Keywords: 
• silviculture /
• Dendrocalamopsis oldhami /
• bamboo cultivation /
• large buds /
• shooting order

Abstract: Dendrocalamopsis oldhami，a monopodial bamboo，is an excellent species for edible bamboo shoot bud and timber. To explore and improve its cultivation technologies，1） shooting order of large buds（initial generation） with an attaching sequence on the bamboo root-ball from bottom to top of first，second，third，and fourth bud，in turn，and sub generation buds with shooting from the root-ball of the initial generation bamboo culm as well as 2） their role in cultivation were studied by investigation in the bamboo plantation of Pingyang County，Zhejiang Province，in 2007. Results showed that the shooting sequence of the large buds on the root-ball was second，third，fourth，and first，in turn. Shoot yield of the third bud was highest （247.60 g·m-2） followed by the second （239.30 g·m-2） and first （222.40 g·m-2） buds with the fourth bud lowest （70.60 g·m-2）. The distance between large buds （from the first to the fourth） and mother bamboo culms were：24.32，19.48，13.06，and 8.44 cm. Compared to the mother bamboo culms，bamboo DBH （diameter at breast height） of the first and second buds was significantly greater（P＜0.01）；the third bud was no difference（P＞0.05）；and the fourth bud was less（P＜0.01）. For sub generation buds distance from mother bamboo culms was greater than for mother bamboo buds with no major differences between sub generation bamboo culm DBH and the initial geration bamboo culm. So for continuous cultivation，it was necessary to keep the middle or lower large buds on the root-ball，and because of poor shoot quality，lower yield，and a decreasing DBH ，it was better to remove the fourth bud to reduce nutrient consumption and promote shooting of other buds. Also，sub generation buds had great potential in promoting cultivation.［Ch，5 tab. 10 ref.］