Byron,Ga

[ChrisM]

I will be attending the Byron, Ga cleanup day for the first time next week and hopefully doing some digging Friday. Is anyone else going that I could look forward to meeting? and maybe put faces to names.
Chris Montross

[David]

Chris,

I would love to go, but I just can't get away from work right now. I dug at Byron last Feb., and met Melanie Dunn, and Mike Hotchkiss. Melanie is the curator of warm season grasses, and Mike works in research. Both are very nice folks, and immensely helpful. Tell them hello for me.

I don't know if you have been to Byron to dig, but I found the following items indispensable.

• Byron bamboo site map
  
  A plan of attach. There are 90 plots and it can be daunting without a plan.
  
  Lots of cold drinking water, and high energy snacks, Tylenol.
  
  2 pairs broken in leather gloves, and disposable latex gloves if you have to dip treat for fireants.
  
  Box of HD 55 gal leaf and yard garbage bags
  
  Roll of paper towels and handi wipes
  
  A very very sharp steel handled flat blade spade.
  
  A sharp axe, and a plunge cut saw, like they use to cut drywall
  
  A pair of HD long handled pruners that you don't mind cutting in the ground with
  
  Plant tags
  
  Sharpie markers. I just write the ID on the culm, or rhizome.
  
  Packing tape
  
  Tarp
  
  100ft 1/4" rope
  
  A helper would be great, but I didn't have one.
  
  
  They let you drive your truck around the groves so you can take all the tools you can think of.
  
  They will let you dig 3 pcs out of each grove. The escapees from the concrete barriers are much easier to dig than inside the containment.
  
  I got there when the gates opened, and left at 1500 with a truck load of bamboo. Yes, I was exhausted, but it was worth it. Good luck!
  
  David

[CadyG]

My boyfriend and I went there a few years ago, but not on the cleanup day. Mike Hotchkiss was supposed to meet us and let us in, but evidently forgot, as we arrived to several blank faces that weren't expecting us.

But they were nice and let us spend the day there, browsing through the bamboo patches. I have to say, there were some nice specimens there, many of which were naturalized in the woods surrounding the field station.

I would love to go for a cleanup day and bag some P. nigra and S. fastuosa!

[sporkandbeans]

wow, this sounds tempting. A bamboo free-for-all?

How long has this been going on? Is there a good website explaining this 'cleanup day'?

[David]

S and B,

This is the only website that I know about which I got from thuja Mike.

http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/site.pl?S9

They allow digging every year during Feb., and Melanie lets poeple who help with the clean up to dig in Oct.

Melanie would be the person to contact.
mharrison-dunn@ars-grin.gov


David

[bambooweb]

From the American Bamboo Society, Southeast Chapter's 2006 Activity report:

USDA Bamboo Collection Cleanup

On April 1st eleven members assisted Melanie Harrison-Dunn in cleaning a portion of the USDA Temperate Bamboo germplasm collection at the USDA Lab in Byron, GA. Eight of the workers were Chapter members and three were prospective members. A second workday is scheduled for October 21st.

Bill

[hotchkiss]

Here is a link http://www.sec-bamboo.org/events/upcoming/upcomming.htm to information on our chapters website.

Mike