Vertical Soak Diffusion for Bamboo Preservation

Bamboo culms are a natural material susceptible to insect and fungal attack. Without treatment products made from bamboo can be expected to last for only up to 3 years.

There are many different techniques for curing and treating bamboo culms in order to prevent splitting,insect infection and fungal growth. In this booklet we present the Vertical Soak Diffusion (VSD) method which uses minimally toxic borates as preservatives. The method has been tested in Indonesia using three species of bamboo: Dendrocalamus asper Gigantochloa apus Gigantochloa atter see local names in Appendix.

If you are intending to use other species of bamboo, follow the methodology in this booklet to treat a small section (1-2 internodes) and observe insect attact.

Whereas bamboo treated by the modified boucherie system (a pressure system introduced by Prof. Dr. Liese, Hamburg, Germany) is appropriate for large scale plantations growing bamboo for construction timber, furniture and some crafts the VSD system works well with small-plantation situations and community development work in rural villages.