Some bamboo pics

Connie and I took a walk the other day and I had my Panasonic Lumix with me. Took some pics of a couple of the bamboo groves.

Looks like some birds have created nesting cavities in some of the bamboo, and I'm sure lizards and tree frogs will hole up in the old split bamboo.

well at least they were cozy during the cold

Rich, what's the life expectancy of the bamboo? Does it last awhile, like
multiple years? Does it "die" every fall like the grass I'm used to up north, then
come back to life in the spring? Any commercial use for it, like could you
harvest it and sell it or grind it up and use it for feed?
Just wondering :shrug01:
Andy :wavey:

navy2kcoupe said:

Rich, what's the life expectancy of the bamboo? Does it last awhile, like
multiple years? Does it "die" every fall like the grass I'm used to up north, then
come back to life in the spring? Any commercial use for it, like could you
harvest it and sell it or grind it up and use it for feed?
Just wondering :shrug01:
Andy :wavey:

Click to expand...

Actually bamboo lives a very long time. When you see a grove of bamboo, what you are normally seeing is just one plant. Each culm (shoot) is just like a branch of the plant, with rhyzomes that run underground. But bamboos will die normally when they produce seed, which is a very long cycle. I have never seen any of our bamboo set seed.

As for cold hardiness, some of the varieties can survive sub-zero temps, as the runner types (genus Phyllostachys) are really a temperate climate evergreen plant. Some can survive quite well up through Ag zone 6, reaching into mid America.

http://www.bamboogarden.com/cold hardy bamboo.html

Heck bamboo is used commercially in the orient extensively. And some of this seems to be catching on in the USA. I'm sure you have seen bamboo flooring, furniture, and even bedsheets are processed from bamboo fibers.

I don't believe you could use it for feed, as only the new shoots would be likely able to be used in that fashion.

I hear it is hard to get rid of it once it's growing thick. Guess it is not good for a small yard.

CHASZ51 said:

I hear it is hard to get rid of it once it's growing thick. Guess it is not good for a small yard.

Click to expand...

Ha ha, tell me about it!

I was given a small bunch of bamboo and planted it in my garden when I lived on Long Island. In a little more than a year, it spread to such a degree where I couldn't control it no matter what. I planted it on one side of the house and it came up on the other side. I tried to barricade the roots from spreading, but it was too late, and I couldn't dig deep enough to put in a partition. I even dug it completely out, but it just came back stronger. Had I known this I would have planted it in a 55 gallon drum and buried the drum. I always wondered what the new owners did about it?

Yeah, it can be a problem, because it sure does like to spread. Fortunately we have enough acreage where hopefully it won't get to be a problem. However, I did plant some yellow vivax fairly close to the house a number of years ago, and so far don't regret the idea.

I have had success with cutting rhizomes and then staying on top of it trying to put new culms up. Unless it can produce leaves for photosynthesis, it WILL die.

Cutting culms and spraying the stumps with a defoliant does seem to knock it back in areas you don't want it, too.

But yeah, bamboo is pretty darn hardy. But on the plus side, it is often used in the orient to purposely grow under houses, as a safeguard against the ground opening up under dwellings from earthquakes, sink holes, etc. The rhizomes can be almost as effective as steel cables for support. So if you live in an area prone to sink holes, this could maybe be a consideration.

I just bought a Royal empress tree. Came as a stick in a box with roots. Really starting to take off.

Yeah, we have purchased some bare root fruit trees. Some did well, and others did not. Actually have had better luck with a local nursery. Costs more, but they are well started and produced fruit a LOT earlier.

The Royal empress tree is one of the fastest growing trees so they say. Hope it was not a mistake buying it down the road. I need some shade as summer it is 24/7 sunshine since we no longer have a normal summertime pattern.

CHASZ51 said:

The Royal empress tree is one of the fastest growing trees so they say. Hope it was not a mistake buying it down the road. I need some shade as summer it is 24/7 sunshine since we no longer have a normal summertime pattern.

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I just took a look at some pics and it appears to be a nice tree to have. Flowers look beautiful. What color will the flowers be on yours?

I wish I could grow the large clumping bamboos here, but even just one REAL cold night and they are history. A while back Connie and I were on an abandoned piece of property on Pine Island that had several areas of some very large clumping bamboo, and I was just awestruck by the peaceful sound they made as the wind moved them around and the clumps bumped together. That was WAY before we moved to Florida, and that memory has always stuck with me, and actually sparked my interest in bamboo. I'm still not there with the large running type I have, but on occasion I have heard the culms rubbing together in the wind and that too, is a very peaceful and relaxing sound.

But maybe with the global warming, eventually I will be able to grow the tropical clumpers here. But another problem is that the roots tend to be pretty shallow, so it's not uncommon for strong winds accompanying storms to knock over a few of ours that we have now. And for some reason squirrels seem to ONLY like the largest bamboo shoots that come up every Spring. This year I want to try sprinkling moth balls around the new shoots to see if the smell will discourage their appetite.

Should be purple. Never seen one of these trees in person. I would try bamboo but scared it would take over. We just don't get cold here anymore since around 1990 minus the winter of 2010. Just about everyday is now above normal year round. Our summer weather has also changed were we go weeks without rain and then get 30" in 2 weeks time. Not a temp below 32 in years when back in the 80's we had super freezes every other year from 19 to 24 degrees when i lived in Tampa.

The clumping types of bamboo are not runners and therefore not invasive. I have a couple of clumps I put in a good 20 years ago, and they have barely expanded much beyond the original planting. These will be of the genus Bambusa.

http://www.bamboo4u.com/Bambusa.html

Took a pic of the white bamboo we are growing....

Make good Tuna fishing poles like they used in the old days. They had three guys with bamboo poles tied into one line and would flip big tuna on the deck.

Yeah, I actually tried to start a grove of "Tonkin Cane" which is supposed to be an excellent choice for fishing poles, but it didn't take. There must have been a tag-a-long rhizome of "rubromarginata" in there, as that is what started growing and eventually took over. "Rubro" is a very fast spreading form of running bamboo and I guess it just out competed the Tonkin.