I have decided to plant Arundo Donax in my yard. Two days ago I harvested a bunch of cane from the first site I found the wild stuff growing in and transplanted it into three large pots in order to get sprouts going. Ted, this comes from the same family of cane from which I sent you tubes.
I harvested three sizes of diameter, 18-20mm, 20-23mm and 23-25mm, and I saved a few stalks of the green stuff to study while it dries… this experiment will take a couples of years.
I also harvested some dry stuff from a different site to see what kind of reeds it will make.
Tomorrow, my wife, dog and I are going to take a road trip up to the Ocala (FL) area where I spotted and harvested cane that I spied on my way back from the 2005 Florida Tionol. The samples I took look promising and there were also plenty of examples of drone reed sized cane with this particular cane break. There were one or two other sites I came across. and if I have the time, I will take samples from these areas.
For those who are interested, I’ll keep you posted on what I am able to discover and harvest.
…the world is struck by “unusual” weather, storms ravage the once fertile spanish cane fields…california is buried under glaciers of mud…and Joe Smith is left with the only supple of Arundo Donax in the world. Coincidentally, at the precise moment that disaster strikes his entire crop has just matured…The price of donax soars..
closing scene…Joe sitting on the beach with his beautiful wife, wearing a straw hat, smoking a big fat cuban cigar, counting his blood covered arundo donax fortune. Joe, the Donax Czar!
..then I awake from my dream, and realize…aww heck, he’s in florida..it’ll snap off in a year or two anyways!
Nice looking plant. It looks like some of the bamboo I have in my yard. If bamboo grows 30 feet in Michigan, I’m sure your cane should do well in Florida.
Glad to know you’re workin hard to keep us supplied with cane. Ur a good man Joseph. Remind me to buy you a bag of Doritos and some Diet Coke next time I see you…
Gary, I have a box of stuff ranging from 19mm-22mm I will be sending you in a couple of days. The long stuff needs to cure a good while longer (place it next to the other cane you have curing) but I also included a handfull of shorter tubes that ought to be ready to work with.
When I am up in Ocala today, I will keep my eye out for more of the smaller stuff. I am thinking that eventually you will have a lifetime supply of it.
This break is close to 25’ high. That’s a 2 and 1/2 ton flatbed truck in the background
to give just a little scale to the picture.
I was able to find good tenor drone reed sized branches with this harvest, the amount of which I have yet to determine… time to get the hand jig and get busy.
I went back up to Ocala this morning with the sole purpose of digging out a few rhizomes, and I was successful, but my shovel expired under the stress…
They are pretty tough to dig out. But they looked healthy and I noticed a few spikes ready to spring…
Eventually, by next February/March, by backyard will have a few more of these stacked around it…
After our rain here in California, our beaches are now littered with the damn stuff. Here is a beach a couple miles south of La Conchita that is normally pristine sand. Look at it now:
I suppose it depends on how long the stuff has been floating around in the salt water, but I’ll bet there’s some good stuff to had out there on those beaches.
Well, I guess I should harvest some of it and try rinsing it out and hanging it up to air dry in the shed. Maybe in a few years, it could be usable.
There is an old story that Stradivarius used wood that had been floated down a river - so maybe a good soaking is the magic process. (I doubt it, however).
But, I’m thinking, the river wasn’t salt water… still, can’t hurt to try. There may be dirt on the ‘bark’, but try rubbing it off and see if it (the bark) is still shiny. The only concern I would have is the effect that the salt water has had on the inside of the stalks… hopefully the node barriers prevented too much leakage. If anything, they might have even acted like a filter, only allowing the water through.
Thanks, I’ll need it I think…ummm, and so will my wife. The dog, on the other hand, will have plenty of new sticks to play with. 
