Hmmm, 6 feet away you may be good for a few years. My Silverstripe division went from a 3 gal with a few whipshoots to culms 12 feet tall and a current grove diameter of about 4 feet in just 2 years!

The ONLY way to control the outward spread would to root prune around your pond side several times a year using a shovel. Otherwise yes, should the boo get close to the pond there is a chance it will send up a shoot through the liner.

Someone once posted a pic of bamboo shooting through an asphalt street...

I think you'll be good for a number of years. With a clumper, you're not going to get stealth penetration by a rhizome. At some point, however, it may start to crowd in closer to the pond, and you could just take one or more big divisions. The main problem with mature clumpers is that the rhizome mass is very dense and woody, and dividing it can be labor intensive. A SawzAll with a long blade may be useful in this situation.

Joefalco,

Buy some 12 in. X 12 in. X 2 in. patio stones at Home Depot/Lowes. About a buck and a quarter each. Lay them on the ground, side by side between the pool and the B.m. silvertripe. Your silverstripe will never get close enough to puncture your liner. B.m. silverstripe's rhizomes can't grow a foot long and they can't pick up the stone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Patio stone controlled B. textilis

Roy,

Are you saying just lay them flat on the ground or bury them sideways in the ground? Do you have better pis than the ones you linked to?

I don't see how just laying them on the ground will stop the eventual outward spread of the grove.

webgator,

"Lay them on the ground, side by side" (Not in the ground)

"B.m. silverstripe's rhizomes can't grow a foot long and they can't pick up the stone"

My B. textilis screen has been there 6 to 7 years and has never been able to grow into my neighbor's yard because there is a row of patio stones between the fence and the bamboo.

Roy Rogers

Here is a link that might be useful: My neighbor's view of my B. textilis

Roy Rogers, nice textilis. Do you thin out the culms? I like the way it adds to the border of your yard.

I have one clump that is about 6 years old and although I have removed many culms over the years, it still has well over a hundred culms and is so thick that you can't see through to the other side.

Kt

Roy,

With a barrier as high and as solid as your B. textilis, does anything grow on the shady side? I've seen some thick, tall non-bamboo hedges in my neighborhood where there is only bare dirt, not lawn, on the northern side of the hedge.

Does anybody complain about "loss of view" by a botanical barrier as thoroughly blinding as living right next to a 4-story building?

I'd like to do a B. textilis or tuldoides barrier like yours to shade my house from afternoon sun, not to hide from the neighbors.

I think I could do a Bambusa hedge, keep it thinned in density of culms, and keep it pruned of branches below 8 feet so it wouldn't so opaque at eye level but still provide shade from 8 to 40 ft high.

>Roy Rogers, nice textilis. Do you thin out the culms?
>I like the way it adds to the border of your yard.

Kt,

Since the bamboo can't grow toward my neighbor's fence (the stones prevent it), there is more growth left and right and back into my yard. I do dig out culms growing to far into my yard leaving the depth of the textilis screen 2 to 3 feet thick. I do trim out some of the older culms, which allows newer culms to fill in.

Roy in Tampa

UnAutre,

>With a barrier as high and as solid as your B. textilis,
>does anything grow on the shady side?

I have large oak trees in my front yard which also provides a lot of shade. I have St. Augustine grass growing in my front yard, which will take some shade, but it is not as thick as would be in the full sun. Of course it takes a lot less water and the bamboo shields my front yard from the Winter sun and our dry Winter season.

>Does anybody complain about "loss of view"

This neighbor doesn't complain about the loss of view. He is always complementary about the look. I do have backyard neighbor who does sometimes complain about loss of light and view from a couple of bamboo clumps, but she doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with her oak trees extending 30 feet over into my property. She is known as the neighborhood complainer about most anything, so you have to take it with a grain of salt.

>keep it pruned of branches below 8 feet

If you use B. textilis (there are a few others also--B. mutabilis has no lower branches either), then you want have to trim off the lower brances. There won't be any branches naturally growing for the first 10 feet or so.

Roy in Tampa

Here is a link that might be useful: Roy's B. mutabilis showing absence of lower branches

Thanks Roy. I was wondering about that since Textilis grows really fast here. I put one plant in the ground, in front of my house 18 months ago. It is now so thick with culms, you can hardly see through it. Yours seems to be more open, and looks great along that fence. I have planted five plants along my back fence as a windbreak. It should be doing it's job by next Summer.

UnAutre, Just wanted to point out that B. mutabilis is not cold hardy here in our zone, but may get enough heat from your house to get it through those colder Winter nights.

Kt

Thanks again Roy for your expertise and insite.