BAMBOO GROWING
Bamboos come in over a thousand different species and dozens of garden varieties are wonderful, mysterious and elusive plant that baffles taxonomists who try to contain it within a botanical class and gardeners who try to contain it within a limited garden space as they learn how to grow bamboo.

For many years, bamboo was thought to be a primitive grass but recent DNA testing has shown it to be one of the most highly evolved forest grasses. There are over 1200 forms of bamboo that grow in a broad spectrum of color including the familiar green and gold as well as burgundy, blue and even black grasses.

In eastern Asia they are used for almost everything from building homes, to making furniture and their shoots are even used in cooking. There are two distinct types of bamboo - clumping and running. If growing bamboo in your garden, it is important to understand the differences.

Clumping bamboos

Gardeners would be wiser to stick to clumping types of bamboo despite the beauty of running bamboos. The hedge bamboo (Bambusa multiplex) comes in different forms including 'Fernleaf Stripestem' which has green stripes, 'Willowy' with more arching branches and 'Alphonse Karr' with striped stems. All of these will make good specimen plants or create privacy hedges. For a grander scale clumping bamboo try Giant Buddha Belly (Bambusa vulgaris 'Wamin') which swells at the lower joints giving a distinctive appearance or another form Painted Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris 'Vittata'), a yellow bamboo striped green.

 Running bamboos

Running bamboos can cause awful trouble in the garden where they can grow from one property to another. These bamboos are classified as noxious weeds in some areas of Sydney. So if you're growing running bamboo such as the Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), Green Onion bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica 'Tsutsuminia') or Black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) confine them in pots or in garden beds lined with concrete, special rubber or other impervious barriers. The depth of the barrier needed varies among species but to be safe it should be at least 1m (3') deep.

 Note: Galvanised iron is not suitable because the rhizomes will eventually find the joins and also because it will rust over time.

 Eradication

The best way to eradicate bamboo is to tackle the whole clump, one stem at a time. Cut off each stem about 15cm (6") above ground level and immediately paint it with undiluted Round Up. The sap moves back down the stem and draws the poison back with it, effectively killing the whole plant. Repeat treatments may be required in some cases.
 
Propagation
Bamboos rarely set seed and so have to be propagated from cuttings or from pieces of rhizome (root-like subterranean stems). This makes some of the clumping bamboo varieties quite expensive to purchase.

 Suggested Varieties

Some varieties of bamboo can grow up to a foot a day and ultimately reach 130 feet tall while the smallest bamboo cultivar attains only six inches of growth.













The first step in learning how to grow bamboo is picking a cultivar and beginning to unravel its many mysteries. While most of us picture tall stands of green and golden canes growing in tropical bamboo forests, bamboo cultivars range from the temperate to the tropical.

Bamboo has over 1500 documented uses that range from use in construction to the making of acupuncture needles and from agricultural fodder to the making of musical instruments. Until they are cut, bamboos stems are properly called culms and not canes.

In India bamboo plants are commonly called the 'Wood of the poor' and in China the" friend of the people'. To add to the confusion, a cultivar commonly sold as “lucky bamboo" isn’t bamboo at all but a type of lily from the Dracaena family!

Unluckily for bamboo, it has the reputation for being an invasive plant, growing from running rhizomes. Although this is true for some cultivars, the most cold-hardy plants don’t run at all, but grow from well-behaved clumps with well-established root systems.

One thing that bamboo cultivars do have in common is that they are perennial plants. As noted above, some bamboos varieties are temperate and some are tropical. Because its diversity, it’s easy to find a suitable cultivar when you want to learn how to grow bamboo. Bamboo cultivars range from those that grow indoors to outdoors, in a garden or in a container, in bright light or shade.

Two considerations in knowing how to grow bamboo successfully are water and air. All true bamboos are grasses and won’t grow in saturated soils. They also need air circulation to thrive. In fact, some bamboo growers raise the pots of their small cultivars on chopsticks to provide air circulation under the plant as well as around it. Large pots are often elevated with heavy dowels.

The bamboo is a symbol of long life, strength and versatility for many cultures of the world. Unraveling its mysteries is a continuing source of enjoyment. When you know how to grow bamboo, you’ll find that your love for the plant grows as fast as your bamboo does!

Bamboo – uses:

Bamboo is used in making baskets, bicycle frames, bird cages, blinds, boats, bridges, brushes, buckets, canoes, carts, charcoal, chopsticks, clothing, cooking utensils, diapers, fans, fences, firewood, fishing rods, food steamer, furniture, garden tools, handicrafts, hats, incense, musical instruments, paper, particle board, pens, pipes, ply ,roofing, scaffold, tableware, toilets, toothpicks, toys, umbrellas, walking sticks and that's really only just scratching the surface.

Another important use for bamboo is food. The shoots are used in many Asian countries as a vegetable - sometimes eaten raw, or steamed and boiled. I can't say I'm a big fan of it, but given a choice between a bowl of bamboo shoots and a bowl of twigs, I'd certainly opt for the bamboo. China makes beer from bamboo.

There also appears to be some medicinal applications for bamboo - and even perfume is being made from the stuff!
Bamboo - you can wear it, you can eat it, you can build with it. Bamboo may increasingly replace plastics and wood products - what a marvellous gift from nature!

Consider bamboo alternatives when purchasing items - despite some ongoing debate about the exploitation of bamboo and associated production processes of bamboo goods, it's readily renewable, sustainable and still seems to have a lot less environmental impact than chemical-ridden crops, destruction of old growth forests and petroleum-derived materials.