            Heavy plants should be carefully watched if they are planted in the “bangka” style because either side might become heavier and make the planter tilt unbalanced.  This style also tends to occupy more space in the garden albeit seeing beautiful plants in a row planted in the bamboo planter is striking. The “nakatayo” style is more economical in the garden because it occupies less space and therefore more bamboo planters can be placed side by side.  This style can also harbour more plants since either side of the bamboo culms are hollowed unlike in the “bangka” style that only one side is utilised.

            Albeit almost all plants can be planted in these bamboo “rafts”, those that grow strongly, bushy, and into tall trees can only be accommodated in these rafts as seeds to be germinated so that they can be protected from whatever reason that might exonerate the beginning of their lives; seedlings for easy transportation and transplanting into their next destined basins or containers; and those that will be trained as bonsai plants.

            Sir Danny told me that these bamboo rafts have a lifespan of some one or two years and some even three years before they begin to desiccate.  Nevertheless, those that desiccate decompose after quite some time and fertilises the soil.  Bamboo poles are also very cheap given their abundance here in the Philippines (no less than 47 species!) so the cost of acquiring them is almost negligible commercially and economically speaking.

            Orchids are some of the best plants to train growing in bamboo planters.  Before, heavy driftwoods are used for planting orchids but according to Sir Danny these plants only need the surface of the wood where they would attach their roots.  They do not need and use the bulk of the driftwood which is only wasted.  Bamboo planters are very light, easily transported, and do not occupy a great space in one’s own garden.

            To date, Sanga at Dahon Garden has almost completely turned organic in their potting material thanks to the versatility of the bamboo and the ingenuity of the man behind the concept of using them.  They have even come up with bamboo rafts planted with totally unrelated families like the terete vanda and Hoya cumingiana together, a Cattleya and couple of Cryptanthus species, ferns and Dischidias too.  There are also gigantic growing Hoyas that have already attached themselves firmly to their bamboo planter even if it seems that the massive plants would outweigh their host.  Platycerium or staghorn ferns can also be planted as well as the flowering giants of the Orchidaceae family-the Grammatophyllums!  There are also Tillandsia cyanea that has become ramblers in their bamboo rafts with flowers here and there-a rare sight of this species here in the metropolis.  But for me the most striking plant I saw planted in a bamboo raft is the alba or white form of Phalaenopsis equestris with its literal hundred flowers in two or three spikes that resemble small butterflies fluttering by.

            Indeed, this will become the next trend in gardening since plant lovers can have a lot of plants even if he/she has only a small plot dedicated to mother nature!