Don't you love bamboo?

[Teka]

I love my bamboo stand! Today I made a pole bean trellis using bamboo cross pieces lashed to locust uprights. (Thank-you, Muggins for the Dr. Martins seeds!)

My cukes grow up 4-sided "teepees" of bamboo. with string wound around for climbing. Plant need support? Use a bamboo pole. Orchid bloom supports. Eat the new shoots. Split dried poles for garden markers.

I've made a "tiki hut" to shade young plants, using bamboo for uprights lashed to cross-members, the top covered with the bamboo leaves I trimmed off. As the leaves dried, the young plants got more sun and were "hardened off."

Some regret their bamboo plantings but we control it by using it!

 

[so lucky]

I have been wanting to try bamboo ever since I saw some growing in Bellingrath Gardens. Is yours the kind that gets really big in circumference, or a smaller variety? How big a patch do you have? How long have you had it?

 

[Teka]

Ours is a unknown variety given to us 30 years ago. It took a long time to make a colony in our woods! Now, it grow to heights of over 20' and can be up to 2" in diameter.

Bamboo grown outward from central growth. Each root will have multiple shoots along its length. Strong roots (older growths) have larger shoots -- ours get up to 2" in diameter -- while newer roots have smaller shoots.

Bamboo grows best in disturbed ground. So, for example, my bamboo is invading an area where I planted new hellebores and hydrangea. So, if you want it to spread quickly, chop up or till the soil. If you want it to grow in a more restrained manner, put it in an untouched area. New growth is easily controlled by stepping on the new shoots (or break them off and eat them).

Bamboo is a jungle plant. It grows best in partial shade.

New growth rots easily. For hard poles you can use in the ground, cut the bamboo and let it dry for 2-3 weeks or more before putting it in the ground. Better yet, store it over the winter laying horizontally (raise it off the ground a few inches, even on a little brush pile) before use.

Last comment, bamboo explodes in a fire. The steam heast up inside of the chambers and explodes. Beware of burning it unless you are ready for the booms and possible shards!

 

[so lucky]

Now that's interesting. Bamboo is being used in floors and cabinetry now. Hope they are not prone to exploding, too! Guess not, after they are dried and processed.

 

[Teka]

It is the closed cells in the canes that explode. Once they are split for flooring or other products, this is no longer an issue.

Bamboo cutting boards are naturally antiseptic. The hard cell walls resist bacteria so these cutting boards are great for meats.

 

[ninnymary]

Yes Teka, I do love my bamboo. I have it along the fence to give us privacy from a 2 story duplex. I like it because it's not as wide as a tree which would give us too much shade. The bamboo is just right. I thought it would grow faster than what it does. I started with some in a 5 gallon bucket that my neigbor gave me and have since been splitting it up. Mine does not have the thick canes. They are thin. I also have the black bamboo that my husband brought from his work where they were going to throw it away. Three of the 4 plants took and I'm very pleased.

Mary

 

[gardentoad]

We do not like ours,come get as much as you want..it was here when we got our land..the old owner just let it take over. We cut it down with a bush hog, and it comes right back the next spring or before..the only up side is that we don't have to buy so much hay in the winter..we cut it and feed it to our goats..now they are the ones that love the stuff, it's like candy to them..

Don

BTW we have about 1/4 acre of the stuff very thick

 

[Teka]

1/4 acre... I feel your pain. We have a couple hundred square yards that has thin growth, and don't have enough to cut freely. A snow storm wiped out a large section of our bamboo and we were devastated! We use it so much. When life gives you bamboo, build a tiki bar???? Have you tried marketing it in a local garden center? My local garden supply sells dried lengths for supports.

 

[Kassaundra]

I just got a start this year, varigated and clumping so shouldn't be an invasive problem. It will be nice when I have enough to do stuff with.