How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bamboo?

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stevelau1911
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How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bamboo?

Post by stevelau1911 »

Here are the 2 techniques I generally use to measure the height of a culm. I generally stand, measure the culm from the ground up to around 7ft, then mark that point, and use the measuring tape, and measure up, but this becomes ineffective once the culms pass 13ft since the tape becomes floppy so I would use a ladder.

Another technique I currently use is 2 10ft steel pipes with measuring marks on one of them which will work fine with bamboos from 10-20ft tall.

One thing I know is that it would become very difficult to get an accurate measurement once they get well over 20ft tall. I guess to get a measurement, I would need to have a super long 40ft pvc with measurement marks, and stand it up, then look at it from a distance to see how high the shoots have grown. Aside from that, I can't think of another way unless you cut down the culms themselves to measure.

I've found that you really can't determine a bamboo's height by the diameter alone, even on the same flush of shoots of the same species. It may be close for the most part, but the largest diameter shoot doesn't seem to always get the tallest if the difference is not that big.
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Re: How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bam

Post by dependable »

It is hard to measure the tall ones accurately. When measuring my vivax I ended up cutting one down because it was damaged anyway. There is a forestry tool called a clinometer that one can site though to determine height, but most are over $100.
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Re: How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bam

Post by needmore »

I usually cut down a tall rubro pole and start tying surveyors tape - alternating colors - every foot then just stand it up see where the culm tip hits the tape.
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David
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Re: How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bam

Post by David »

Just grab the culm as high as you can and bend it over and measure it. Good to have an assistant, but you can secure the tape measure to the bottom of the culm and do it yourself. Anything too big to bend over is really tall. You would likely have to do the shadow trig thing.

Note added: Don't try this with new culms before they harden off!
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Re: How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bam

Post by JWH »

I have a 20ft PVC pipe I use to help measure, when it's taller than my pipe I guesstimate the remainder :P
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Re: How would you get an accurate measurement on a 20ft+ bam

Post by foxd »

For really tall I do a guesstimate based on comparing the height to a known height from a distance. So if I have someone standing near the grove I stand a distance away and compare how many body lengths it takes to reach the top of the grove.
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