River Cane Growth

[Cupcake]

Two saturdays ago we had a brush fire sweep along the San Luis Rey river.  No damage to property.  A lot of the river cane I have been eyeballing is now ash.  But dang, there is new growth that is up to about 1 foot high already.  I can't wait to see what it will be like at harvest time.  There is nothing else re-growing yet that I have seen.

Southern California is drrrryyyyyy and will burn like heck if we are not careful.

Kevin

[Pat B]

Kevin, It will be next fall('08) before that cane will be ready to harvest for arrow making. If you pick it after the first growing season it is immature and will cure out light and flimsy. I prefer to cut cane the winter or late fall of it's second season.     Pat

[Osagetree]

Good advice, I'd listen to Pat!

[Matt E]

The fire will improve the quality of the  new cane. You should have some good shaft material in two years , as Pat stated.

[Cupcake]

OK, two years it is.  Thanks for the input.

Kevin

[Pat B]

Go find another patch and get usable shoots from it. Two years is a long time to wait for shoots to make arrows.    Pat

[Arrowslinger]

How do you tell when the cane is two years old?

[Pat B]

River cane(each shoot or culm)has a 3 year life cycle. The first year it grows to it's ultimate height. The second year it matures and the shoot becomes thicker. At each node there is a paper like sheath. When that sheath begins to deteriorate, or has fallen off, the cane should be mature enough for arrow making. Also the color of new shoots is bright green. towards the end of the second year it begins to dull out and by the summer of the 3rd year it will be from olive green to tan. Once it turns tan, in the wild, it too far gone for arrows. Ideally, the fall to winter of the second year is the time to harvest it.   Pat

[Arrowslinger]

Thanks Pat.