bambooweb.info

Some of you saw my request for bamboo advice for my patio. I was planning on making a planter box for it and I was hoping a bamboo master would tell me if this would be suitable. I found these tongue and groove cedar panels from Home Depot (online) that come in a set of 4. I would like the box as narrow as possible but don't know what would be appropriate for a thin row of bamboo. Would 1 foot be too narrow? The panels are 2'x4' so i was going to use two of them for the length, cut one down to 1' for each end, and the other for the bottom. Then I would put barrier inside around the perimeter of the box.
Here's the link.... http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... arketID=21

Do you guys think the dimensions (1' D x 2' H x 4' L) would be appropriate to achieve a grow height of around 15' with possibly Temple variety in SF, CA?

I'd say it can be done, and there's certainly no reason not to try. But at those dainty dimensions, I'd guess it would be challenging to have any (running) bamboo show itself to good advantage. You'd probably hit a sweet spot, where whatever variety you chose would look completely stunning for a brief time, but then quickly look....not so stunning, ever again. To me, (running) bamboo in tiny spaces, even carefully tended, always looks a bit peckish and fatigued. To get that sweet spot back, more likely than not you'd need to begin again with a total do-over.

If it won't trouble you to have the area you're wanting to screen off with leafy adornment exposed again, should you need to revitalize and refresh the bed, then go for it. If you need permanent screening and it would be a right royal pain to start over, maybe it would be better to choose a different plant altogether, at the start.

so, with manual water and fertilization I wouldn't be able to maintain the bamboo long term? i would have to replant the bamboo instead of adding a good fertilizer?

The problem is that the planter will get jammed with roots and rhizomes after a few years. It's like growing a tree in a pot -- some trees will do fine for several years in a pot, but other trees won't last more than a few years without maintenance (trimming roots for example). If you build the planter so that the sides can be removed every few years, you could then cut out sections of the bamboo, then refill with more soil. That would give the plant space to rejuvenate, plus give you another plant to put in a different pot or give away. You'll also need to remove some culms (canes) every year.

If that doesn't sound like too much work, then I say go for it! You may find that you get 2 or 3 years out of it before something needs to be done, and that's 2 or 3 years to enjoy a beautiful plant.

I live in SF too, and might have some helpful advice for you. At my previous home, I had Ph. Bisetta in three small redwood planter boxes -- each box was about 12in wide, 12in long and 15in deep, if memory serves. They were basically the small, square planter boxes you get from Home Depot. Five gallon specimens of the Ph. Bisetta from Bamboo Sourcery were put in each planter. Each planter did seem to get root-bound and crowded pretty quickly (after the second year), but the third year growth was amazing as far as culm height; it exceeded the 23-feet advertised on the Sourcery's web page. I was never that happy with the number of culms, but the plants always looked green and happy, and it filled in nicely for a privacy screen against the condo next door.

Last year I moved to a home with a large backyard, and took just two of the planter boxes with me. I also ignored the poor Bisetta for about half a year, giving it very little water. I basically starved the bamboo with no love and attention. Leaves dropped off en masse, and the culms turned from green to yellow. When I was sourcing bamboo for the new home, the Bamboo Sourcery's main gardener came to my house for a consulation (about other bamboo ideas, as I had written off the Bisetta). But he said the Bisetta was actually fine, that it's bamboo and is REALLY hard to kill, and that if I want to leave it in the small planters, I should drill holes into the soil with the largest drill bit in my set (and of course water and care for it again). I did that and pretty soon there after, the bamboo began growing leaves again, and put up new shoots -- albeit small in number and height. I trimmed off the culms that looked like energy leaches, and watched the bamboo come back to life.

About six weeks ago, I built a new planter box for the Bisetta. See attached. It's made of redwood from Home Depot (the one in Colma), and is 8ft long, 18 inches wide and 15 inches deep. I took each existing bisetta, sawzalled it in half, and planted the four divisions as you see in the photo. Experience tells me this a large enough space for expansion, at least for 5-7 years (7 years is how long I had the original plantings in their confined spaces). I think the "drilling-the-soil idea" is helpful; just try to avoid drilling straight into the rhyzome; go for the fine roots instead. For what it's worth, when I dropped the rhyzome divisions into the planter, thet consumed about 33% of the planter's space, at most. So I think this will fill in quite well.

BTW: The box was expensive, at least in my opinion. I think the wood added up to about $180. I already had the deck screws, reciprocating saw and drill for the job.

I have some Ph. Aurea divisions I'm happy to give away, but I don't know if it will reach the 15 feet you desire.

Jon, I think your box looks beautiful!

Can you explain more about the "drilling holes"? What size? How deep? Were they left as air holes, or filled with compost or anything?

Alan_L wrote:Can you explain more about the "drilling holes"? What size? How deep? Were they left as air holes, or filled with compost or anything?

Alan: I don't remember the exact size the drill bit, but I would hazard that the holes were about a 1/4-inch wide. I would have gone wider had I had the drill bit. I drilled them down about 8 inches. I didn't fill in the holes with compost or anything -- though I'm sure watering the bamboo distributed dirt/material into the holes. For what it's the worth, the guy who shared the info is Jesus Mora, who's been running Bamboo Sourcery for quite a few years now. It's going out of business, but Jesus will be starting his own nursery. I'm sure you can call Jose and ask for more details. Here is the Sourcery's web page (you can also check prices on their clearance sale!):

http://bamboosourcery.com/

Gbock: Thanks! It took all day to build, but in the end I got the exact dimensions I wanted, and built the bottom for excellent drainage.

FYI.....I had an oversized industrial cement planter (@3x3x3) that I planted some P. Nigra in. The plant looked great for 2 years and then this past year I started to notice a change. I opted to give the plant away to a list member here as a donatation, since I needed the planter for some new honeysuckle I got.

Anyway....when I pulled the plant it came out in one big piece due to the rhizome growth. Case and point, your plants will look good for a while but plan on pulling them and making a division in a few years.

As far as the planter....I had built one last year out of wood panels, but the key is to line them all four sides with styrofoam (@1 in. thick pinkboard from home cheapo). I also had left over tar paper that I lined the pinkboard with....probably overkill but figured it would probably keep the water from permeating through. *****Lining the planter will help with regulating the soil temps, and keep the soil from having a rapid freezing and thawing cycle. As far as drain holes, I would say that 3/4 in. holes should suffice.

I've read somewhere that holes should be no larger than 1/8 inch so the rhizomes won't escape through them. When I have put large tubs in the ground I have drilled lots and lots of these holes.

firemountain wrote:*****Lining the planter will help with regulating the soil temps, and keep the soil from having a rapid freezing and thawing cycle. As far as drain holes, I would say that 3/4 in. holes should suffice.

For all our lack of sun in SF, one thing I will say for it is that we don't experience any freezes (maybe once every 15-20 years), and the ocean helps regulate temps remarkably well. During the winter, an east bay valley can easily be 10 degrees colder than where I live in SF.

Here is a thread I started, looking at the longevity of bamboo in boxes from a deconstruction viewpoint. The plants could have stayed in the boxes another three to four years easily, if not more, if that was all I could do.

http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4531

Undulating the insides is very important. The strangle belt must be avoided as much as possible. Also, to give the bamboo more land in a confined space, hill up in the planter as much as possible.