Yep. I saw a sibling comment after I posted that mentioned that. It seems like a nice way to skip an additional step! Thanks for point that out!
Also during the 4 year wait for it to harden it doesn’t increase in size. So there wouldn’t be a decrease in the amount of bamboo harvested, it would just allow it to be harvested every year instead of every 4.
Bamboo is already harvest every year. Every year new shoots come up out of the ground. The shoots start to form in the winter about one meter away from mature culms. In the spring the shoots emerge from the ground and quickly grow to full height. Changing the harvest schedule will not increase the availability of bamboo, since already all new culms are harvest, just after they become four years old - the system is steady state.
If you harvest all of them at once, you have 4x the amount, since each generation gives space to a new one instead of sitting around for an extra 3 years.
Also during the 4 year wait for it to harden it doesn’t increase in size. So there wouldn’t be a decrease in the amount of bamboo harvested, it would just allow it to be harvested every year instead of every 4.