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Best bamboo for quick dense bamboo fence???

11 years ago

I'm looking to grow a bamboo fence along my existing fence. I suppose I would need the running type bamboo as it is more invasive than the clump type. Which types of bamboo should I grow that will provide a dense privacy wall by end of summer, assuming I plant a row of plants 3-6' apart? Thanks in advance!

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jonjfarr
11 years ago
Where are you?
Clumping bamboo makes a quick dense hedge very quickly.
If you can plant clumping, consider your height and how far out your bamboo can lean.
If you don't want it to lean, then pick one that grows straighter than others.
A tight clumper will send up new canes right next to the older canes with little or no space.
Good for keeping out the neighbor's dog.
While an open clumper will send up new canes at a greater distance to older canes, the branching in many open clumpers are dense.
Open clumpers are easier to maintain in most cases. Clumping bamboo is cheaper because you don't need a rhizome barrier.
Barriers can be very pricey and laborious.
One of the most popular hedge bamboos are textillis gracillis.
I don't know what zone you're in, but if you're subtropical or tropical, plant a specimen, like Yin Yang or Wamin. They'll perform great as hedges and the canes are beautiful.
Wamin gets about fifteen feet tall here in Florida and extremely bushy.
If you plant one root every 3-6', you will need to purchase larger pots of bamboo with multiple canes to get some privacy, but you won't get a dense privacy wall by the end of summer with any bamboo.
Each clumping bamboo cane has eight buds on its rhizome root.
Each of those buds become shoots-then canes.
Each of those new canes can shoot from their own eight buds the following year.
Bamboo shoots 1-8 new canes from its rhizome (depending on species) each season..
So, lets say you plant one cane, and you're lucky and it shoots 8 times by summer.
Then you'll have 9 canes 1 old plus 8 new.
The old one has shot out all buds so no new canes from her.
Probably not a dense wall by end of summer.
But let's say you're lucky and next year all 8 new canes send out 8 each.
Then you have 73 living canes.
Dendrocalamus Minor Ameonus "Angel mist" is a prolific shooter and gracillis as well.
They are your best bet for a wall, but if you just need privacy, plant wamin, because it has the most branches and leaves per vertical foot than any other bamboo on earth, by a long shot (exception potted ventricosa).
If you buy big pots with big roots of wamin, you could have all the privacy you need by August.
Clumping bamboo establishes quicker than running bamboo, but running bamboo catches up after a few years.
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