A tale of 2 bamboo groves, the yin and yang

A 40+ year old untouched bamboo grove VS an -10 year old regularly harvested and maintained grove.

I’ve been recently introduced to a hidden nearby bamboo grove that has been growing unencumbered for over 40 years.  It’s culms push 60 + feet into the air.  With well maintained meadows along 2 edges it is a wonderfully imposing sight!  The grove itself has been left to run wild across a hillside, never having been harvested or fussed with much at all. 

Try to see it from the inside out however, and it’s a whole different picture.  In the most accessible portion, after about 15-20 feet, it becomes very dark and very tangled.  Years of dead and dying bamboo culms, shards and bits, thrown in every conceivable haphazard way, block the way amongst the crowds of vertical and leaning bamboo that are currently alive and thriving with billowing layers of branches full of bamboo leaves way above your head, that at times nearly block out sunlight completely.

It’s a wild contrast to our relatively young (-10) home grove, which sees regular harvesting and contains the primary ingress to our home. We keep well maintained trails and if any dead bamboo debris should accumulate, it’s quickly removed.  I think both of these groves are the same species, or at least very closely related, so to see the stark contrast between the two is quite interesting.