Can bamboo be grown with seawater?

Zamunda

unread,

Oct 30, 2010, 5:06:58 PM10/30/10

to

I was in the Middle East and saw charcoal shipped from Africa which got
me thinking. Rather than those Africans loosing trees, I wondered
whether people in ME could have charcoal from the bamboo tree and grown
locally with the salted water that was around me at the time.

--
Zamunda

harry

unread,

Oct 31, 2010, 4:14:54 AM10/31/10

to

No. But mangrove can. But it's all about economics. And muslims
don't give a toss about the environment because allah looks after all
that stuff.

Jeff Layman

unread,

Oct 31, 2010, 5:49:32 AM10/31/10

to

There are some fairly salt-tolerant eucalypts around. too. But as for
mangroves, it would encourage coastal erosion if these were harvested
for charcoal. They are pretty fussy as to where they will grow, too,
which is why they are only in certain tropical and warm temperate areas.

--

Jeff

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Oct 31, 2010, 3:54:04 PM10/31/10

to

Motile trees now?

Zounds!

--
Rusty

harry

unread,

Oct 31, 2010, 3:24:37 PM10/31/10

to

Nah . I have seen mangrove swamps/forests in many places in the
tropics.. They are vulnerable to erosion, pollution and being
chopped down for firewood.

echinosum

unread,

Nov 1, 2010, 6:03:48 AM11/1/10

to

'Jeff Layman[_2_ Wrote:
> ;904115'] But as for

> mangroves, it would encourage coastal erosion if these were harvested
> for charcoal. They are pretty fussy as to where they will grow, too,
> which is why they are only in certain tropical and warm temperate areas.

Now if mangroves were grown in places where they do not currently grow
at all, why should the subsequent economic harvesting cause coastal
erosion? Surely quite the reverse would be the case. And surely if
they were economically managed, rather than cut down for free by anyone
who can get at them, the owners would look after them carefully
regardless of their cultural background.

Mangroves do grow along the Red Sea coast, and Persian gulf coast, so
they are native to the region. But they grow only in tiny areas: there
are less than 5 sq km of mangrove in Egypt, and are now all protected.
There are surely extensive areas that have been lost from.

So there would seem to be scope for expanding their range. Whether it
could be an economic project harvesting some of the output, that seems a
more difficult question.

In fact people have already tried, and discovered it is not easy. See
the wikipedia article 'Mangrove - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia'
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove) near the bottom.

I am not aware of any salt-tolerant bamboo. They also are mostly very
thirsty plants, so probably not the best choice for Middle East.

--
echinosum

Jeff Layman

unread,

Nov 1, 2010, 2:44:28 PM11/1/10

to

On 01/11/2010 10:03, echinosum wrote:
> 'Jeff Layman[_2_ Wrote:
>> ;904115'] But as for
>> mangroves, it would encourage coastal erosion if these were harvested
>> for charcoal. They are pretty fussy as to where they will grow, too,
>> which is why they are only in certain tropical and warm temperate areas.
> Now if mangroves were grown in places where they do not currently grow
> at all, why should the subsequent economic harvesting cause coastal
> erosion? Surely quite the reverse would be the case. And surely if
> they were economically managed, rather than cut down for free by anyone
> who can get at them, the owners would look after them carefully
> regardless of their cultural background.

It was an extrapolation. Once people find out that something can be
exploited, they start exploiting it from areas where it hasn't been
artificially planted. Just think of places like Bangladesh; if
mangroves were able to be exploited for charcoal, I am sure it would
have been done there, and goodness knows what would happen to that
low-lying land if the mangroves went.

--

Jeff

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Nov 2, 2010, 4:36:59 PM11/2/10

to

echinosum wrote:

> I am not aware of any salt-tolerant bamboo. They also are mostly very
> thirsty plants, so probably not the best choice for Middle East.

Corsica pine is relatively salt-tolerant.

--
Rusty

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Nov 2, 2010, 4:41:01 PM11/2/10

to

Jeff Layman wrote:

> It was an extrapolation. Once people find out that something can be
> exploited, they start exploiting it from areas where it hasn't been
> artificially planted. Just think of places like Bangladesh; if
> mangroves were able to be exploited for charcoal, I am sure it would
> have been done there, and goodness knows what would happen to that
> low-lying land if the mangroves went.

OTOH, if they could be persuaded to grow on the coast (much of which is
pretty low-lying) they could be managed so that it would prevent erosion
and indeed, encourage silting, giving partial protection from storms and
tsunami, and provide a useful crop.

--
Rusty

Zamunda

unread,

Nov 4, 2010, 4:40:29 PM11/4/10

to

'Rusty Hinge[_2_ Wrote:
> ;904278']Jeff Layman wrote:
> -

> It was an extrapolation. Once people find out that something can be
> exploited, they start exploiting it from areas where it hasn't been
> artificially planted. Just think of places like Bangladesh; if
> mangroves were able to be exploited for charcoal, I am sure it would
> have been done there, and goodness knows what would happen to that

> low-lying land if the mangroves went.-

>
> OTOH, if they could be persuaded to grow on the coast (much of which is
>
> pretty low-lying) they could be managed so that it would prevent erosion
>
> and indeed, encourage silting, giving partial protection from storms and
>
> tsunami, and provide a useful crop.
>
> --
> Rusty

I did not thought about coastal erosion, but it is a good consideration.
For this problem, wouldn't channelling the seawater inland be more
effective?

With the UK being blessed with sea, I would have thought we may take the
lead and experiment with such ideas.

--
Zamunda

echinosum

unread,

Nov 5, 2010, 10:14:50 AM11/5/10

to

Zamunda;904370 Wrote:
> With the UK being blessed with sea, I would have thought we may take the
> lead and experiment with such ideas.

It rains enough we don't need to. The idea of deliberately putting salt
water on land would be thought utter madness, since it kills most
plants, and it takes ages to make the land good again.

People usually experiment with cultivation of halophytes (salt tolerant
plants)in the kind of places you would expect - where deserts are
adjacent to the sea.

--
echinosum

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Nov 6, 2010, 1:24:45 PM11/6/10

to

Zamunda wrote:

> I did not thought about coastal erosion, but it is a good consideration.
> For this problem, wouldn't channelling the seawater inland be more
> effective?
>
> With the UK being blessed with sea, I would have thought we may take the
> lead and experiment with such ideas.

I rather think mangroves might object to our climate, and I can't think
of any indigenous species of tree which doesn't mind its feet in salt
(or even brackish) water.

--
Rusty

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Nov 6, 2010, 1:26:06 PM11/6/10

to

Ah, Southend then, and possibly, Hull...

--
Rusty

Message has been deleted

Rusty Hinge

unread,

Nov 7, 2010, 6:29:00 AM11/7/10

to

Janet wrote:
> In article <ib3vce$i5v$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> rusty...@foobar.girolle.co.uk says...

>> I rather think mangroves might object to our climate,
>

> There goes my plan to run crocodile safaris in the mangrove swamps of
> East Anglia and Firth of Clyde.

Damn! All those woolly crocodile jumpers I was knitting for you! What
shall I do with them now?

--
Rusty

mark

unread,

Nov 7, 2010, 8:38:48 AM11/7/10

to

"harry" <harol...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:15db8ce1-be03-4512...@x42g2000yqx.googlegroups.com...

You sure about that?
Earthquake in Pakistan. Floods in Pakistan. Tsunami in Indonesia, volcanic
eruption in Indonesia and so on....

mark

Message has been deleted