Curious: what did you end up planting? We have a similar situation; we live in a very dense, urban area and want privacy in our single family house from the adjacent apartment building. We'd like to plant along the fence line something evergreen, dense, tall--20-30'-- with columnar habit and a narrow base. The only thing I see out there that grows fast enough is the skyrocket juniper, which won't do well in Seattle's moisture. Can't deal with bamboo. We've had it before and it either flops over or spreads like mad and becomes a massive property value liability. What was your solution?

lkz5ia- I've bought from bambu-u many times, and never got a bad plant. I'm close by to Marc's place, so I've picked out a lot of mine in person. It's my understanding that he doesn't just dig up plants and send them out, but puts divisions in pots for several months to make sure they're stabilized. When you buy from him by mail, I believe he unpots them and trims down the rootball so shipping won't be so expensive. I've toured his whole place several times and have never seen the type of propagation you're referring to...and I don't think this method would work very well with a Phyllostachys. You may just have gotten a field division with some side growth that had been trimmed off.

i have recently been aquiring and growing various types of bamboo and done research for several weeks now. but one thing i can;t seem to find is a Relatively Close estimation on average rainfall in the native climate of Moso Bamboo. actually now that i think of it i could just look up the location of groves in china and then look at the rain fall in that area. ok but on to the next topic. RESPONCE @ kudzu9: Like Mike_Marietta_SC_z8a had said, those could be 2 reasons, another reason is when you perchase moso from a supplier such as Lewis Bamboo, they trip the bamboo top to fit it to the box. i buy most of my bamboo from them, if you get 3 gallon sizes and up the tops will be trimmed. trippimg the top greatly hinders Moso and other giant bamboos. when the shoots grow, as previously stated in this thread, the shoots will basically syphon vital exsessive nutrients from the neighboring culms. so when you order bamboo that has had the culms trimmed but the rhizomes are still large and will be producing large shoots, then the new shoots will not be able to syphon the much needed nutrients from the other culms. so if you grow bamboo from seeds then they should not be trimmed, also as previously stated any damage to the root systems will also greatly hinder the transfer of nutrients. then the roots take damage or are bent it's like kinking a water hose that feeds the new shoots. this also is regretably a more then likely happening from ordering bamboos. for both reasons i'd recommend buying either 2 gallon sizes or buying them as seeds from a reliable source. GROWTH RATE: from what i have gathered most bamboos Culms grow +30% in hight each year and the rhizomes can grow anywhere from 2-5 feet a year depending on conditions. also the rhizomes have 2 "rumors" as to how far out they can grow which i can't seem to disprove one or the other as of yet. 1 rumor is they can grow as far out as the tallest current Culm. the other rumor is they can grow indeffinately depending on soil conditions and as long as the newer culms increase in size. So say the "source Point" of your bamboo has a culm of 80' high, then the rhizome can grow up to 80' from that spot; however say down that rhizome about 20 feet away from the source location there is a newer 80' tall culm. then that new culm can have up to another 80' away from it. so it could grow 100' from the plant site at that point, and so on. Finally: i live in the houston texas area and will be growing a japanese / tropical styled grove. so far i'm planning on using "Weavers Bamboo" for the primary walls around this 1-2 acre grove, with Nigra Black in the corners, with Moso and Giant Grey Henon throughout. i was also considering adding Windmills and Blue Palms inside near an elaborate bamboo, shishi odoshi styled fountain and underground irrigation systems invovling soaker hoses, if anyone else can think of some black, jade, or rich dark green colored plants, then please toss me an email. hopefully i'll have this grove up and running in a few years in which case anyone would be welcome to visit the grove.

Hi dottyinduncan, For Phyllostachys, dig a trench 6-8 inches deep, 10-12 inches if you are overly paranoid. A shovel width is sufficient, wider if you wish. As the bamboo grows rhizome you will see them breaking ground/poking through into the trench. Simply cut them off before they re-enter the ground. Semiaurundinarias will usually run deeper so allow a few inches extra for them. A couple of real nice Phyllostachys that don't grow rhizomes as fast as some of the others are Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young' and 'Houzeau', both very attractive and both relatively slow runners (in our climate). Both have a long branching habit so allow adequate space. Moso would be another consideration as it is slow slow slow.