Beware!
 

Unless you have a million acres of land and then 5 more do not plant bamboo!Bought a small plant the wife thought was "cute"Today my 5 vacationing nephews(all strapping young bucs)and I spent all day removing the "cute"8yr old 20ft square ball,40-50ft high stand of mass jungle.We used chain saws,sawzalls,axes a ditch witch and power augers.Now I have a hole that is about 6ft deep and a torn up yard.Trust me just look at pictures of the "cute plant.

We rented an excavator last year to get rid of all the roots of the bamboo that was covering half of our backyard when we bought our house. That was after chopping down the jungle piece by piece. Bamboo is a ginormous weed on steroids.

On the bright side, that's where my garden is now. The excavator did a nice job of tilling the dirt.

The other day I noticed it at the watermark we go to. I wondered at the time if they knew what they were getting into.

Do not get me wrong I have seen a lot of varietys and they are nice plants,for botanical gardens,shopping malls,public parks.Saw a documentary of lemurs that eat the emerging shoots and found out it contains cyanide.Also some take up to fifty years to flower.Oh well let me get back to filling and grading.Now I will be on the lookout for those emerging dragon looking shoots.I think we got all the invasive roots.

WE have a few acres next door to us that was covered in bamboo the owners cut down and graded the land. Baby shoots are already growing back up out of it and it has only been a couple of weeks. That stuff is invasive.

This isn't being fare to bamboo.
It is a grass and there is clumping and running bamboo.

I have a clumping bamboo as a border called golden goddess it is well behaved.
It gets from 6 to 10 feet tall about 1/2 inch in diameter.

Forms a clump about 3 feet around and is gorgeous.

Running bamboo needs to be grown in a containment trench about 2 feet deep and the same wide.
It should have sloping sides with concrete or heavy plastic to stop roots.

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;286829]This isn't being fare to bamboo.
It is a grass and there is clumping and running bamboo.

I have a clumping bamboo as a border called golden goddess it is well behaved.
It gets from 6 to 10 feet tall about 1/2 inch in diameter.

Forms a clump about 3 feet around and is gorgeous.

Running bamboo needs to be grown in a containment trench about 2 feet deep and the same wide.
It should have sloping sides with concrete or heavy plastic to stop roots.

Worth[/QUOTE]


Well put Worth! I have felt that Bamboo servers as a nice privacy wall but it must be addressed appropriately.

I laugh whenever I see folks buying it in a garden centre, I want to run up and stop them. I think every house I have lived in we had to tackle a bamboo forest..

XX Jeannine

[QUOTE=Jeannine Anne;286834]I laugh whenever I see folks buying it in a garden centre, I want to run up and stop them. I think every house I have lived in we had to tackle a bamboo forest..

XX Jeannine[/QUOTE]

Home Depot.

Little container of golden fishing pole bamboo $24 a half gallon where I live.
1/2 mile down the road same bamboo free all you can dig. :))

People really need to do their research before they buy plants.

Worth

[QUOTE=Crandrew;286833]Well put Worth! I have felt that Bamboo servers as a nice privacy wall but it must be addressed appropriately.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Crandrew.

Bamboo is like a wild animale you have to know what you are getting into before you get it.

I think there are around 10,000 deferent varieties of it.
Some for every climate.

Worth

Well the good thing is we harvested all I could.Now I got enough for the next 5-10 years.We graded the sizes into 8ftx3/4 inch,6ftx3/8-1/2inch,and smaller2ft-ft at 11/2inch.Then some thin 1/4x2ft,also some long 30ft poles.All these will be used for trellising maters.Trick is to alternate ends in stacking and bundling real tight to dry straight.After that dip bottoms in liquid roof cement up to 1ft(for wet rot) rewrap and your good to go.After each years use coat with linseed oil rebundle,stuff lasts forever.

[QUOTE=kurt;286858]Well the good thing is we harvested all I could.Now I got enough for the next 5-10 years.We graded the sizes into 8ftx3/4 inch,6ftx3/8-1/2inch,and smaller2ft-ft at 11/2inch.Then some thin 1/4x2ft,also some long 30ft poles.All these will be used for trellising maters.Trick is to alternate ends in stacking and bundling real tight to dry straight.After that dip bottoms in liquid roof cement up to 1ft(for wet rot) rewrap and your good to go.After each years use coat with linseed oil rebundle,stuff lasts forever.[/QUOTE]

Thats a great use for the stuff. I use bamboo for my maters as well.

Heck you could learn to make those high dollar fly rods made from bamboo.

They are truely a work of art, I had one as a kid growing up.

Cought goggle eyes perch and blue gills with it.

Worth

Another"beware".For the longest time it was all the rage for the wood bamboo floors.The will suck up water like a sponge and buckle like a roller coaster.For us down here is humid land nobody uses it anymore.Be careful around exterior doors,on the ground floor top of concrete applications and in kitchens,around bathrooms,Will stay good until wet.

[QUOTE=Worth1;286872]Heck you could learn to make those high dollar fly rods made from bamboo.

They are truely a work of art, I had one as a kid growing up.

Cought goggle eyes perch and blue gills with it.

Worth[/QUOTE]

Wow you reminded me of a trip I took as a kid. One of the locals cut some bamboo tied some eye loops to it and with a reel of line you would fish. Cast with one hand and hold the spool in the left, it was quite fun to fish and build your own.

[QUOTE=kurt;286876]Another"beware".For the longest time it was all the rage for the wood bamboo floors.The will suck up water like a sponge and buckle like a roller coaster.For us down here is humid land nobody uses it anymore.Be careful around exterior doors,on the ground floor top of concrete applications and in kitchens,around bathrooms,Will stay good until wet.[/QUOTE]

Concrete has to cure for a year a vapor barrier needs to be put down and you don't put it below grade.

Even then you can't get it wet.
.
I use good old white oak and other exotic tight grained woods like teak for floors.

Bamboo is best used on a traditional joist floor above grade and at least a 1/2 gap on the edges.
Like all wood floors it should aclimate to the room it is to go in for at least a month.

This said with how fast they put up houses I would be reluctant to let someone else do it.

I do these things myself for quality controle reasons.

Worth

ugh. bamboo.
 

[QUOTE=kurt;286602]Unless you have a million acres of land and then 5 more do not plant bamboo!Bought a small plant the wife thought was "cute"Today my 5 vacationing nephews(all strapping young bucs)and I spent all day removing the "cute"8yr old 20ft square ball,40-50ft high stand of mass jungle.We used chain saws,sawzalls,axes a ditch witch and power augers.Now I have a hole that is about 6ft deep and a torn up yard.Trust me just look at pictures of the "cute plant.[/QUOTE]

My friend has bamboo in her yard. It is HORRIBLY invasive. I've read that you need to dig a trench and put in a concrete barrier several feet down to stop it from spreading. Bamboo goes everywhere. You may think you have dug it all up but it will be back. That's all I have to say - ugh. bamboo.

Running ([B]RUNNING[/B]) bamboo is horribly invasive. It is the stuff everyone is afraid of. Everyone planted it in the 60's and beyond and now it's ruined bamboo's reputaion. Running bamboo was the first kind planted in any large amount because it was cheap to propagate cause it, well grows fast. lol!

Clumping ([B]CLUMPING[/B]) bamboo is great!! It has many uses and is very well behaved, like Worth said. There are dozens of kinds of CLUMPING bamboo in various colors of green and various heights. It's a great screen for narrow areas, it give a light and airy feeling, it's very useful as focal points. In short, CLUMPING Bamboo is awesome!!

Poor, poor CLUMPING bamboo. Running bamboo ruined it's reputation and it didn't even do anything to deserve it. Please don't paint all bamboo with the same brush. Running bamboo is a thug. Clumping bamboo is NOT. Enjoy clumping bamboo without fear.

well my friend probably has the running kind of bamboo. It does shoot out random runners in the middle of the yard. we can agree to disagree, though. I just do not like bamboo. I love blueberry bushes, to the point where i have more than 20 on my property. my neighbor hates blueberry bushes and thinks I am insane. I would not agree with her on the hating blueberries part, but yes, I may be insane.

Kurt, I am with you TOTALLY. My neighbors with the tiny yard planted bamboo like 15 years ago, ALONG MY FENCE. I have been cursing them ever since. I have had to dig up my stone retaining walls, my shrubs, that junk has overtaken a big part of my side yard and I cannot kill it. I've dug it up as much as possible and it always comes back.

I'm sure there is a "good" bamboo, but for anyone who's had the bad stuff, it makes you want to back away holding your fingers in a cross sign, it's EVIL stuff.

I feel terrible for you. I hope you only deal with it once, because I just can't get rid of it permanently.

Don't plant the so called snake plant in zones that don't freeze.
It will take over yours and you neighbors yard.

Too bad about peoples idea of bamboo.

Worth

Snakes like bamboo around here so we try to take it out whenever possible. That stuff had a whole den of copperheads in it by the pond last winter. Eek!

Jennifer your friend HAS running bamboo.

Clumping stays in a tight clump.

I have a clumping timber bamboo that can get to 70 feet tall and 4 inches around.

It is still a baby at this time and the cold may not let it get that big but we shall see.
It is called oldhame or something.

A beutiful bamboo.

Worth

Don't get me wrong,I love the plant.When it sheds its leaves take a long time to decompose so you have to rake them up.We have a place called Fairchild Tropical Gardens that has a whole section devoted to bamboo.There is a black bamboo that is gorgeous with purple hues that is my favorite.I have seen in my travels in the Orient where they use bamboo for scaffolding on commercial sized buildings.And I see them in shops here as tiny papers that must really be hard to write on:love:

I was interested in clumpling bamboo that resists my -10F winter weather to make a privacy barrier. I found one in a 1 gal pot for $70 (too pricey) then decided to wait. Should look again, any varieties that you recommend?

[URL="http://www.bamboogarden.com/Hardy%20clumping.htm"]http://www.bamboogarden.com/Hardy%20clumping.htm[/URL] Plenty sites on web.

thank you

Why would anyone dislike blueberrys?
Freakey?

Horseradish can kick your ★★★ too......but there is always a solution.

[QUOTE=Tom Atillo;287335]Why would anyone dislike blueberrys?
Freakey?[/QUOTE]

The same kind of person I wouldn't even care to know or get along with.

You let someone tell me they hate cats and its all over with me.

Worth