About Bamboo Plants

Bamboo needs routine care and attention for the first 2 to 3 years until the rhizome system becomes established. After this, the bamboo can fend for itself if need be. Bamboo will produce larger canes in height and diameter each year until it reaches its maximum potential. To encourage new growth, it is important to adequately feed and water your plants to ensure large, healthy, and robust growth the following spring. Bamboo can be used as accent plants, container plants, ground cover, hedges, or tall screens. They are grown for both their attractive culms and foliage. Culms can be yellow, black, red, blue, spotted, and striped. Some culms are wrinkled like corduroy or smooth with a waxy coat. Other bamboos have fragrant or fuzzy culms. The foliage of these bamboos can range from light green to dark green and can be variegated as well. Poles made of bamboo can be used for construction and artwork.

Clumping bamboos can be used in a small garden without containment or root pruning. We have both semi-tropical clumping bamboos and cold, hardy, temperate clumping bamboos. Semi-tropical clumping bamboos such as Bambusa, Borindas, Himalayacalamus, and Thamnocalamus are best suited for zone 7 and up. They will need some protection from the cold in zone 7 by heavy mulching and a slightly warmer microclimate. Cold, hardy, temperate clumping bamboos such as Fargesias are best suited for climate zones 5 through 7 but will need protection from the hot afternoon sun in zone 7. Spreading bamboos can be used as screens, decorative specimen plants, or specimens in large containers. These bamboos are also more tolerant of heat and cold than your clumping bamboos. Spreading bamboos are your best choice if you need a fast privacy screen. Containment or root pruning two times a year will be needed if you want to limit the spread. Then you have the ground cover or dwarf bamboos. Dwarf bamboos offer a variety of leaf colors and variegation from dark green to yellow to almost all white. Many are useful as indoor plants or stabilizing banks against erosion and can be used as turf or ground cover. These bamboos range in height from several inches to several feet.

Planting bamboo 3 to 5 feet apart will give you a decent screen in 2 to 5 years, depending on growing conditions, the size of the plant to begin with, and variety. When planting, to give them a head start, you will want to incorporate a good mixture of composted manure and soil conditioner with the existing native soil in the planting hole. As with most plants, the planting hole should be the same depth as the root ball and at least twice the diameter of the pot it came in. It will also be a good idea to mulch and give it a good watering after planting. Any hardwood or pine needle mulch should work well.

Most bamboo plants are already pot-bound when they are purchased. Try to gently spread out the roots, if possible, to give the plant a head start. Sometimes, it is impossible, depending on how pot-bound it is. The roots will spread out eventually by themselves. Generic topsoil with organic compost can be purchased at a local home improvement store or garden center for under $5 per bag.

Since bamboo is a shallow-rooted plant, you will need to stake the bamboo plant for the first year. This is true, especially for large, top-heavy plants and narrow root balls. The rhizomes will eventually spread out enough to stabilize the plant. You will want to use either heavy rebar or steel fence posts versus wood or plastic that will rot or crack.

Bamboo can be planted most of the year, but extra care is needed during extreme weather such as heat, drought, wind, cold, and ice. Early spring and mid-fall seem to be the best times to plant bamboo to give it time before the extreme weather sets in for root establishment to begin.

For the first year, you will want to water 2 or 3 times a week during the dry times. Other than that, the bamboo is self-sufficient. The bamboo will not need fertilizer in the first year since composted manure will act as fertilizer in the first year. After the first year or two, you can use a common lawn fertilizer that says safe on any grass. Do not use weed and feed fertilizer, as this will harm your bamboo.