Our Commitment to Research, Since 2012

In 2012, we engaged NCSU (Dept. of Paper & Pulp Sciences) to evaluate the feasibility of using timber bamboo (purpose grown in the Southeast) to mix with loblolly pine for pulp and paper production.   

Our research trip to India (2014) brought us to a bamboo tissue culture lab as well as working farms, highlighting key elements of a functional bamboo industry including propagation, planting, harvesting, and distribution. 

We were the first to plant a 40 acre timber bamboo research farm in 2013 (Eastern NC) with key timber bamboo species of the Genus Phyllostachys, including Henon, Rubro, Bambusoides, Moso of the North, and Vivax.

Since 2019, through our partnered tissue culture laboratory, we have funded the micro-tissue propagation of Phyllostachys Nigra 'Henon Giant Grey Timber' and are now the largest bamboo plant stock provider in Eastern North Carolina. We compared Henon to other timber bamboos over time and selected Henon as the focus, for its superior characteristics, such as vigor, thick walled straight poles, high yields, and cold tolerance as well as best growing performance to our Southeastern climate. We anticipated the flowering of this variety and used proprietary in vitro techniques to reset the cycle, so that our Henon starts may grow for a century before flowering again, despite the current gregarious event. This was very important as P. Nigra Henon groves do not produce viable seeds and are at risk of dying. 

We remain a proud sponsor of the NC State University SAFI Consortium, which is investigating the potential of 5 US grown, non-wood fibers. Our timber bamboo is a great sustainable hardwood fiber alternative option for reducing our dependence on harvesting natural forests for single use paper tissue and container board products. Some of the worlds largest paper companies are members of the consortium and they all recognize that bamboo is the most widely used non-wood fiber in the world currently. Our goal is to establish America's largest timber bamboo fiber value chain in the Southeast. More on this to come. 

We encourage natural, biological growing methods on our bamboo farms and in our nurseries. Our research seeks to understand the microorganisms that make up the bamboo microbiome and influence everything from soil structure and nutrient cycling, adaptation to stress, and growth performance.  We perform soil microbiology assessments in order to understand these biotic factors and conditions driving the health of our timber bamboo.