Researching Bamboo - Where to Find the Information You Need

Bamboo enthusiasts are very loyal to the plant - or technically, to the grass. Bamboo is a wonderful grass that is as beautiful as it is useful. There are many businesses and resources to which you can turn to learn about growing and caring for bamboo. To locate these businesses, you should turn to the annual Bamboo Products Index produced by the American Bamboo Society. The document can be accessed via the American Bamboo Society web site at AmericanBamboo[dot]org.

The comprehensive list of resources is broken down by the following product types: art; bamboo removal; blinds, screens; books; consulting, agriculture; consulting, landscape; craft workshops; crafts, jewelry; fences, screens, water pipes; fertilizer; flooring; furniture; garden ornaments; gifts; magazines; musical instruments, music; other; plant labels and signs; plants for foreign shipment only; plywood, paneling; poles; potting soil; rhizome barriers; seminars, lectures; structural and engineering design; structures of bamboo; surfboards; tools; and walking, hiking sticks.

As you can see, there are many different types of companies that deal with bamboo that you can find in the list - everything from landscaping companies to musical instrument manufacturers. The Bamboo Products Index also divides the list of companies into countries and states, so you can find companies that are located near you.

Another excellent resource for finding information about businesses that deal in bamboo is the web site bambooweb[dot]info, which was founded out of a love for bamboo by Bill Hollenback. Hollenback's site has a searchable database of resources accessed via a search screen with various filters. For instance, you can search for businesses in a particular country or state, by wholesale or retail, and by shipping capability. The site also has an extensive list of news groups, web sites, and forums devoted to the subject of bamboo.

If you're really looking for a serious source of research on bamboo, the American Bamboo Society web site has a list of links to pdf files of archived copies of Bamboo Science and Culture: The Journal of the American Bamboo Society. You can access all of the issues, going all the way back to 1980. An example of the kind of material you will find in these volumes is an article entitled "Distribution of starch in the culms of Bambusa bamboos." Not exactly light reading, but a wonderful resource for the bamboo researcher.

In addition to the journal, the American Bamboo Society also produces a magazine called BAMBOO. A subscription to BAMBOO is included with a paid membership to the American Bamboo Society. Sample articles and other items of interest from the magazine are available on the organization's web site.

Another powerful resource made available via the bamboo[dot]org web site is a list of books cataloged in the U.S. Library of Congress. The list is broken up into three sets of listings that are available via three text files located on the Books on Bamboo page on the site. It is an excellent resource for finding the material you need for your research into bamboo. The list is even categorized by subject to make it easier for you to find books on specific topics.

For such a seemingly simple entity, bamboo can be a complex subject. Even just learning how to grow bamboo casually requires some work. The resources listed above will help you find the information you need.