joe-
I was on less than a 0.3 acre lot for a long time and I was growing about 25 kinds of bamboo, and was definitely getting maxed out. Last January I moved to a new place with about 1-1/4 acres. I do have other things planted here like fruit trees, grapes, kiwi vines, flowers, etc., but my focus is still on bamboo. I plan to just keep going until I can't squeeze any more species on this lot, and then...who knows? I'm mainly interested in nice little stands of various species, rather than large groves, so the main thing is for me to be disciplined and root prune and give away divisions as my bamboo grows.

Well compaired to most here I'm slacking, I've got six species (Red margin, Incense, Yellow Groove, Yellow yellow groove, Robert Young and vivax 'haungweitez'(yes I mangled the spelling on that one)) in the ground (and another 3 in containers), on a 1/2 acre lot in small town PA.

Mainly using it around the perimeter of the yard in a 5'-15' wide/deep raised bed. I think I'll add a few more eventially, (Black, Henon, Semiarundinaria fastuosa and virdis are high on my list) but till I put in some more beds I'm maxed out.

My parents have 14 acres up in zone 5 in the NE corner of PA, I think I've got five or six species up there (some overlap with what I have here - I think I added virdis, bissetti and spectabilis) once I eradicate some more briar/honeysuckle I'll probably put another three or four in.

I have about 1/3 of an acre yard in a suburban area. I grow just three different types of bamboo here, but I just started last year. ;) I don't plan on acquiring a lot of species, just a few that I want to make impressive. The back of my lot is 135 feet long, so that is where I have put most of it, to make a screen. I also plan to have a few pots of bamboo on the deck or maybe in the house.

I have over 200 Japanese maples, over 200 conifers, and over 18 different bamboos.Almost half of the bamboos are in pots mostly acquired this year.In the ground for over 4 years are fargesia nitida,robusta, and murielae. Also, phyll nigra and semiarundinaria fastuosa.I have added arrow in it's own rhizome barrier grove last year and vivax aureacal. Alot of bamboos I have in pots are 25gallon pots.
I have less than 1/5 of an acre for everything.[No lawn] and have 2 ponds[10by10 and 14 by 4feet].Talk about MAXED OUT. I do alot of pruning and have a lot of miniature/dwarf conifers and dwarf maples though. I also have some rather large conifers like giant sequoias and dawn redwoods.

Koniferkid

So much land so little bamboo is where I live. I'm mainly interested large groves of various species, rather than little nice stands. First bought 1 in 2004 and added 10 more species in 2005 which is total of 11 so far. Would like to add 15 more or so in 2006. Not sure how they will survive in iowa climates(such as the artic winters). What I would like to do is have 50+ acres of bamboo here, but not if it dies to the ground every year. Right now, I'm only interested in runner bamboos. My goal is to create a forest out of the farm country I live in. I was thinking bamboo would add a great dimension to my plans, so that not only trees are used.

We have 5 hilly, ravine laden acres but it is a long, narrow rectangle and the house sits a little over halfway back so the driveway eats up a pretty significant part of the property. Add in a pond, detached garage, steep slopes and a perimeter of woods all the way around the property and maybe we have a total of 2 acres of plantable land. Thereon I have 140 species of bamboo in a total of around 200 different plantings as I have multiple groves of several species. This still allows room for some large groves to develop where they are allowed to run down the slopes but I have planted the bamboo pretty close together. My goal is to maintain a minimum of 1 & 1 /2 riding mower widths between species but it is tighter than that in some spots.

I'm also finally at a point where it is painless for me to chop down bamboo that is running away, something that would have been very painful for me to do a couple of years ago! For example I just cut down lots of Semiarundinaria Okuboi that was running well into a Nigra patch and I no longer swerve the mower to avoid late season shoots that are coming up several feet outside of the main groves. I think the key to growing lots of species on a limited amount of land is to be willing to go ahead and cull culms that are growing beyond the desired area or to rhizome prune as Kudzu does. I don't rhizome prune, I prefer to just cut/mow the culms that come up where I don't want them.

hoosier52-
For some reason I always imagined you were on some flat hunk of farmland! I was wondering from your description above if your topography is helpful to your success in growing so much bamboo in your Zone. Do you think that the slopes make any difference in wind shielding, in maintaining slightly warmer microclimates, or improved drainage?

I am glad I started this subject, I thought most people here had acres of land growing large groves.

Koniferkid: I would love to see some pictures of your land.

Hoosier: I think you take the prize for bamboo nut.

I started last year and so far I only have 3 b. multiplex goldengoddess b. multiplex silverstripe and an unknows large runner I dug up that I am hoping is still alive.

I definately want more, just looking for deals or free stuff.

My goal is to have a backyward jungle where you cannot see the 2 story condo complex across the road.

On the North side of my property I have a neighbor and chain link fence the goldngoddess should be hiding them in a couple of years. I divided it too aggressivesly when I first planted it and it set it back alot, but it's alive and growing now.

My silvestripe has surprised me how much it has grown since I was just planted this spring.

I would love to plant my whole parimeter and just let it grow like wild, but I have neighbors that I can't have runners going into their yard and I have power lines on the south side of the house.

I started in 2003 with lawn grass sized yellow groove and a 3 gal. P vivax a.. In 2004 used about 100' of HDPE barrier (35" and 60mil thick) to make an oval.

In the oval I've added another P. vivax a (that's actually yellow), bissetti, dwarf green stripe, and Indocalamus tessalatus.

Near the oval there's a F. drach. 'White Dragon'

In front of my deck I planted dwarf white stripe and F. robusta.

On my deck I have a small S. Fastuosa division that I'm trying to get going, a dwarf white stripe that's gonna live in the garage this winter, some P. distichus that I'm trying to get ready to go inside, and a small division of YG getting ready to trade or handout.

I may get some heteroclada and some more fastuosa later this year for inside the barrier????

Started into hosta this year and have other shrubs plants around the house. Have not gotten to the point of planting a large runner outside the barrier with what I've seen with the YG. Also, the area near the barrier is where I would expand, and the property abuts an easement. I have the township/utility people who have rights to the easement, a church owns the property next to mine, and a home owners association to deal with. Guess I should have told them about the barrier in the first place, but if you mention bamboo around here in Pittsburgh 99.9% think of the cute little stuff that grows in water they can get at the mall. All of my knowledge has come from the Internet, a few books, and the people who post on this forum (thanks). I hope to keep trying until I get 2 or 3 that will get over 20' tall and not look like they're dead in late winter for the barrier, and keep a few smaller ornamental types and hardy clumpers.

No huge groves here,
Rick

I have about 35 bamboo species growing on a slightly less than 1 acre lot. The bamboos cover about a fifth of the total area of the lot. Its a mixture of runners (Phyllostachys, Semiarundinaria, Pseudosasa, Pleioblastus, Indocalamus, Sasa, Semiarundinaria, Bashania, Yushania) and clumpers (Bambusa, Borinda, Fargesia). I maintain the mature-sized moso groves by either root pruning or gravel driveway soil compaction and the remainder of the running bamboo by removing any shoots that come up outside of the desired grove area.

I live in the city of Seattle (5000-6000 sf lot) and have 18 or so species.

(Fargesia Nitida,Psuedosasa Japonica,Sasa Veitchii,Sasaella Ramosa,Phyllostachys Aurea 'Tortoise Shell',Phyllostachys Aureosulcata 'Spectablis',Phyllostachys Aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis',Phyllostachys Vivax 'Chinese Timber',Pleioblastus Distichus 'Dwarf Fernleaf',Pleioblastus Viridstriatus,Yushania Anceps 'Pitt White',Chimonobambusa Tumidissinoda,Indocalamus Tessellatus,Pleioblastus Shibuyanus Tsuboi,Bambusa Multiplex 'Golden Goddess',Semiarundinaria fastuosa 'Viridis',Phyllostachys Dulcis,Unknown Dig Division)

Most are small/young, and or dwarfs, only 3 of them have been in the ground more than three years. Lots of pruning and many are growing in large (30gal) containers. My wife thinks I might be crazy.

kudzu, southern Indiana is quite hilly, particularly our county and we're about 700' feet elevation on a ridge that is around 900 feet high but our property is very hilly also. I've been trying to utilize the lay of the land for the microclimates that they may provide but the past 2 winters every species has been topkilled to the snowline (except A Gigantea, Bissetii, and partial Y Groove, Rubro, Decora culm survival) despite it's site so thus far I don't see any winter benefit from the hills & trees.

Rick-I haven't forgotten-the fastuosa is just starting to harden up...I'll send you some soon.

Ok my turn. 6.5 acres. 3 of it flat 3 hilly. Most of my earth is gravel/sand. I have brought in about 80 yrds of good soil in the last year. Much of this soil has gone into my 5 - 8`/16` bamboo boxes. I also have made many raised planting areas. I have about 30 species of bamboo. 90% phyllostachys. My biggest planting is of Nigra, covering a 30` by 30` area. I still have about 10 species in pots that are just waiting for areas to be planted. I bought my first bamboo in 2002.

Hosier: Im surprised you have so many species for your zone. Must be challenging.

I got more than 60 species within 6500sf lot:

- a 20'x10' garden bed with more than 20
huge runners and clumpers (Oldhamii, vivax, Mei Nung,
bory, and so on).
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- a 5'x 25' bed with 6 clumpers and 6 runners
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- a 50'x1' barried "gap" with 7 clumpers and 8 runners

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- a 2'x20 bed with big vivax, candy, and doli

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- a 8'x20' bed with 3 clumpers and 5 runner (Vivax au, ry, lako, all gold and gb ...)

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and indoor bory :)

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I have about 50 species packed onto a 60'X115' piece of property. Dang house gets in the way though!

There's a 15 gallon tub of Phyllostachys decora sitting in my driveway, and I have nowhere to put it. It probably will go on the rear boundary, stuck between P. bissetii and P. rubromarginata. The three can duke it out. It borders a rocky hill owned by an unpleasant abuttor who needs to be screened anyway. heh.

Coolshare-
I think you're going to win the prize in this contest! The only flaw I see is that you have a little bit of lawn left. Get workin'....

Cady, have you considered the possibility that your house is too large for your needs? Maybe that one closet you seldom use or perhaps the kitchen that you only use..well, just 3 times a day? And that bathroom, well fugeddabboutit, get back to nature!

A little bit of demo and viola, there's room for another dozen or so species of bamboo!

Somehow I knew that both Coolshare and Cady would be responding to this post. HA! the house gets in the way! That's a great one, and I like Hoosiers response. My available land is similar to theirs: 60'x100' with 18 species so far. The ground cover bamboos and temperate clumpers I have incorporated into existing flower beds. The temperate runners have places all their own, because they don't like to share. I still have way too much lawn. Guess I need to get workin' also. Eric

You're right, hoosier. 1,200 square feet is way too much house for me. My fiance might disagree, but heck -- I promised him he could have the whole cellar for his workshop. Now I'm thinking the cellar would be a fantastic place to stow more bamboo...seedlings, divisions, overwintered tropical types. Just needs some grow lights.

ok, I've been takin notes.......

only have one iddy biddy distichus inside so I need to get a few that will do well indoors (may have to install sky lights)

takes me a little over an hour to cut my grass with a 21" mower, so I must have too much grass.

if I compare my situation with some of the other nuts around here, I'm probably operating at 1/10th potential

need more bamboo!!!!

well, I can't sell my kid (or wife or dog)
anyone want to buy some CDs??
time to start playing the Powerball again.....

Coolshare: Any chance your place is going on the market anytime soon........?

That is one of questions I have been asking myself:

how will the buyer like my place when I sell the property
with so many rare bamboos (from Hitam to Oldhamii with stripes)? For someone love boo, it is a heaven (all the
boo are well contained in barrier or bed with great soil) but others may
not like them and destory them.

We will properly stay here for 10 more years until I can
see my house is hidden in a real boo forest:)

lol@coolshare...real neat st up you used for your bamboo..haveing lived in san diego years ago ive been to your n-hood looking for birds and always liked it.i don't think know what your place would sell for.

i have 18 different types of bamboo and i feel like a picker compared to some with high numbers in less land.

i am on almost 8 acres that slopes ,with half of it wooded where i have my 5 fagesia growing...the open area has 12 runners here and there...more coming this fall.. all except one spectabilis are small 3-5' plants..i figure i have 3-4 years before i have to do anything to keep them from running into each other.so i can save up $ for a tractor in order to dig a ditch around them as barriers are way to costly for my useage....i am hopeing in 3-4 years to find and mybe afford to sell this mtn top home for 50-100 acres...thats my dream....i love bamboo but grow birch trees,lilac,blueberry bushes and apple trees too just to name a few...if/when i move ill take a ton of bamboo plants with me and leave some.....i planted some to block out all signs of others liveing below me as to only see greenery...

Here is a link that might be useful: east coast bamboo group

Coolshare - I love your garden!! How have you mixed these bamboo? The variety of textures and colors is something I like myself. I don't like straight lines or "hedges" - I prefer the natural look. But I've read that the different species would compete, squeeze out the weaker boo. Do you have separate zones in your beds, or rhizome prune within the beds, or just knock out the ones that come up in the "wrong" place? Or just let 'em go as they will? Or ... how do you do this?

Leslie
(total bamboo newbie, planning my first bamboo. Lots of 'em; need some privacy screens from neighbors.)

A year later...

I now only have about 40 species in ground (some tropicals
died) and more than 10 species in containers - they get bigger:)

Boo House Map