How To Start Bamboo for Visual Barrier?

18 years ago

I need help with starting bamboo in some thinned-out forest behind my house so we can get the visual barrier thickened up. Please reply with what I should buy and how and when to get it started.

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

kentuck_8b
18 years ago
Is the area that you want the bamboo to grow, in full sun or shade? Does it have room to spread without becoming a problem? Would a clumping bamboo be a consideration as opposed to a runner? How tall does it need to be?

SouthEast Texas is covered with groves of P. aurea, a common bamboo which does well in wet and dry conditions here. Dig it yourself, is the cheapest way. It grows all along roadsides and creeks and rivers.

I would wait until the plant is dormant, and the temps are cool but not freezing, around late January of early February. I have transplanted runners at all times of the growing season, but it seems to do better when done before the shooting season which is early Spring for runners.

As with any plant, if you get enough of a rootball with undisturbed roots, then it can be done at anytime of the year, but may get setback somewhat.

Three more very hardy running bamboos are:
A. gigantea 'Macon' MACON RIVERCANE
A. gigantea ssp. gigantea RIVER CANE
A. gigantea ssp. tecta SWITCH CANE
Which all would do well as barriers.

Kt
Boltgunner
Original Author
18 years ago
It will be in the shade. What is a "clumper" vs. "running" mean? I would love for it to spread.
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Man can you come do my yard?? I got several ten foot runners already that I have dug up.. hope your right kudzu and if I chop it will stop.. as it went under a crimson maple and I dont want to kill the maple to get it out.. I can chop where its at so hopefully it doesnt put out any more runners where I chopped... my other side of the yard all the runners stopped at the low point in my yard as water gathers there after every rain.. this rotted off all the boo so it contained it there as boo wont grow in saturated soil, it got about 6 ft from the orignial planting.. my dulcis though there is no low point.. the culms grew 6 feet tall in one week in my neighbors yard.. and he cut them all off.. which made it even harder to find it to dig it out.. urg.. I hated to delay digging it out but my body had to rest.... spent all the weekend getting it out of my neighbors yard.. so glad I have understanding good neighbors.. heard so many horror stories on these forums of bad or mean neighbors..
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Galvanized metal troughs work perfectly...until the bamboo inevitably gets rootbound and starts dying. Then you have a large container of sickly and dead bamboo that weighs hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pounds. Because of the dense woody structure of the rhizomes, it will be impossible to get the plant out of the trough without destroying the container. It will be nice for a number of years, but just be prepared to deal with the predictable consequences. I have a friend who went even further. He bought a large, steel, cylindrical tank for containment, and buried it in his backyard. Fast forward several years and he then had a container of roots and dirt and dead bamboo that weighed so much that there was no way he could excavate around it and lift it out of the ground. So now he has a 2' diameter cylindrical area in his yard where nothing will grow.
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kentuck_8b
18 years ago
For spreading bamboo, you need a runner.

If enough sun gets through, then Phyllostachys aurea aka Golden Bamboo or Fishpole Bamboo, would do great.

Arundinaria gigantea grows here all along the river, and it does very well in almost full shade.

Kt
seattleboo
18 years ago
Boltgunner: If you go to this website, you can see the difference between runners and clumpers : http://www.booshootgardens.com/species.html

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How To Start Bamboo for Visual Barrier?

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kentuck_8b

Boltgunner
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How To Start Bamboo for Visual Barrier?

Comments (4)

kentuck_8b

BoltgunnerOriginal Author

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seattleboo

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Boltgunner
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