Page 14 - Landscape-Issue125

FEATURE

BAMBOO BEAUTY

Bamboo, one of the fastest growing plants on earth, is a sustainable, renewable
resource. With modern advances in manufacturing technology, it can be
transformed into engineered products which are ideally suited to outdoor

landscaping environments in the form of decking, flooring, cladding, fencing
and outdoor furniture. It is carbon neutral and a durable alternative to timber.

he plant is a very tall grass, with large
woody stems called culms that are
Tdivided into sections by nodes. They
spread by tough, underground stems or
rhizomes, and the two types of bamboo –
clumping or running – are defined by the
growth habits of their rhizomes. Clumping
bamboo has rhizomes that grow in an
enlarging circle but stay close to the parent
plant, so the spread is steady but slow.
Running bamboo has a habit of quickly
spreading its woody rhizomes out and
away from the parent plant, sending its
shoots up through lawns and garden beds.
Giant species can grow up to 40-50 feet
(approx. 15.24 metres) with wide diameter
culms, and these varieties are well suited
for construction and outdoor use.
MOSO® Bamboo X-treme®
To transform bamboo into a long-lasting
product for outdoor use, various measures
need to be taken; one of these is increasing
the density of the bamboo and combining
this with a special heat treatment to
improve stability and durability. This is
called the ‘thermo density’ treatment, a
process which increases the hardness of
the product. MOSO® Bamboo X-treme® is
one such engineered bamboo product,
and being made from natural bamboo
material, it can vary in colour, grain and
appearance.

Decking
Due to its fast growth and the fact that
bamboo stems can be harvested after just
four to five years, bamboo is an eco-friendly
alternative to other materials. Moso®
bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource
that does not result in deforestation, as
the plant does not die when the stems are
harvested.
After processing the raw material
into a decking board, MOSO® bamboo
is extremely hard, stable and durable.
The boards remain flat and straight, with
very limited shrinkage and swelling from
temperature and humidity fluctuations.
The surface may become rougher
over time, which is normal, but it can be
minimised by annual maintenance, as is
Bamboo is an extremely tall, fast growing grass and a sustainable, renewable resource the case with conventional timber decking.