Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Other things that involve bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Post Reply
adviner
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:23 pm
Location info: 0
Location: United States

Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by adviner »

I live in Kingman, AZ which is suppose to be a 8b zone. I want to plat bamboo but put it in a container. I was thinking of putting it in a horse trough or create a wooden container that is 10 inch wide and 10 feet wide (if i build the container). Im very new to bamboo but i know the running type can be a problem with its growth. But if it was in a container do I have to worry about it growing out of control? Meaning is there a chance that it will grow out the container and go into the the landscape below? I dont think it drops seeds so as long as I make sure the bulbs don't get out the container i should be ok. Also I want it to grow about 8-10 feet. Since the running type grows fast would this be a good idea? Or should i stick to clumper types? And lastly would I ever need to trim bamboo in the container or will it grow to whatever size is allowed in the container and stop growing?

Thanks
Leo S
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:48 pm
Location info: 0
Location: NE Illinois, zone 5, USA

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Leo S »

I'm surprised nobody answered you by now.

A horse trough is ideal for keeping a running bamboo contained.

Do not make drainage holes in the trough around the edges. Rhizomes go out and down at an angle. If you put holes in the bottom near the outer edges, the rhizomes will escape through the holes. Rhizomes almost never go straight down, they always go outwards. So if you think of the bottom of your trough as a bulls eye, put your drainage holes in the center. Stay away from the edges. This will keep your bamboo contained.

For the trough pick bamboo species that are hardy to at least one or two climate zones colder than your area. So for zone 8b I would chose bamboo hardy to zone 7a or even 6b. If you do so, you wont have to worry about winter protection.

You are in Arizona, where the entire state is fairly arid, low humidity. This means you should avoid bamboos that come from moist mountainous areas. Virtually all the hardy clumping bamboos will fail in Arizona, unless you live above 6000 feet. So do not buy any Fargesia or Borinda. I would go with a running bamboo. Phyllostachys decora is said to resist dry wind damage. For colors, Phyllostachys viridis Robert Young is a choice yellow cane with fine green stripes, also noted to survive low humidity settings. But there are at least 30 or more different running bamboos that could do well in your area.

All bamboo, whether it is a clumping bamboo or a running bamboo will need clean up and pruning out of old and damaged canes every year. There are zero ''no maintenance'' bamboos. Don't plant bamboo if you won't be able to at least clean it up, or groom it once a year. A well maintained grove is beautiful, a planting that is neglected will look a disheveled mess, and if visible from the street, a community eye sore.

Water - Arizona is arid, bamboo will need the equivalent of one to two inches of rain every week. There are no bamboos native to desert regions. Lack of water will keep your bamboo short and scruffy looking, if lack of water doesn't kill it out right.

Culm is the correct name for a bamboo cane.

Once your planting is established, and has over a dozen culms, it is time to start the grooming process. In grooming bamboo, prune out old culms, when they begin to look ratty, usually I remove culms older than 5 or 6 years. Prune out broken or split or weak culms. Early spring I clean out any culms that did not survive the winter, clean up the fallen leaves and otherwise make the planting look nice. In early summer, after new culms have emerged, I pick up the culm sheath leaves, as they tend to look like litter.

Once your planting has filled your horse trough, you can in autumn remove the thin and grassy looking culms leaving only the strongest, thickest culms to make the following years shoots.

Do all this and you will have a beautiful planting to enjoy for many, many years.
Nicholas
Posts: 248
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 10:09 am
Location info: 0
Location: Austria

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Nicholas »

adviner wrote:I live in Kingman, AZ which is suppose to be a 8b zone. I want to plat bamboo but put it in a container. I was thinking of putting it in a horse trough or create a wooden container that is 10 inch wide and 10 feet wide (if i build the container). ...
Thanks
I personally would advise against phyllostachys in a container of that size unless you know what you are doing.
What will happen is the first few years, given you provide ample irrigation, your bamboo will look good and grow well.
A few years down the line, maybe even after just two years depending on the size of the plant you started off with, the plant will start to look less healthy.

I've got several phyllostachys in large pots of various sizes. If you can keep increasing the pots/planters regularly things generally work out ok.
But keep it in the same pot a few years in a row and it will start to show. I've done rhizome work on several but apart from tearing the whole plant up and re-planting smaller sections you are only prolonging the inevitable. Under good conditions a phyllostachys of 10 feet height with a hand full of culms will fill
up the space you are providing in a single season!

Simply put you are looking at much, much more work than pruning rhizomes in the ground or installing a barrier of ample dimensions.
In your climate zone you might get away with some of the tropical clumpers like bambusa multiplex.

Unless you have lots shade and ample moisture I would stay away from Fargesias (cold-hardy clumpers). They will be really unhappy in a trough that dries out or stands in full sun with dry winds.

Good luck!
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Rufledt »

Nicholas wrote: Under good conditions a phyllostachys of 10 feet height with a hand full of culms will fill
up the space you are providing in a single season!

Good luck!
maybe under perfect conditions, but that hasn't been my experience. I don't get as much sun as AZ, and my growing season isn't as long, but a huge and healthy spectabilis division didn't fill that much space in my raised bed after a year and a half or so. The rhizomes spread a few feet in either direction, but they would probably take a few years at least to fill the spot the OP describes. Again, that's in my less sunny and cooler climate, so not the same as Arizona, things might be different. The culms last year stayed in the original clump, too, but with all the rhizome spread I will probably have quite the expansion this year. I think you're right, though, the OP will eventually run into a root bound boo problem in a few years unless he picks something a little less aggressive, or starts with small divisions.

How about Pseudosasa japonica? That stuff doesn't mind drier air as much. I've gotten dry-air damage on bambusa multiplex but never on japonica in the same conditions (indoors, under big hot light, no humidifier). It also doesn't seem to be as picky with packed roots as my Phyllostachys in planters.
Nicholas
Posts: 248
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 10:09 am
Location info: 0
Location: Austria

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Nicholas »

Rufledt wrote:
Nicholas wrote: Under good conditions a phyllostachys of 10 feet height with a hand full of culms will fill
up the space you are providing in a single season!

Good luck!
maybe under perfect conditions, but that hasn't been my experience. I don't get as much sun as AZ, and my growing season isn't as long, but a huge and healthy spectabilis division didn't fill that much space in my raised bed after a year and a half or so.
10 inches or about 25 cm is way too narrow. How tall are your plants? Even a lab cloned aureosulcata I have which are supposed to be less vigorous turned into a sold mass of rhizomes after two years. Btw great "fun" trying to pry a bamboo like that from its pot!

I'm not against planters but for an inexperienced grower the goals OP has set out to achieve spell disaster in the long run.

If it is sunny and hot he will have to water constantly or else the bamboo will always look shabby. The more he pampers it however the faster it will grow.
Also think about what will happen once the trough is packed with rhizomes. It will be an absolute nightmare to remove them (which he will have to do for drainage and moisture retention, there will be little soil in that trough after a few years).
johnw
Posts: 1617
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 1:28 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: EBS - Germany
Location: HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by johnw »

I have 18 month old atrovaginata and prominens started from small rhizomes. They are in 10 gal pots and with temps just above freezing here I have to water them almost every day. In Arizona I cannot imagine how you could grow a Phyllo in a 10" wide trough without watering constantly. Would Phyllos even tolerate the heat there? We seldom if ever get over 85F!
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Rufledt »

Mine are about 12' high (was about that high when I got it from steve), one new shoot was a bit taller until I pruned it, though mine arent in a 10" raised bed. I think mine is 2' by 20' by about a foot deep. The rhizome spread was about 4' in either direction last year. I should also mention when I said I get less sun I may have understated it, we have so many cloudy days half of the people I know here are on vitamin D supplements!

When I was in the Boston area I did manage to grow aureosulcata harbin in a small planter without it getting root bound, but it was a 1 gallon plant in an 18 gallon planter. I put it in the ground after 2 years but I probably couldve gotten a couple more years out of it before problems really hit. I think harbin is slower growing than spectabilis though.
T9D
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 6:09 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Oregon - 8b zone

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by T9D »

Try growing one of the shrub sized bamboos. There are plenty that can get up to 6 - 10 feet. I'd imagine they should be able to not get root bound if they are small enough.

I have lots of bamboo in 20 gallon pots and they do totally fine in 106 degree temps. It's usually 90 - 100 degrees here for 3 months straight. With some days a lot hotter even. Just gotta keep watering it is all. Keep lots of mulch on it and maybe some half sun and half shade. I keep mine in full sun though and it's fine. Except for a fargesia I haven't had any of my bamboo ever have a problem with full sun in super hot weather as long as it was watered well. (except newly planted, go easy on those). Major wind is another matter though.

There is some place in Texas that specializes in drought tolerant bamboo. Can't remember the name though, came across it randomly while searching for something. If you can find it, might be a good place to look for a good species.

Have a look here too for some smaller ones: http://www.bamboogarden.com/Smaller%20R ... amboos.htm

Don't let the guys scare ya either, it's not much maintenance at all. Just take a couple hours every few years to clean it up a bit is all. It really doesn't take much more than that in a small container like that.
adviner
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:23 pm
Location info: 0
Location: United States

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by adviner »

Thanks everyone for the useful information. Definitely good information to help me with my research to make sure if its even worth doing in my climate. I do like the smaller running bamboo shrubs the T9D mentioned.
adviner
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:23 pm
Location info: 0
Location: United States

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by adviner »

I like Chimonobambusa marmorea found here http://www.bamboogarden.com/Chimonobamb ... iegata.htm
T9D
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 6:09 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Oregon - 8b zone

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by T9D »

That is a nice looking bamboo. But try to get a species that is a zone or two more hardy when growing in a container. Even when not in a container if you are right at the hardyness line you can get to much damage every winter, and worse in a really tough bad winter. Look for something for a zone 7 at least.
Leo S
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:48 pm
Location info: 0
Location: NE Illinois, zone 5, USA

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Leo S »

Rufeldt - I understand what you are saying, but if the OP is using a real horse trough, it is about 4 feet long by about 2 feet wide - pretty big, maybe a 50 or more ''gallon pot''. Yes, when the rhizomes completely fill the pot you do need to dig up and thin out, but at least in my experience this only needs to happen every 8 to 10 years or so in a 'pot' that large. I have a 40+ year old planting of Phyllo. aureosulcata in a 3 ft by 35 foot raised bed. Routinely get 18 foot tall culms. It becomes very dense with rhizomes over time. Beginning when the bed was 20 years old I remove completely a section, about a third of the bed, dig out all the rhizomes, and replace soil removed with rhizomes with fresh composted manure and topsoil. It takes just one summer for the remaining sections of the planting to recolonize the removed area, and the new culms are the same size as the remaining sections by the second summer after the removal. My schedule for this works out to complete removal of 1/3rd every 5 years, so every 15 years the entire grove has been renewed.

I think the set up the OP described is a very workable set up. Best species to use, I am not certain, as I have never lived in Arizona. I would definitely consider Phyllo viridis ''Robert Young'' as a good hardy, tough and beautiful bamboo. Culms have a larger diameter relative to height than most Phyllostachys, resulting in better visual impact than many other bamboos even if you can't get it up to full height.

Chimonobambusa marmorea is very pretty, but won't tolerate full sun in Arizona, it definitely needs some shade.
Nicholas
Posts: 248
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 10:09 am
Location info: 0
Location: Austria

Re: Growing bamboo in a horse trough question (newb)

Post by Nicholas »

Leo, one of the biggest differences and an important factor in my opinion is that you are cultivating in a raised bed and not a closed pot.
This way the plant always has a bit of moisture reserves from deeper soil levels and does not get stressed as much.

I've got three bamboos standing on a stone terrace in around 60l pots (others in bigger 100l ones but they are in a shady spot)
One aureosulcata aureocaulis (tissue culture), one phyllostachys nigra and a shanghai 3.

All are showing symptoms of being root bound but the shanghai 3 is the worst. It has not produced a single shoot in the last two years and generally looks unhealthy.
The problem is it threw up a rather big shoot early on (around 2.5-3m tall) so it has a lot of leaf mass for the tiny pot it is in.
During summer it becomes impossible to give it enough water without using a dripper.

I'm going to sell the shanghai 3 this year because I feel really guilty about putting such a nice plant into what I'd call a prison. I have another one in ground and the differences in beauty and vigour are substantial.
Post Reply