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Does anybody else grow bamboo


bigphil1984

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There are lots of different species of bamboo, but one thing to note for many of them is that if you plant them in your garden, you should dig an extra meter down and to the sides and fill it with concrete. Bamboo can and will destroy everything, and it grows so quickly you could be gone for a weekend and come back to your neighbours complaining about 4cm thick, 3m high unbreakable bamboo stalks wrecking their garden.

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Hi everyone, thanks for your responses. I've started off moso bamboo and black bamboo seeds in my grow tent, and sure I can see the top of one poking through already lol. Temps and humidity are perfect [emoji6]. Will it probably take a couple of year before I plant them out side? I've done an experiment, I've done a tray half and half with husks off, and four pots with three seeds in each of both types. One pot with husk on and one pot with husk off, to see which germinates quicker.51de537bcc22bfe38d648f4c2c314eae.jpg

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The only other thing i learnt about bamboo is that when catalogues say 'clumping' its actually a code word for the plant is not at all clumping and is likely to pop up in the middle of the neighbours lawn!
Hi, manders iv noticed this myself on Google, some sites say it's clumping and others say there running. You don't know what to believe on there these days!

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16 hours ago, bigphil1984 said:

Hi, I'll try fargesia genera. I'm doing other one's because trying to grow a high fence lol.

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Fargesia can get pretty tall as well. And by "compact" I rather meant clumping type od growth.

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19 hours ago, bigphil1984 said:

Hi, manders iv noticed this myself on Google, some sites say it's clumping and others say there running. You don't know what to believe on there these days!

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Pick your bamboos carefully! Although some are clumpers and some are runners, this also depends on growing conditions. So many Phyllostachys are runners, but will stay as a clump grown in the cool climate of most of the UK. However if you live in a warmer part of the UK it may eventually run. Others are just runners and any attempt to hem them in will be frustrating for the gardener and result in a plant that does not thrive.

When you plant them make sure you leave lots more room than you think they will need, a large clump of bamboo will arch over dramatically in wet weather and under the weight of snow. It is very difficult to dig them out once established, bamboo wood is as hard as oak, as I can testify when I transplanted part of a clump of Thamnocalamus which I had planted to close to a path. It took the best part of 2 days to dig a chunk out and half way through I had to go and buy a long handled axe...

 

Smaller bamboos grow well in pots but they do need to be well watered and split every other year at least to stop them from deteriorating. I have a large plant of a very vigorous running bamboo in an enormous pot which is doing very well.

 

Concete barriers are overkill, you can buy heavy duty plastic to sink in the soil to prevent running, or plant on a mound with a ditch around to cut escapees.

Best of all plant an appropriate bamboo for your conditions. Fargesia rufa is good, I have a tidy clump in my front garden, which hasn't outgrown its alloted space yet in 7 years, and no sign of runners.

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Pick your bamboos carefully! Although some are clumpers and some are runners, this also depends on growing conditions. So many Phyllostachys are runners, but will stay as a clump grown in the cool climate of most of the UK. However if you live in a warmer part of the UK it may eventually run. Others are just runners and any attempt to hem them in will be frustrating for the gardener and result in a plant that does not thrive.
When you plant them make sure you leave lots more room than you think they will need, a large clump of bamboo will arch over dramatically in wet weather and under the weight of snow. It is very difficult to dig them out once established, bamboo wood is as hard as oak, as I can testify when I transplanted part of a clump of Thamnocalamus which I had planted to close to a path. It took the best part of 2 days to dig a chunk out and half way through I had to go and buy a long handled axe...
 
Smaller bamboos grow well in pots but they do need to be well watered and split every other year at least to stop them from deteriorating. I have a large plant of a very vigorous running bamboo in an enormous pot which is doing very well.
 
Concete barriers are overkill, you can buy heavy duty plastic to sink in the soil to prevent running, or plant on a mound with a ditch around to cut escapees.
Best of all plant an appropriate bamboo for your conditions. Fargesia rufa is good, I have a tidy clump in my front garden, which hasn't outgrown its alloted space yet in 7 years, and no sign of runners.
Hi, thanks for the advice [emoji6]. Will they grow well in very large pots to stop running? and how long will it take after they sprout will they get to a meter in hight?

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50 minutes ago, Ali Baba said:

Concete barriers are overkill, you can buy heavy duty plastic to sink in the soil to prevent running, or plant on a mound with a ditch around to cut escapees.

For the record, I tried using a double layer of butyl rubber heavy duty pond liner to contain Sasa nebulosa, and it just stabbed straight through it!

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Pond liner is too thin as you found out, you need a specialist heavy duty rhizome barrier specially designed for bamboos. Have a look at http://www.bamboogarden.com/barrier installation.htm

for example.

 

Pot growing is OK but you really need very large pots, lots of water, and every other year you need to cut the whole plant in half with an old saw, cut off the bottom third of the rootball and repot to maintain vigour. Plus any tall bamboo will blow over in the wind unless the pot is very heavy.

 

I have Qiongzhuea tumidissinoda in a 130 litre pot (a bit bigger than a domestic dustbin) and as yet it is growing well and hasnt escaped. It is the bamboo equivalent of couch grass :shock:. It is way too big to repot but eventually I will probably have to cut the rootball up, probably a 3 man job!

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Pond liner is too thin as you found out, you need a specialist heavy duty rhizome barrier specially designed for bamboos. Have a look at http://www.bamboogarden.com/barrier installation.htm
for example.
 
Pot growing is OK but you really need very large pots, lots of water, and every other year you need to cut the whole plant in half with an old saw, cut off the bottom third of the rootball and repot to maintain vigour. Plus any tall bamboo will blow over in the wind unless the pot is very heavy.
 
I have Qiongzhuea tumidissinoda in a 130 litre pot (a bit bigger than a domestic dustbin) and as yet it is growing well and hasnt escaped. It is the bamboo equivalent of couch grass :shock:. It is way too big to repot but eventually I will probably have to cut the rootball up, probably a 3 man job!
Hi ali baba, you seem to know your stuff about bamboo [emoji6]. I think I know what to do now I'll either get very large pots or a very good barrier as you said. But it will be 1 year or so growing in my tent I guess, before I have to worry about it too much?

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1 hour ago, bigphil1984 said:

Found this on ebay. Is that cheep or not?9a6cb63d8ac36d3ed9e23b281f768926.jpg

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Looks expensive you might want to shop around a bit, try this for instance

https://www.bigplantnursery.co.uk/sundries/bamboo-root-barrier_1.html

I've not grown bamboos from seed myself, but from what I've read they need cooler conditions once germinated, and protection from strong winds and frost for the first year or so.

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On ‎06‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 7:28 PM, bigphil1984 said:

 

Hi peeps, does anybody else grow bamboo? I can't seem to find a bamboo forum, other than (bambooweb) which won't let me register!

 

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try  HTUK  they have a special bamboo/grasses section

 

 

 

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