a question about STARTING BAMBOO

[Dan Pavlica]

A friend of mine has some beautiful, tall bamboo at the house he's renting right now, and I want to plant some just like that in my back yard. But neither one of us knows anything about bamboo. He just lives at that house (he didn't plant it) and I've never had bamboo. I absolutely love it and don't care if it takes over my whole back yard. Anyway, I hear you can chop a little stock into pieces and go from there. But how exactly? I suppose you cut it between nodes, and then what? Does it go in the ground or in the water? Upright or horizontally? Could someone with some experience with this let me know? Thanks.

[Ricky]

Dan, You don't say where you live so it's hard to give you accurate advice. Bamboo likes a rich, moist soil. It will spread very quickly and grow very quickly. Here in South Florida we usually plant it where it will be contained by sidewalks or driveways. I have planted it in large plastic nursery containers with the bottom removed to control the spread. Most bamboo is deciduous so plan on leaf drop. Here's a link I found searching Yahoo:

[simy1]

You propagate by transplanting a piece of the rhizome (I suggest one foot or so. If the stand is mature and thick, you can take several without damage to the stand). The rhizome is as hard as the culms, so be prepared to use a handsaw. You can kill two birds with one stone by taking the rhizomes and the attached culms that strayed out of bounds

- you do the weeding and propagating in a single shot (I do the same with my raspberries). You try to take the rhizome with as many roots as possible, plant it immediately a couple inches below, water thoroughly, and mulch it. I suppose you live in a frost-free area or close to. If the ground is not frozen, you probably want to move it now, or wait until the end of the growing season.

I give my bamboo just a wood chip mulch. In the spring, try the shoots (at your friend's house, not the just transplanted). If they are good, yu will have a perennial veggie in your backyard, ready for full harvest in three years.