Dendrocalamus hamiltonii (Kako bans)
A large bamboo of the North-East and sub-Himalayan states with thick-walled culms 10 to 18.5 cm across and 12 to 20 m tall (KFRI). Used for building, furniture and handicrafts, and its shoots are eaten.
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
Dendrocalamus hamiltonii (Kako bans) is a large clumping bamboo that KFRI lists in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. KFRI describes thick-walled culms 10 to 18.5 cm across and 12 to 20 m tall, with internodes of 30 to 50 cm. Its uses are building, edible shoots, furniture, handicrafts and floats for timber rafts. KFRI gives a flowering cycle of 30 to 40 years and a spacing of 5 x 5 m. Its sweetish young shoots are a staple regional food, eaten fresh and fermented.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Dendrocalamus hamiltonii if you farm in the hill states of the North-East or sub-Himalaya and want poles and edible shoots. KFRI lists thick-walled culms of 10 to 18.5 cm across and 12 to 20 m tall, with building, edible shoots, furniture, handicrafts and floats for timber rafts as uses, and 5 x 5 m spacing. Its flowering cycle is 30 to 40 years. Do not choose it for the dry plains. KFRI gives no altitude for it, so confirm local trials with your forest research centre.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Long internodes of 30 to 50 cm and thick walls (KFRI).
- Several uses: building, furniture, handicrafts and floats for timber rafts.
- The young shoots are a regional food, eaten fresh and fermented.
Things to consider
- Best documented for hill states. We found no yield trial for the dry plains.
- Flowers every 30 to 40 years, and the clump then dies.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Assam
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Meghalaya
- Sikkim
- West Bengal
- Nagaland
Buying a clump with a known history: questions about the mother plant
A bamboo clump lives for 30 to 40 years before it flowers (KFRI gives this cycle for Dendrocalamus hamiltonii), and the plantlets you buy are cuttings of an older plant. So the age and history of the mother plant matter more than for most crops. A planting made from a clump that is close to flowering can lose its stock in a few years.
Ask the nursery five things. Where did the mother clump grow, and in which state? How old is it? When did it last flower, if ever? What is the wall thickness and diameter of its culms at 3 to 4 years? Can you see it? KFRI lists the species as thick-walled with culms of 10 to 18.5 cm, so check that the mother matches that. Also ask for the planting material to be a culm cutting or tissue-culture plantlet, not a seedling of unknown parentage.
Write the answers on the bill. KFRI's flowering records for the species, Assam in 1905, 1912, 1956 and 1981 to 1982 and Punjab in 1992, show that flowering does happen within a region over a few years. A nursery that cannot name its mother clump gives you no way to tell how far along the plants are. Walk away from one that cannot answer.
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) | 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)this page | 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
Are Kako bans culms thick-walled or thin-walled?
KFRI's species database lists Dendrocalamus hamiltonii as thick-walled, with culms 10 to 18.5 cm across and internodes 30 to 50 cm. Wall thickness differs from clump to clump and with site. Before you buy a large lot, cut and measure one culm from the nursery's mother clump at the age you plan to harvest, so you know what your buyer will get.
What spacing does Dendrocalamus hamiltonii need?
KFRI's species database gives 5 x 5 m, 400 clumps a hectare. An ICAR trial at Basar, Arunachal Pradesh (2002 to 2006) found the same: of 5 x 5, 6 x 6 and 7 x 7 m, 5 x 5 m gave the best culm productivity for D. hamiltonii after 5 years. KFRI's spacing page says sympodial species like Dendrocalamus hamiltonii can go at 4 x 5 m or 5 x 5 m, which is 500 or 400 clumps, with each clump holding 6 to 8 culms aged 1 to 2 years. Use the closer spacing only if you will thin each year, because crowded clumps are harder to work.
When will a Kako bans clump flower?
KFRI gives a flowering cycle of 30 to 40 years and lists flowering in Assam in 1905, 1912, 1956 and 1981 to 1982, and in Punjab in 1992. For a clump planted in 2026 that means roughly 2056 to 2066. Ask your nursery where its mother clump grew and when it last flowered. That tells you more about your plants than the year you plant.
Can I grow it outside the North-East?
KFRI lists it in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand, and records a flowering in Punjab in 1992, so it has grown outside the North-East. We found no yield trial for those places. Plant a few clumps first, and ask the forest research centre or your KVK for results near you before you plant a block.
How do I cut its shoots without losing the clump?
KFRI lists edible shoot among its uses. Cut shoots at 15 to 50 cm with a sharp, clean knife, take them from different parts of the clump and not all from one spot, and leave the strongest few to grow into new mother bamboos. Skip diseased or deformed shoots. Keep at least 6 culms over one year old in the clump while you cut.
Sourced from: Dendrocalamus hamiltonii — KFRI Bamboo Technical Support Group species database, Harvesting and yield of bamboo — KFRI Bamboo Technical Support Group, Spacing between bamboo plants — KFRI Bamboo Technical Support Group, 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.