bambooweb.info

Hello everyone. I'm new, here and to bamboo.

I'm planting a garden this year. While shopping around for stuff my friend pointed me out to some lucky bamboo.
I live in the mountains of N.C. I see bamboo here from time to time so I was going to plant the lucky bamboo in my yard.

The card attached to the plant didn't say much and I wanted to know how to care for them, .....so I googled bamboo.

That was the last thing I remember before it became impossible to be interested in anything else.
Learning about bamboo that night reminded me of the night I learned about spirulina and chlorella.
So many good things it makes it a no-brainer.
At the end the night, I had to stop myself when I found myself looking for more land to buy.
I have .44 of an acre.

Long story short, after having googled myself up to a book smart beginner bamboo-ologist,
I had a better idea of what to look for. I don't think they're available here.
After more searching I ended up buying Moso seeds on eBay.

I have a wide hill going up in my backyard. I was planning on planting the Moso on the back hill. It's long, like a ridge.
I would like to learn the nature of Moso's propagation on hills.

Questions....

• Do the runners go mostly horizontal or is their first inclination to seek the surface?
• How would the runners act on the shallow side?
• Would could or should I plant them recessed into the hill?
• Would the runners growing into the deep side of the hill travel farther, perhaps popping up in the middle of my neighbors yard?
  <Moso@20-30 feet away from neighbors yard, 12 feet lower>
• Would the way the running type propagates on a hill make them unstable or easy to blow over?
• In what direction will they spread fastest? Uphill? Downhill? Laterally?

Thanks!

The answer to your first question is:
Runners grow vertical, mostly. just kidding. They will seek the best soil and light for the type. Moso will run to the sun and rich well drain soil that receives a good amount of water. (I hope you have a south facing hill for the moso.)

2. Moso is not a deep running plant as a rule. If you have 12 inches of soil on top of the rock you are ok.

3. Not sure what you ment by that question.

4. It will get to the neighbors yard. How long it will take depends on a lot of things. But it will get there.

5. If the soil is deep enough they will be fine with respect to the wind. I would worry about snow load more.

6. They will spread where the water and light is. Direction/slight elevation is not a big factor. but they will not climb a vertical wall. Not in a hurry anyway.

Michael

in all your research, PLEASE tell us you found out that lucky bamboo is not a bamboo, but a houseplant that has NOTHING to do with bamboo, other than making an appearece on bamboo oriented websites as a question posted by a poor confused person wondering when her lucky bamboo that is sitting in the vase of gel crystals she bought it in is going to flower and attract all the rats, just like she saw on TV the other night......

also,

Welcome to the Forums... we understand bambo addiction here, and how to cure it-


ADD MORE BAMBOO TO YOUR COLLECTION!

frequently, seeds sold on ebay turn out to be something other than what you think you bought. usually d. strictus.
bamboo should run uphill better than down. although i have found some conflicting info.
In florida's sandy soils an aggressive runner would be in the neighbors yard within the year. so i stick with clumpers. but if i had your conditions i would certainly have some runners. just make sure you have a proper containment plan and stick with it.
good luck!

Also, realize that it's going to take several years (at least 5?) before the plant starts sizing up at all. Although I don't grow Moso, from what I read here it's slow to size up, even when started from a division. Starting from seed just adds a few more years to that.

This may be frustrating for you since it's your first bamboo and you're starting a new garden. (I'm relatively new to bamboo and one of my first plants was a 10-12' tall division, and it's still a little frustrating when I planted it and realized that it will take a couple of years at least to fill out the area I want it to.)

You'll want to start the seeds in pots for a couple years anyway.

Different types of bamboo seed look different. Perhaps if you posted a picture of the MOSO seed we could tell if it is MOSO or not.

From what I can tell there seem to be three types of bamboo seed readily available: MOSO, heteroclada and strictus.

foxd wrote:Different types of bamboo seed look different. Perhaps if you posted a picture of the MOSO seed we could tell if it is MOSO or not.

From what I can tell there seem to be three types of bamboo seed readily available: MOSO, heteroclada and strictus.

All the "moso" seed I've seen looked like this, but I'm no expert on whether or not what I was seeing was really "moso" seed:

Roy wrote:

foxd wrote:Different types of bamboo seed look different. Perhaps if you posted a picture of the MOSO seed we could tell if it is MOSO or not.

From what I can tell there seem to be three types of bamboo seed readily available: MOSO, heteroclada and strictus.

All the "moso" seed I've seen looked like this, but I'm no expert on whether or not what I was seeing was really "moso" seed:

For a number of reasons I'm pretty sure it is MOSO seed in the picture.

Many thanks to all of you helping me.

So far I've read very little from the forum here. Google brought me here a night or two ago. The thread I read started off with almost the exact same question I had. The question was answered quickly, then the discussion devolved and went way off topic, ....and it went on like that for at least a couple of pages. I visit lots of forums, and when a topic is allowed to devole or get hihjacked like that, it sends a clear message about the forum, it's members, and/or the way its moderated. ...And I must say, .....how refreshing! Ya'll seem to be a friendly group here.

I appreciate the experience and interest everybody is sharing with me.

@Michael - Thanks. Your answers let me know that I have an OK grasp of what to expect. (plan moves from yellow light to green)

@ghmerrill - Your reaction to the lucky bamboo I bought matched mine when I found out!
Somebody put daisy stems on my roses!
(obscure reference to a line from the movie the jerk)

@dudley - The question that originally brought me to this forum had to do with what the same issue. Rare seeds on eBay? I had a notion that something was up, and it was then that I learned (maybe from you) that d. strictus is most common, and frequently masqueraded as something exotic. Having no bamboo plants of of yet, d. strictus should satisfy my fix better than the lucky bamboo did.

@Alan_L - When I searched for a store bought plant to start with I found prices ranging anywhere from $45-$100+. Yikes! My hill is 200+ feet wide and about 40 feet deep. I want to turn it into a small confined bamboo jungle but got sticker shocked when I did the math for it. If I find a place within an hour or so from my house to buy them, I will, but I still want to learn how to grow from seeds so I can learn the whole picture.

@foxd & Roy- I bought Moso seeds from two different people on ebay. Hopefully one of them will be the real thing. They should be here soon. Providing I can generate a clear closeup with the resources I have, you can be sure I'll post the info here.

BTW, while searching around I found out that there is going to be a bamboo class (for want of a better word) here in Asheville, N.C. March 21st! Must be meant to be!

BAMBOO GARDEN STRUCTURES
SAT. MARCH 21, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
NC ARBORETUM, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, 28806
http://www.craftandartofbamboo.com/events/events.html

Got my seeds and figured out how to get image captures from my video cam. Not the most crisp pics but pics nevertheless.

Here is the source...


Here are the seeds...


Here are 57 seeds started in a controlled environment...


(if the date on my camera is a month slow, that means gestation time will be a month early, right? ...

I got 100 and as I understand things, bamboo seeds don't have a good shelf life.
Hate to see them go to waste, if you want some, leave me a pm.

gunghojoe
I have about 800 plants on my 1/2 acre. Most of them were 'found' in the surrounding area. Keep your eyes open and you may find some wild bamboo patches. But remember always ask for permission from the owner to dig them up for transplant. This is how I have collected most of mine. Many people are more than happy to let you dig their bamboo.

If you don't know already, MOSO takes a really long time to size up so if you are starting from seed, it may take 5-7 years before you get a 1 inch culm. Other Phyllostachys such as Dulcis, or Parvifolia gain size much quicker.

If you are trying to create a small bamboo jungle, you might be better off getting a large 15 gallon plant, or 5 gallon seedling so you have a decent size to start with. Seedlings also take a lot of care to keep them alive until you can plant them outside.

Moso would be a good choice for you considering you probably live in zone 7.

They look like MOSO seeds.

You'll get faster results with divisions and after the initial outlay you have to remember the divisions once planted and grown on for a season or two will enable you to take divisions from them. And before you know it you're obsessed and then you've run out of room.
As Booman said keep an eye out for bamboo in you're area and approach the owner who knows it may only cost you a few beers or even nothing just a couple of hours digging.