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Privacy bamboo to plant in horse troughs along fence?

last year

I have a narrow space along a fence that I want to plant something tall and narrow and essentially raise my 6 ft fence to at least double that for privacy.

This is for zone 8 in northern California foothills. Common typical summer high temperatures are about 95 degrees Fahrenheit with low humidity, but 105 or more is not rare. The fence faces south and gets full western sun from the side.

Winter overnight lows are “typically” in the 40s, but temps below 20 degrees can happen.

I want to use horse troughs or similar shaped containers to keep them from expanding beyond the narrow space up against the fence.

I want to have trunk exposed to the fence line both for looks to see the stalks and also it doesn’t have branches encroaching into the patio impeding walking space. Then I want leaves/branches higher up so it provides maximum privacy screening

Is bambuso multiplex the best choice or something else?

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Comments (8)

kudzu9
last year
A horse trough is an extremely poor choice for a bamboo planter. Over time the bamboo will expand to the edges of the container, start to get rootbound, and need dividing. However, it will be locked in to the container and I will say -- as someone who has divided 100's of bamboo -- that trying to divide a mature bamboo inside such a container is nearly impossible without butchering the plant and/or damaging the container. Instead, plant your bamboo in the largest size utility pots that will fit inside the horse trough. That way, when they need dividing, you lift the pot out, unpot the bamboo, divide it, repot it, and set it back in the horse trough. I have a friend who planted his bamboo in a metal container like this a number of years ago; when it came time to divide the bamboo he couldn't get it out and it slowly died. He now has a container filled with dead bamboo that weighs probably a ton and he hasn't quite figured out what to do with this eyesore.
jaxo
Original Author
last year
What if i get a container designed to allow tipping the bamboo out?

Can containers without drain holes large enough to allow roots to get through the base snd attach to the ground be used? Does it need drainage at all? I thought some bamboo like permanent dampness.
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This is a long thread I just stumbled upon so I didn't do my due diligence and read through all the comments to see if my recommendation was already suggested so please forgive me if it was. I would plant 'American Pillar' Arborvitae along the entire fence line and give it a couple of years. It's cheap (I found them for $7.50 a pop for an order of 100 plants last year), narrow (3-foot at base when mature), tall (30-foot max), fast (3-foot per year, once established), densely evergreen (no see through branches), cold hardy (to zone 3), disease free and long lived (no known problems with a lifespan of it's ancestors measured in centuries). What more can one ask for? Here is a link that might be useful: American Pillar Arborvitae
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The horror stories are a result of people who put in bamboo, don't maintain it, and then blame it on the bamboo 10 years later. You can control bamboo with a procedure called rhizome (root) pruning. However, it must be practiced once or twice a year if you want to keep things well-controlled. For your situation, probably the best solutions are: 1) Plant clumping bamboo, like Fargesia nitida, which will not run and which should stay evergreen in your area. The downside is that you will need to buy a fair number of plants because clumpers only get a little bit bigger in diameter each year, and won't be sending out satellite plants that will fill in gaps. 2) Plant running bamboo, like Phyllostachys aureosulcata (commonly known as Yellow Groove), and install bamboo barrier in a long oval pattern to contain the rhizomes. Bamboo barrier is a hard, thick, specialty plastic that comes in rolls and is installed in the ground about 24" deep to block rhizomes growing into unwanted areas. Below is a link that shows what this looks like, and provides some other good advice. Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo control
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Yes, the pictures help. Consider finishing off the open space at the property line with a hedge of tall shrub, like chokeberry for example. Keeping it simple with one species would be compatible with the bamboo. If you wanted something shorter and wider, one of the taller panicle hydrangeas could be a good look in a hedge Who owns the retaining wall that's falling over. It would be good to get that fixed and plant the area. But to know how, with what, you'd need to provide shots that show the area with your house as background, straight on. If it has too much length for one picture, take overlapping shots from a single camera position as you just did for the backyard.
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@Fori -Thanks so much, I think that is a great solution for the bay area. I think we may end up going that route :) All of the fences in our neighborhood are supposed to be 6 ft but somehow most seem to be 8 or even 10 :) I was reticent to ask, because we get along really well and I didn't want to make them feel pressured to do something to the shared fence that they didn't want to, but I think that is probably the best idea!
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jaxo
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Does anyone have any other advice?

If I don’t intend to maintain the plants myself, will it be an issue finding a garden service to periodically divide and repot the bamboo (not sure how familiar the typical gardening service is with bamboo) or would I be better off just getting a common fast growing evergreen shrub like boxwood, cherry laurel or privet and getting a service to come and prune it monthly or quarterly?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
Anything grown in a container will require periodic repotting, if not dividing, and soil replacement. Since this is a foregone conclusion for any containerized plant, it is a good idea to consider how easy it will be to remove the plant from any container.

TIP: the bigger the container, the harder it is to do :-))
jaxo
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
The issue isn’t that it would need to be divided to be able to keep living in the same sized container. The issue is whether dealing with dividing and repotting bamboo is a common talent/skill for typical residential gardening services or should I avoid bamboo unless I am willing to do DIY maintenance for life.
kudzu9
last year
I've found that many gardeners don't have enough knowledge about bamboo to be relied on. If you have a bamboo nursery near you, they may provide such services...you should ask. You don't want a container without drainage holes. I gave you the lowest maintenance approach to this in my first response; there isn't a no-maintenance way to do what you want, control the bamboo, and have it stay healthy.
jaxo
Original Author
last year
A little maintence is OK, but I don’t have the desire to do it now and at some point in the future, I could be physically unable to do it. So, I would need to be able to reliably outsource the labor to a gardening service. There are plenty of gardeners that mow lawns and trim hedges around here, but bamboo care might be too esoteric.

In that case, I will need to just stick with more common types of plants that every gardener knows how to handle.
kudzu9
last year
That's probably a wise choice....

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