Propagating Bamboo: Training Manual

TRAINING
M A N UA L
Propagating
TM 03 11/04 Bamboo
NATIONAL MISSION ON BAMBOO APPLICATIONS

Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council (TIFAC)
Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
Vegetative Propagation:
Rhizome-based
N T H I S T I M E - T E S T E D and widely practised method, a segment of
I the rhizome is severed or separated from the parent rhizome, and

nurtured to develop into an independent source of planting material.
The detached portion of the rhizome carries all the elements needed for
the growth of a new plant. It may be separated with other parts of the
plant, such as rhizome offsets, roots and culm.
Common to all methods of rhizome-based propagation is the cutting

away of a part of the rhizome from a healthy and mature clump.
The rhizomes should be separated with care, using sharp and clean cutting
instruments. Care should be taken while severing, to ensure that the
rhizome system, on which the plant is dependent for its growth and health, is
not damaged. The steps involved are as follows.
VEGETATIVE PROPAG ATION: RHIZOME-B ASED
• Gently push aside the surrounding and covering soil, till enough of the
The best time of the year to dig out rhizome can be seen to identify a suitable point for cutting/severing.
rhizomes is from February to April.
In this period the food reserves in • A healthy rhizome is normally straw-coloured or yellow; rust colouration, or
the rhizome are at their peak. They patches of deep brown to black, indicate poor health. Do not use such
will help sustain the new plant as rhizomes to prepare plant material.
well. In the preceding months the
rhizome would have built up • Detach the rhizome segment from the mother rhizome at the neck, without
reserves of food and nutrients. After damaging the parent rhizome, buds or roots. Do not cut away from the
this, with the onset of rains, new middle.
shoots emerge, and the food and
nutrients will be transferred to the • After separating the needed portion, cover the mother rhizome with soil,
new shoots. taking care not to bruise other parts of the plant.
Precautions
• Carry out a prior visual inspection of the clump to make sure that it is
healthy, and has a good growth of culms that are free from disease.
• Lightly press the buds on the rhizome to make sure that they are not rotten.
• Do not dig out rhizomes during the growing season. Survival reduces
drastically in rhizome offsets taken from a clump where new culm
emergence has already taken place. This is due to the diversion of food
material for the development of new culms in the mother clump.
RHIZOME OFFSETS
This is the traditional and most commonly practised form of rhizome-

based propagation. It has a high rate of success because, in effect, a
complete plant system is being transplanted.
Method
• Dig out rhizome offsets with only two nodes; discard the rest of the culm
above. No dressing is required.
• Immediately cover the rhizome and root portion with a wet gunny bag.
Bamboo in cut condition desiccates and dries up very quickly. Cover the top
of the culm with a polythene strip or seal with paint, to prevent desiccation.
• Transport the offsets to the planting area or nursery, as soon as possible.
• Before planting, dip/drench the rhizome in a fungicidal solution like

Rhizome with Roots Bavistin, appropriately diluted (1 gram/litre) or a similar fungicide. Measure
the amount of fungicide and water accurately, to avoid wastage and
In this method, rhizomes with the unnecessary use of expensive fungicide.
accompanying root system are
severed from the parent rhizome in • For field planting, the pit size should be 50 x 50 x 50 centimetres as a norm
sections that are around 50–60 for medium-sized bamboos like Bambusa balcooa and Bambusa polymorpha.
centimetres long, and containing Smaller pit sizes will do for smaller species like Bambusa pallida and
about 10–15 nodes. Ochlandra travancorica, and larger bamboos like Dendrocalamus giganteus will
need deeper pits.
This method, which uses rhizomes
that are 2–3 years old, is • The dug-out soil should be fortified with farm yard manure (FYM – 5
appropriate when the rhizomes kilograms) and chemical fertilizer (100 grams urea, 100 grams SSP and 50
have to be carried over a long grams MOP).
distance. In such cases, some of the
soil clinging to the rhizome should • Planting should be done vertically.
be loosened or washed off. It should
then be wrapped in moss and • In the event of delayed planting, plant the offsets in gunny bags and place
encased in moist gunny sacking them in a nursery.
before being transported.
Precautions
This method works well for mono-
podial bamboo species. Since most • It is advisable to seal the slant cut of the culm with earth.
Indian bamboos are sympodial, it is
rarely practised or recommended. • Some weeding may be necessary after transplanting.
Limitations
• Only a small number of offsets can be extracted from each mother clump.
• Extraction of rhizome offsets is time-consuming and expensive.

VEGETATIVE PROPAG ATION: RHIZOME-B ASED
• The mother clump and rhizome buds could be damaged during extraction.
Rhizome with Roots and Culm
• Rhizomes can be heavy – a rhizome offset of Dendrocalamus giganteus can
In this case, a healthy culm that is a weigh up to 30–35 kilograms. They are therefore difficult to carry. A farmer
year old, or older, is identified, and its can typically carry only 2–3 rhizomes from his grove to the collection point
rhizome is severed along with the or market.
lower part of the culm. The upper
part of the culm is removed, so that • Transportation of the bulky rhizome offsets is expensive because of their
only some (at least 4–6) nodes and weight and volume, and the requirements of careful packing and handling.
the corresponding branches and
leaves are retained. • Damage to rhizome buds during extraction and transportation leads to
failure of propagation.
Rhizome with Culm Stock
• The method is not suitable for large-scale plantations.
The procedure followed is similar to
that in propagation through rhizome
and roots with culm. The difference PART-CLUMP PLANTING
is that only the base or lowermost
portion of the culm is retained. This is very similar to the offset method, the only difference being that a
rhizome assembly with 2 or 3 offsets connected to each other is
collected as the propagule. Individual rhizomes in a part-clump
propagule should not be separated or damaged at the time of collection
from the soil. The culm part of each rhizome member should be 3-4-
nodes high, with viable branch buds. During transportation, care should
be taken to avoid injury to the rhizome parts. Planting should be done
during the rainy season. As the propagule contains more than one
rhizome, the planting pit should be suitably large. This method of
propagation is well-suited to thin-walled bamboo species like Melocanna
baccifera and Schizostachyum dullooa.
SPECIES INFORMATION
Rhizome offsets can easily be utilised for propagation in most of the

commercially significant species. The exceptions are Melaconna baccifera,
where rhizome offsets have been rarely successful and are not therefore
ordinarily practised, and Bambusa bambos, in which such methods are
only occasionally used, because of practical difficulties in accessing and
severing the rhizome, especially in congested and extremely thorny
clumps. If and once secured, however, rhizome offsets work reasonably
well, even in Bambusa bambos.
Rhizome with roots, rhizome with culm and roots and rhizome with
offsets as described in the manual are mainly recommended for
monopodial bamboos and are not suitable for any of the sympodial
bamboos.
Part clump methods have been successfully established for Melaconna

baccifera and Schizostachyum dullooa.

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TRAINING

NATIONAL MISSION ON BAMBOO APPLICATIONS

N T H I S T I M E - T E S T E D and widely practised method, a segment of

I the rhizome is severed or separated from the parent rhizome, and

Common to all methods of rhizome-based propagation is the cutting

This is the traditional and most commonly practised form of rhizome-

• Transport the offsets to the planting area or nursery, as soon as possible.

• Before planting, dip/drench the rhizome in a fungicidal solution like

• Extraction of rhizome offsets is time-consuming and expensive.

Rhizome offsets can easily be utilised for propagation in most of the

Part clump methods have been successfully established for Melaconna

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