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Bamboo leaves and termites

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 7:41 am
by sammylal
Hi
i live in Jaipur,the capital of the desert state of Rajasthan in India where we have very little rainfall and a very hot and dry climate most of the year.
We own a 5 acre farm which i have developed into a scrub forest with mixed tree varieties ,including fruit trees.
As there isn`t enough sub-soil water in our bore wells ,we buy water to irrigate the trees and plants.
i was thinking of using dried bamboo leaves as mulch for checking moisture evaporation from my tree beds.
However as we have a huge termite problem on our land,i wanted to know whether dry bamboo leaves would attract termites like leaves from other trees ?
i ask this because i find that bamboo leaves decompose into leaf compost a lot slower than other `leaves and maybe their sort of leathery quality might act as a termite deterrent?
thanks.
Sammy

Re: Bamboo leaves and termites

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 6:30 pm
by Tarzanus
I'm not sure about what bamboo species you're talking, but I think most of them have higher silica content than tree leaf litter. I have no idea if that would repel your local termites, but I kind of doubt that.

I did notice however, that bamboo leaves tend to make soil richer. I guess it would be best to try and see how it goes. You can always rake the leaves if you see that it attracts termites.

Re: Bamboo leaves and termites

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:42 am
by sammylal
Thanks. Yes, i could do that.