Bambusa tulda (Jati bans)
A bamboo of the North-East and East with thin-walled culms 5 to 10 cm across and 6 to 20 m tall. KFRI lists scaffolding, mats, baskets, paper and edible shoots for pickle among its uses, and calls it important for the agarbatti industry.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Bamboo
- Type
- Vegetatively propagated species
- Season
- All seasons
- Rotation age
- First cut year 4–5
- Expected yield
- No yield figure published
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No disease data published
- Release
- A native North-East Indian species and National Bamboo Mission species; no bred cultivar
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Bambusa tulda (jati bans) is listed by KFRI in 14 Indian states, up to 1500 m, including the North-East, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The culms are thin-walled, 5 to 10 cm across and 6 to 20 m tall, with long internodes of 36 to 60 cm. KFRI lists scaffolding, paper, mats, baskets, toys and pickle from the shoots as uses, and its leaflet calls it an important species for the agarbatti industry. KFRI gives a flowering cycle of 30 to 60 years and a spacing of 5 x 5 m.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Bambusa tulda if you sell to agarbatti, mat, basket or paper buyers in the humid North-East and East. KFRI describes thin-walled culms 5 to 10 cm across and 6 to 20 m tall with long internodes, and lists scaffolding, mats, baskets, paper and edible shoots for pickle among the uses. KFRI gives 5 x 5 m spacing, about 400 clumps a hectare, while an ICAR trial in Arunachal Pradesh favoured 7 x 7 m, 204 clumps. Do not choose it for strong structural poles, where Bambusa balcooa is thicker-walled. Match the cutting age to your product, since mats, pulp and structural poles each want a different age.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Long internodes of 36 to 60 cm, which suit mats, baskets and sticks (KFRI).
- An important species for the agarbatti industry (KFRI).
Things to consider
- Best known in the humid North-East and East; we found no yield trial for dry regions.
- Thin walls make it a poor pick for strong structural poles. Bambusa balcooa is thicker-walled.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Assam
- Tripura
- West Bengal
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
Matching the cut to the sale: culm age by product
A bamboo culm changes as it ages. KFRI says the starch and moisture content fall and the lignin rises, so the culm gets harder. It is strongest at about 3 to 4 years and then slowly turns brittle until it dies in its seventh or eighth year. Cutting at the wrong age costs you either strength or product life.
KFRI's harvest table pairs age with use. Young shoots of 0 to 30 days are food. Culms of 0 to 1 year suit basketry and rope. Culms of 1 to 2 years suit baskets and mats. Culms of 2 to 3 years suit furniture, non-structural uses, paper and pulp. Culms of 3 to 4 years suit structural uses and industry, including scaffolding. Younger culms carry more starch and moisture, so they decay and attract insects faster.
For a tulda clump, that means you rarely cut everything at one age. Paint each year's new culms in a different colour, as KFRI suggests, and sort by age at harvest. Send the 1 to 2 year culms to the mat buyer, the 2 to 3 year culms to the pulp or stick buyer, and keep the 3 to 4 year culms for scaffolding. Ask each buyer for the age and diameter they take before you cut.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Bamboo variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Rotation age | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bambusa balcooa (Bhaluka) | Farmers with good soil and assured water who plant bamboo for strong poles, construction and industry | First cut year 4–5; full production year 7–8 | No yield figure published; thick-walled culms of 12 to 22 m (KFRI) | Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra |
| Bambusa bambos (Kanta bans) | Farmers on dry or poor land in the south and centre who want a very strong, tall pole and can handle a thorny clump | First cut year 4–5 | No yield figure published; strong culms of 20 to 30 m (KFRI) | Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Odisha |
| Bambusa tulda (Jati bans)this page | Farmers in the humid North-East and East who sell to agarbatti, mat, basket and paper buyers | First cut year 4–5 | No yield figure published | Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland |
| Beema Bamboo | Farmers with assured irrigation who want uniform planting stock and will read a buy-back contract line by line | First cut year 4; heavy yield year 7–9 | No independent yield figure; the company claims a heavy yield in years 7 to 9 | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat |
| Dendrocalamus asper (sweet bamboo) | Farmers near a shoot market who can give deep soil and water, and who plan the clump for shoots | Shoot harvest from year 3–4 | No yield figure published | Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram |
| Dendrocalamus hamiltonii (Kako bans) | Farmers in the hill states of the North-East and sub-Himalaya who want poles and edible shoots from one bamboo | First cut year 4–5 | No yield figure published | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal, Nagaland |
| Dendrocalamus strictus (male bamboo) | Farmers on dry, poor, rainfed land in central and eastern India, and anyone stabilising degraded or sloping land | First cut year 5–6 (slower on dry land) | About 3.5 t culms/ha a year from 400 clumps/ha (PROSEA); varies widely | Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Bamboo is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Bamboo plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Bamboo variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Bamboo into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Bamboo rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Frequently asked questions
At what culm age should I cut Bambusa tulda for mats, sticks or pulp?
KFRI's table gives 1 to 2 years for basketry and mats, 2 to 3 years for furniture, non-structural uses and paper and pulp, and 3 to 4 years for structural uses such as scaffolding. It does not list agarbatti sticks, so ask your buyer what age and diameter they want and test a few culms. Young culms hold more starch and moisture, and are more prone to decay and insects.
Can I grow Bambusa tulda outside the North-East?
KFRI lists it in 14 Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, up to 1500 m, and says it may have been introduced to central and southern India and then naturalised. It is less productive in dry or low-rainfall regions. Outside the humid belt, try a few clumps first and ask your KVK or forest research centre for local results.
When does a Bambusa tulda clump flower?
KFRI gives a flowering cycle of 30 to 60 years and lists flowering in Bengal in 1867 to 1868, 1930 and 1936, in Assam in 1886, 1910 and 1930, and at Dehra Dun in 1986. A clump planted in 2026 would flower between about 2056 and 2086. The wide range means you cannot predict the year, so keep your plantation in blocks of different ages.
Is it worth cutting tulda shoots for pickle?
KFRI lists pickle making among its edible uses. Each shoot you cut is a culm you will not get, and KFRI says to cut at 15 to 50 cm and leave the strongest few shoots to grow into mother bamboo. If you grow for sticks or mats, keep shoot cutting small. If you want a shoot business, Dendrocalamus asper is the bamboo grown for shoots.
What spacing, and how many clumps a hectare?
KFRI gives 5 x 5 m for Bambusa tulda in both its leaflet and its species database. That is 400 clumps a hectare. An ICAR trial at Basar, Arunachal Pradesh (2002 to 2006) tried 5 x 5, 6 x 6 and 7 x 7 m and found 7 x 7 m best for tulda by culm productivity after 5 years, which is 204 clumps. KFRI's spacing page says 5 x 5 to 7 x 7 m for medium bamboos of 8 to 15 cm. Dig pits of 30 x 30 x 30 to 45 x 45 x 45 cm for cuttings and seedlings, and plant in the early rains.
Sourced from: Bambusa tulda — KFRI Bamboo Technical Support Group species database, Harvesting and yield of bamboo — KFRI Bamboo Technical Support Group, Bamboo cultivation leaflet — KFRI BTSG, National Bamboo Mission, Singh, Sarangi and Shukla, Effect of spacing on the early performance of selected bamboo species at a mid hill of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Journal of Agroforestry 11(1), 2009. editorial policy.