Bamboo trees

[Digitalis]

Do you have to put a 'membrane' in for the clump forming bamboo trees?

I would like a blue bamboo.

Is it practical to grow them from seed?

[Digitalis]

[Flighty]

Do you mean a barrier to prevent it spreading? If so then yes it is a good idea!

For blue bamboo see
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/Information/Bamboo.htm

Possibly!  However you'll be lucky to get blue bamboo seed although there is some being offered on EBay at present!

[ACE]

It will grow straight through membrane. Even the most 'tame' bamboo will spread. You need to dig a deep trench and line the sides with slabs, build a brick wall, line it with corrogated iron, although this rots out to quickly. In fact anything  you think it will not spread through.

3 years time it will have escaped anyway so just plant it in a bucket in the ground.

[1066]

When you buy your bamboo, buy a mattock at the same time - as at some point you will want to grub at least some of it (if not all) out  ::)
Definitely one to be kept in a pot IMO  :)

[ACE]

When you buy your bamboo, buy a mattock at the same time - as at some point you will want to grub at least some of it (if not all) out  ::)
Definitely one to be kept in a pot IMO  :)

You sound as if you have 'Been there, done that' but ain't we all.

[1066]

Yup - considering buying the Tshirt  ;D
Also in the process of trying to persuade my allotment neghbour to get rid of theirs - its starting to sucker onto my plot. Not happy!

[ACE]

I did go to a gardening talk once where it was suggested that they do not like a change in the ph of the soil. it puts them into a 'sulk' like moving peonies.

I have experimented and it does seem to put them back a season or two. I have also put a bit of roundup on the cut stems while they are in the sulking stage and it stopped next doors creaping into my garden by taking out a huge swathe of new growth.

If you are organic I would try a dose of soot followed next spring with an allowable weed killer.

[1066]

thanks for the tip Ace, I had wondered about roundup on a cut stem,  I'll look into those next spring either that or hoping for a new tenant on the problem plot !
And sorry Cosmo and Dibs for hijaking your thread  :)
1066

[Digitalis]

No worries, 1066!

Someone told me that it is possible to control bamboo from running into other ares by simply cutting of the new 'shoots' as they appear.....?


The area I am plantint it is a spot where nowt else will be practical. The area is around 3-4m in width. The bamboo I've bought (phyllostacys nigra) is supposed to keep within 3m............

[ACE]

No worries, 1066!

Someone told me that it is possible to control bamboo from running into other ares by simply cutting of the new 'shoots' as they appear.....?


The area I am plantint it is a spot where nowt else will be practical. The area is around 3-4m in width. The bamboo I've bought (phyllostacys nigra) is supposed to keep within 3m............

Within 3m of the last shoot? I have just earnt £300 removing the exact bamboo from a clients garden. It had started to lift a concrete drive. With the hire of the digger it was an expensive plant and had only been planted five years ago.

I have split it into about 40 seperate plants, at a fiver a time a nice little earner. Seems a shame to take it to the tip, you never know I might be doing it again in five years to somebody else.

[Psi (Pronounced 'Si'!)]

i have a bamboo at home and have done for 4 yrs and it has been pretty contained.  They seem to spread in a fairly shallow fashion so the odd spade through roots and digging them up for propogation seems to keep it in check.  Over the 4 years I have taken maybe 20 new plants from division so they make decent gifts (i always recomend plating in a large pot to check growth.  I've taken several cuttings down the plot (for canes) and they are doing well and I am hopeful they will provide some lovely home grown canes.  I plan to inhibit growth by putting a spade through it as I have done so far.

I hear a lot of negativity about bamboo but presonally feel it can be managed.  Plus when the neighbouring plot has an eyesore chicken shed I feel it is the best and most realistic screening!!!!!

Up the bamboo!

Psi

[Digitalis]

i have a bamboo at home and have done for 4 yrs and it has been pretty contained.  They seem to spread in a fairly shallow fashion so the odd spade through roots and digging them up for propogation seems to keep it in check.  Over the 4 years I have taken maybe 20 new plants from division so they make decent gifts (i always recomend plating in a large pot to check growth.  I've taken several cuttings down the plot (for canes) and they are doing well and I am hopeful they will provide some lovely home grown canes.  I plan to inhibit growth by putting a spade through it as I have done so far.

The 'spade through the roots' trick is what I intend to do.

Glad to hear it works!

[small]

Both my bamboos died last winter....... :(  What's the opposite of green fingers?

[1066]

Don't get me wrong, I like bamboos - just not in my very small garden and not when they sucker over into your plot on the allotments! I've seen them growing in Asia and other places and they are truly amazing, and wonderful to look at and walk through with the sunlight coming through. Nuff said  ::)  :D

Small what the heck are you up to  ;)  ;D I'm impressed but for the wrong reasons  ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think a lot depends on what species you plant. Some are very invasive. On the other hand there's a patch on what was a long-neglected plot on my site, which is now a community orchard. It's never spread at all in the ten years I've been there. Vandals once set it on fire, and the blaze went right up the railway embankment. It came straight back.

[Digitalis]

I've decided to put the bamboo in a pot. I want to let it grow as tall as possible. Is a 50 litre pot big enough to let it go over 2m tall?