Bamboo treatment

Background

This bamboo receiving area was recently built but within months it was noticed that termites were forming trails.

At left one can see termite mud trails.

Goals of treating bamboo

Maximize the longevity of the bamboo while maintaining organic standards

Inspiration

Came from this video

Materials Used

• 90 pieces bamboo were gathered from the property

• 2 kilo borax & 2 kilo boric acid. Both comply with OMRI organic farming standards.

Ratio:

6% borax acid

4% boric acid

90% clean water

Actions Taken

We used the 9mm rebar length by 3 meters then fattened the other side so that it was easier to make a hole inside the bamboo. It is hard to pull inside out because the nodes are wide.

After we pierced the inside of the bamboo we cut the end so that we could quickly put the solution inside and also using a funnel so that the solution does not spill.

How do we improve our work next time?

• I didn’t calculate or ask how much materials were needed and didn’t purchase enough which put us in the situation of lower quality or slowing the project down. When we planned fencing, we had an entire plan where we determined where to add fencing and calculated everything and ordered the right materials. Going forward, the intent is to plan at least a couple weeks out

• Encourage more process improvements like this. Our farm manager is taking a Coursera course on six sigma so she can help build a culture around process improvement.