Bamboo Recommendations

Wolftown

Planning on planting some bamboo along an east facing fence in the back garden. Love the look of bamboo and will provide additional privacy.

My question is, where would you recommend sourcing the bamboo? Completely open to different varieties, provided they are clumped and not runners.

Was looking at Stambamboo as a potential supplier, as they seem well established and their plants are grown in Ireland. Also considering local GlanBia garden centre as they're considerably cheaper, but it's more about getting the right plants!

Any input appreciated.

JPup

Biggest thing with bamboo is to avoid running varieties unless the area you are planting in is contained. There are clump forming varieties that don’t spread nearly as much.

I put Bisettii in my garden and it is very vigorous! Quite a handful to manage. Looks and sounds great though and will get tall quickly. Try fargesia for a more manageable type.

Wolftown

JPup wrote: »

Biggest thing with bamboo is to avoid running varieties unless the area you are planting in is contained. There are clump forming varieties that don’t spread nearly as much.

I put Bisettii in my garden and it is very vigorous! Quite a handful to manage. Looks and sounds great though and will get tall quickly. Try fargesia for a more manageable type.

Thanks, as per my post I'm not considering runners so that would rule out Bissetii. Although it is a lovely looking bamboo, so might be worth the extra maintenance to contain it.

Do you have any containment setup, or do you just deal with rogue shoots as they appear?

odoliam

as above - I've just planted Bisettii - want it to grow and take over road-side wild hedge


https://www.stambamboo.com/
https://www.howbertandmays.ie/search?keys=bamboo

endacl

Biggest job I ever had to do in a garden was digging out bastard bamboo. Don’t go near it!

Wolftown

Will be ordering 10 x Fargesia Robusta from Stambamboo today, should be about 1.8 metres when delivered.

Thanks for the feedback all ðŸ‘

secman

endacl wrote: »

Biggest job I ever had to do in a garden was digging out bastard bamboo. Don’t go near it!

Same here, we took the decision to take it out whilst we were able to, Unbelievable how it spread from where it was planted, a shoot appeared in the lawn about 5 metres from the bed it was planted in. A whole weekend to dig it out.

feckwunker

secman wrote: »

Same here, we took the decision to take it out whilst we were able to, Unbelievable how it spread from where it was planted, a shoot appeared in the lawn about 5 metres from the bed it was planted in. A whole weekend to dig it out.

I had to pull up an entire paved patio to get rid of the stuff that was planted in the house we bought. Main stems were over 7m high and the roots ran out for 10m+

All removed with shovel and pick - a nightmare.

Wolftown

feckwunker wrote: »

I had to pull up an entire paved patio to get rid of the stuff that was planted in the house we bought. Main stems were over 7m high and the roots ran out for 10m+

All removed with shovel and pick - a nightmare.

Not the most encouraging read lol, apparently the clumping varieties aren't anywhere near as troublesome...fingers crossed anyway.

Wyldwood

I hate to burst your bubble but I have a clumping Fargesia that was a nice manageable size for many years but now is starting to spread way beyond its original space and is impossible to control. Shoots coming up a good bit away from the main plant. I went at it last summer with a saw and cut back an area of about a metre all around it to bring it back to its original size. Nothing can be planted around it as the ground is full of roots.
Wouldn't recommend.

Wolftown

So I've just received the plants this morning - I'm not sure if my expectations were realistic, but I'm quite disappointed.

Firstly, approximately 5 of the 10 plants are smaller than advertised. Also, the plants look very sparse - particularly the lower sections which have little/no leaves....

Even the leaves themselves look far from healthy.

What would the consensus on here be? Should I be happy with these?

Wolftown

Pics attached (hopefully!)

odoliam

Hard to be sure on the foliage
Quick search on google shows it seems to be typical for it to be reasonably bare lower down:
http://bamboogarden.com/Fargesia%20robusta.html
The leaf damage could be standard winter damage - fair bit or recent frost...or could be poor watering recently
They need plenty of watering particularly when growing

I bought Bissettii and Fargesia Ntidia & Rufa, and they looked weak-out when they first arrived, but are showing signs of getting better now
I wasn't overly impressed given all the horror stories of mad strong invasive plants.....maybe that's the trap people fall into.

Another thing I read is the canes you see now will not grow any more. All future size and growth will come from new shoots, which will always be bigger than last years....can't remember where I read that or if true for all varieties

Wolftown

odoliam wrote: »

Hard to be sure on the foliage
Quick search on google shows it seems to be typical for it to be reasonably bare lower down:
http://bamboogarden.com/Fargesia%20robusta.html
The leaf damage could be standard winter damage - fair bit or recent frost...or could be poor watering recently
They need plenty of watering particularly when growing

I bought Bissettii and Fargesia Ntidia & Rufa, and they looked weak-out when they first arrived, but are showing signs of getting better now
I wasn't overly impressed given all the horror stories of mad strong invasive plants.....maybe that's the trap people fall into.

Another thing I read is the canes you see now will not grow any more. All future size and growth will come from new shoots, which will always be bigger than last years....can't remember where I read that or if true for all varieties

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be planting them over the weekend and hopefully they'll improve throughout the year!

laugh

Is there some barrier you put in the ground to stop them spreading? Does that work?

odoliam

laugh wrote: »

Is there some barrier you put in the ground to stop them spreading? Does that work?

yes, from my reading people recommend a high strength plastic barrier....or a trench all around which allows you to easily see the shoots and cut them early

I didn't use any as I have a large space I want it to spread into and fill

Apparently concrete/blocks etc won't work, they can break through it :eek:

endacl

odoliam wrote: »

yes, from my reading people recommend a high strength plastic barrier....or a trench all around which allows you to easily see the shoots and cut them early

I didn't use any as I have a large space I want it to spread into and fill

Apparently concrete/blocks etc won't work, they can break through it :eek:

How will the bamboo know it’s reached the end of that space and stop spreading?

Corkey123

Sorry for jumping in here with a negative spin but...

Be careful - if you are intending to plant these at the border to your neighbour. This stuff will take over your neighbour garden as well; it is quite aggressive. So if your neighbour have a planted area immediately adjacent to your bamboo plants it will likely 'visit' their garden also. My experience of a neighbour's bamboo has rendered a part of my garden useless.